Such an uplifting read! It managed to scratch my space opera itch.

We're in space. Lots of aliens in a galactic alliance. Everyone breathes the same atmosphere and is roughly the same size. Artificial gravity, faster-than-light travel. Your normal "let's not get creative here" setting.

Where the creative part comes in is the cast and the plot. We're on the Wayfarer, a spaceship for digging "sublayer" tunnels, through which FTL traffic can flow from one star system to another. The crew of nine includes five humans, three aliens and an AI.

With a few exceptions everyone is super nice. The captain is a pacifist. They carry no weapons. They story is mainly a road trip to a "small, angry planet". They run into conflicts at times, but these are never settled with force. They don't outwit or otherwise defeat the enemy either. They just come to an agreement or find a legal solution.

I love this book for this. I mean how many times in your life have you been in a conflict? How often was it resolved by force or cunning? Way less often than in novels or films. So this is a nice change of pace.

The story is a bit like a collection of short stories about these characters. You could probably swap around some chapters without anyone noticing. It's not a bad thing. There is not a strong overarching plot or big twists. But still it was a satisfying read. The stories are interesting enough.