What a delightful, charming, and deeply emotional experience. Chambers does such a phenomenal job of writing imperfect, complex, and, most importantly, intensely lovable characters. This story is no exception. The pacing is comfortable, the universe—with all of its various forms of sentient life and their respective cultures—is introduced to the reader in a way that feels natural and easy to absorb. I don’t dish out 5 star ratings easily but this book is an instant favorite for me.

I will say, I went into this book thinking it was mostly a safe, cozy sci-if read but was surprised by the death of a main character towards the end, so be aware that it is very very sad at one point and if that’s something you prefer to avoid, this book isn’t for you.