I was really looking forward to this book. Both my favourite author (Becky Chambers) and an instagram friend with whom we usually enjoy the same books recommended this book.
Ouf... it was a task to read, let me tell you. I buddy read this with my partner and we started this one 9 months before we actually finished it. If we had not decided to go for it and power through finishing the book together, I would have simply put it down and never look at it again. I am sad to this but I am really frustrated and puzzled as to how this book has been so praised. The plot was incredibly nonsensical, the whole premise was based (in my opinion) on people who just cannot actually communicate with each other (a trope which I loathe), and we do not even get to know the characters all that well at all to the point where I was asking who is who all the time. The reading experience was truly painful. I was shouting 'what' out loud a number of times and only some sentences here and there gave a moment of clarity as to where we are, who we are with and what is actually going on. I felt there were too many details that were just mentioned once and it was extremely unclear what was worth retaining or not. All in all, what i remember now one day after I completed the book, is that it was written by someone in the fanfiction mentality, trying way too hard to be smart and weird and quirky and just had outdated hipster vibes all-round. a no from me, sadly.