On A Sunbeam Books in Order

On a Sunbeam is a long, self-contained science-fantasy story, but it has the sweep of a whole series. The book follows Mia in two timelines. In the present, she is the newest member of a reconstruction crew traveling through deep space to repair abandoned buildings. In the past, she is a quiet, restless student at boarding school who has not yet figured out where she fits.

The school story matters just as much as the space journey. That is where Mia meets Grace, and Walden lets their friendship turn into first love slowly, through shared work, private talks, and the awkward courage of being young. Something breaks that connection before Mia is ready, and the older Mia carries that unfinished hurt into every new place she goes.

Everything in this world feels strange, but never random.

Ships look like fish. Staircases, temples, and entire buildings drift in the dark. The reconstruction crew does work that feels part construction, part restoration, and part archaeology, which gives the story its mood. These are not shiny science fiction spaces full of gadgets and military jargon. They are worn, haunted places full of memory, and that makes them a perfect backdrop for a story about people trying to rebuild themselves.

Mia is the emotional center, but the crew around her matters a lot. Their daily routines, jokes, arguments, and acts of care turn the ship into a found family. Walden is very good at showing how trust is built in small pieces, through meals, chores, and long travel days, not just big speeches. As Mia begins to open up about Grace, the book shifts from everyday crew life toward a riskier mission, one tied to the person she never stopped loving.

The back-and-forth structure does a lot of the emotional work. Each jump between past and present fills in why Mia is guarded now, and why the crew's kindness lands so hard. Walden is less interested in shock twists than in the way memory follows people around. Love, loss, and regret do not stay in one neat chapter, and On a Sunbeam understands that.

The tone is gentle, patient, and deeply romantic, but it is never weightless. There is danger here, and real loneliness, yet the book keeps returning to care: friends making dinner, people fixing things together, someone deciding to stay. If you like queer coming-of-age stories, found-family adventures, and science fiction that puts emotion ahead of technology, this is the kind of book that lingers. It is big, visually rich, and surprisingly easy to settle into once you accept its dream logic.