I was also completely unsurprised to learn that Long Way had been funded by Kickstarter - in neither a good nor a bad way, just . . . yep, that checks out. For me, once the iNTERMinable round of "new girl meets each of her new coworkers in turn and thinks instructively about their various space backgrounds" was over I didn't mind the lack of a plot. There were some tics of over-narration that did continue to bug me - for example, intercultural conflicts that are perfectly evident in dialogue but which Chambers has to rush in to explain for us anyway just in case - but I've endured worse for less charming worldbuilding. I was happy to see that there are sequels, and look forward to reading #2!