I couldn't find the Wayfarers series (something I've been meaning to read for a long time) at my local library, so in the meantime, while I looked elsewhere, I settled for this novel to dip a toe into Chambers' writing. "Settled" sounds like I didn't want to read this. I did, I just haven't heard much about it, so it had been this obscure little read to enjoy between other books on my list I'd been looking forward to more. 

I was hooked from the first line. Even before the first line, honestly - the dedication page stated, "for anybody who could use a break", and I, in the middle of my undergrad thesis, going through audiobook after audiobook in the background as I worked, nearly sobbed right there. Dex, the nonbinary protagonist whose story isn't about figuring out their gender, or grappling with their gender, or struggling to accept their gender in a society that doesn't, or whatever it is cis authors usually think we do all day, warmed my own nonbinary heart greatly. Dex's struggle comes instead from their perceived lack of purpose, and decision to uproot themself and go do something different, something they feel they have a calling to do, only to discover that their new vocation doesn't really fill that weird little void, either. 

I love Dex. I love the robot (whose name was so precious and cute that I refuse to spoil it, it's something I want you to go "awww" at for yourself when you see it on the page). I love the way the audiobook was read, with a little bit of varied intonation to suggest separate characters, but not enough to be outright silly. I relate to literally everything they both do as they navigate relating to each other. When the second book comes to my library in audiobook form, or when I scrape the money together to buy it, I can't wait to be reunited with these characters again.