Living on a company planet, just turned 18, our hero loses his mother, and in quick succession his inheritance, place to live, and plans to study. You'd think this might be accompanied by some serious grieving & stress, but no, he bucks up and lands himself as a job as a galley hand on a starship. Problems solved!

For the rest of the time, well, other bad things certainly happen -- for example, they haven't

cleaned the coffee urn in months, so he needs to spruce it up before he can amaze everyone with his barista skills!

No-one tells him

where the gym is

for several chapters! Someone pranks him about

how to put on an emergency space suit!

And, yes, that's the level of conflict in this book. 

Now, I'm all in for a solid cosy read if the characters are good. However, Ishmael Wang has a secret name, and that name is Gary Stu! All the women start to fancy him a bit. All the men think he's a jolly fellow. He pitches in to work in other departments for funsies. He occasionally misses his mum momentarily, then heads off to study like no-one has ever studied before, or leer secretly at his female shipmates. (Not a LGBTQIA+ book in any sense. So Much Straight.)

I went on with the series, thinking there might be more complexity in later books. And there is a tiny bit more, but also midshipman Gary Stu saves the day repeatedly, romances women from 18 to 60+ (including mother and daughter), succeeds at everything he tries, and so I bailed after book 3. Perhaps worth considering if you're in the mood for cosy sci-fi, but it lacks the heart of a Becky Chambers or the whimsy of Ferrett Steinmetz, Meredith Katz or recent TJ Klunes, so honestly, consider literally any of those first, then read this as a standalone.