I love a good space opera. There's war, peace, wibbly wobbly timey wimey ness, Han Solo redemption arc, weird science. You name it, it's basically in here.
And Hutchings uses the tropes of space opera in her blender to build a story that feels really fun and enjoyable to ride along with even as you know where it's going because that's not the secret. The story is how they get there against all odds. Because it always is. That's space opera.