The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

If you're a fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, & Mass Effect, this book may be the book you never knew you needed. It's cemented my love for the space opera genre, and it's catered to my love of space-related stories. The book is about a tunneling crew and basically focuses on their lives during a long-haul tunneling job to a hostile race's section of the galaxy. It is not very plot driven until the very end. Each character narrates their point of view somewhere along the way. It's a diverse crew of different species of aliens and humans. You learn about their cultures, their customs, and their history. You also hear the alien's perspectives on humans and it's HILARIOUS. The world building was very well done and reminds me of Mass Effect in that respect.

Pros:
- Diversity: lots of aliens and humans. It also shows how the races coexist and how they view each other.
- Funny: Kizzy is hilarious!!! The first half of the book made me laugh so much. The banter between the crew is amusing, scandalous at times, and light-hearted.
- Lovable Characters: if you don't like the characters, you won't enjoy the book because it just focuses on them.
- Family elements: the crew considers each other family. You see moments of love, friendship, hate, anger, bickering, and forgiveness. This is a big element of the story and Chambers portrays it beautifully. Not everyone gets along, but they always look out for each other. Crew is family here.
- Different sexualities, genders, pronouns, etc.
- Beautiful family ending that left me feeling tingly and giddy with happiness.

Cons:
- Quick fixes: although bad things happen on the journey, they're resolved a little too quickly for my liking. I would have enjoyed prolonging my suffering a little more (funny enough).
- I can't find other stories like it!!

Currently, there is a sequel but it focuses on two minor characters. A third installment will be released in July but is centered around new folks. I only wish Chambers would write a sequel to hear what happens to the crew of the Wayferer because there is so much she can expand upon!!! I want more!!! So beware, this is a great story of a space family and truly one of a kind.