A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

[King Bob]

I kept coming across mentions of this, and it won the Hugo, so I picked it up at the library. I didn't know it was the first of a trilogy, or I wouldn't have, but it did tie up pretty well anyway.

Her world building was good, but it didn't really have much of a story arc. It was more episodic, with a chapter about landing somewhere, then another, etc. with some from the point of view of different characters. Since they were on a ship, it reminded me of Firefly. And Star Trek, because it was kind of a celebration multicultural togetherness (only the bad guys oppose it), and there's sex and love between humans and aliens. It also made me think of fanfic, since it didn't really go anywhere much, and it was funded on Kickstarter.

It was fairly enjoyable to read, but really just fluff, and really too long for that, so not recommended. Not worthy of winning awards either IMO. It's like a beach read SF novel.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I read these for the world building (which was good) and the relatively "day in the life" low-stakes stories. The other volumes are in the same universe, but each book follows different characters.

For Covid-reading, it was light and enjoyable.

[King Bob]

I was too harsh on this. My problem was expecting something fantastic and getting something light and pleasant. She did a good job with the characters, and it kept me reading. As the Yeti says, good light reading.