The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet: Becky Chambers (A book set in space)

At first, I want to say that this wasn't at all what I expected, but then I have to go back and try to figure out what I did expect, and I guess it was what I expected: a long journey across space. 

I definitely did not enjoy reading this book. I tend to not like science-fiction at all, and this was no exception. My favorite thing about reading is being able to visualize the story and having a movie play along in my head as I read. With this book, it's just not possible. I understand the author not wanting to spend pages on just describing things; that would annoy me too. I just prefer reading about things that are, things that can be, and things that I understand. Countless alien species inter-living with humans, and Earth no longer existing is just too far out of my realm of understanding that I had no way to follow along with visuals. That makes a book very hard to get into, for me. I was very happy when I reached the ending. 

I did enjoy some of the characters-it was a fun and spontaneous group, so their stories and growth together was enjoyable, but it was still hard to understand when the aliens were so far from understanding. Even with the basic backstory and description, I had a very difficult time reading them as other than human, so each time they did something "alien," I was thrown off and taken out of the story. 

I understand that sex sells, but I didn't enjoy that being a sub-plot. With Rosemary and Sissex, it just felt so forced, as if Chambers only included it because she knew that would win over many people. It did not win me. I'm very grateful that there was nothing explicit, however. I just think the story was working fine without it, and because it added nothing of value to the story, it would have been better to leave it out completely.

Perhaps because this is the first in the series, there really is no plot. The whole story feels like description and character/world building, which is fine for a beginning, but I've heard the the next books aren't about the same characters, so I don't understand why there couldn't have been more of a plot. This felt more like a few exciting events mixed in with world-building, which again, made it very difficult for me to enjoy. 

I read this to fulfill my "book that takes place in space" requirement on this challenge, and I suppose it is good to step out of my "comfort" reading zone every-once-in-a-while, but this book was no fun, and I will not be returning to it.