Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
I went into this book knowing nothing about it, and by the end, I was absolutely in love. The characters and their interactions are top-notch. While the plot can be summarized as “a crew flies to a planet to do a job and it takes a long time,” this description really sells the book short.
After reading the other books in the series, this one remains either my first or second favorite of the four, all of which I highly recommend.
The story is driven by the characters and their interactions. There is no “we need to save the galaxy” narrative, which is refreshing. Instead, it’s about a crew doing their job. They encounter interesting situations, but these are almost background noise to the interspecies drama and relationships.
I highly recommend this book. If you’re not into character development, it might feel a bit slow, but it truly is a masterfully written work.