The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

I had sort of a love/hate thing going with Becky Chambers' debut novel. There was a bit of eye-rolling when it came to unnecessary romantic pairings - I didn't expect the romance in a book I assumed was about space politics. But, at its core, it does what sci-fi does best: it imagines a world reminiscent of, but distinct from, our own. A lot of time and effort is spent explaining each character's elaborate gender journey, which didn't feel relevant to the story. But it makes sense that other planets wouldn't have a gender setup like ours and learning to navigate that would be a very real need for an intergalactic society. Given that, it helps the reader re-examine how we interact in our own society. And dang it if that's not what sci-fi is all about.