The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 2016

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016

As she woke up in the pod she remembered three things. First, she was travelling through open space. Second, she was about to start a new job, one she could not screw up. Third, she had bribed a government official into giving her a new identity file. None of this information was new, but it wasn’t pleasant to wake up to.

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much.

The Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that's seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past. But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer.

The crew is a mishmash of species and personalities, from Sissix, the friendly reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the constantly sparring engineers who keep the ship running. Life on board is chaotic, but more or less peaceful - exactly what Rosemary wants.

Until the crew are offered the job of a lifetime: the chance to build a hyperspace tunnel to a distant planet. They'll earn enough money to live comfortably for years...if they survive the long trip through war-torn interstellar space without endangering any of the fragile alliances that keep the galaxy peaceful.

But Rosemary isn't the only person on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.

An action-adventure space opera . . . It is a quietly profound, humane tour de force that tackles politics and gender issues with refreshing optimism - Guardian

A real treat to read . . . Easily the most fun that I've had with a novel in a long, long time. This is space opera that's not to be missed - io9

A joyous, optimistic space opera . . . A heart-warming debut novel that will restore your faith in science fiction (specifically) and humanity (in general) - Tor.com

One of the most enjoyable, brilliantly realised spacey SF novels I've read in ages. - James Smythe, author of The Echo

By far the best sci-fi I've read in a long time: something genuinely different, inclusive and compassionate - Joanne Harris, author of The Gospel of Loki

One of the most delightful novels science-fiction that I've read in recent years - Citior SF

A huge amount of space-opera-y fun, with some interestingly nuanced perspectives on gender woven into the whole

The Long Way is, very simply, an extremely good book, a seemingly effortless demonstration of how progressive and enjoyable science fiction can be - Pornokitsch

Becky Chambers writes aliens like no one else ... the only flaw in this series is you'll wish you could spend more time with all of them - NPR 50 Best Sci-fi and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade