A Planet Called Happy

by Riley August

The fun new sci-fi adventure from the award-winning author of The Last Gifts of the Universe, perfect for fans of T. J. Klune and Becky Chambers.

Ellis appears to have it all – a great job, a loving girlfriend, and a loyal dog – yet each morning he wakes up feeling that something is missing.

In a desperate quest for true happiness, he boards a luxury shuttle to Planet Happy, a hedonistic paradise where guests seek the elusive ‘Happiness X’, the trademarked secret to instant joy.

There, he encounters Nara, a VIP attendant with her own dreams of freedom, whose job is to ensure Ellis has the time of his life. But when an activist group disrupts their plans, Ellis and Nara embark on a thrilling adventure that challenges their understanding of happiness and the influence of corporate power.

Will they find what they’re searching for, or is there more to Planet Happy than what’s in the brochure?

'Riley August is a major new voice in science fiction and I will read anything they write' Nadia El-Fassi

‘Raw, funny, and wise.' Julie Leong

‘Last Gifts is a quietly profound story about grief, purpose, and our place in the universe – told with a touch of humor, and a dash of adventure. Come for the cat, stay for the story.’ Sunyi Dean

Riley August 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Genres: Science Fiction

Audible Audio

First published July 23, 2026

Reviews

[quillnqueer]

I wanted just a moment or two to be able to enjoy the different park themes, but this book dragged me along like an overexcited dog on a lead.

This is set in the same universe as Last Gifts Of The Universe, I would consider this a sequel, although I wasn't aware of that going in. However I have read Last Gifts twice and loved it, so this was a pleasant surprise.

This is very Westworld in space, it's fun, it's campy and I connected with the characters, Nara and Ellis. But the breakneck pacing was difficult to deal with, and really hampered my enjoyment, as well as my ability to picture later introduced characters and environments.

[Athena (OneReadingNurse)]

A fun sci-fi story that romps us around a giant planet wide amusement part as the characters explore what it really means to have happiness.

The audiobook narrator threw me off with their accent - I've heard a lot of UK accents and I've never heard cosmos (coz-moes or cos-moze) pronounced like coss-moss 🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway, I will find more thoughts. The pacing seems to be a problem for lots of readers but I'm not so bothered by it. We got a taste of a lot of the parks without getting bogged down in details.

I like the ideas about capitalism and consumption and what will make someone happy (hint: it's not The Next Big Thing). I liked Pumpkin better than Pepper but I'll never say no to an animal companion.

It's not Last Gifts, but A Planet Called Happy is a solid softer sci-fi read

[Maddie J ✨]

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc 🧡

Rating: 2.5 ⭐️

For me, I think this book needed to be longer to have us sit with the characters and not feel like we were pushed through the story as break-neck speed. I really liked what we did get, but the relentless pace really hindered my enjoyment.
The concept of this book is really enjoyable, and I think we can all relate to the feeling of upper management slowly exerting more and more control of our lives, and so I really liked Nara’s character as the jaded reluctant hero. Ellis was just ok for me, a bit too bland, and maybe this could have been rectified if the book was longer.

Overall, I enjoyed, there just should have been more!

[Demetria Books]

This book should be made into a movie!

We follow Nara, a VIP attendant who as hard as she tries, cannot make the client assigned to her, Ellis, happy. When this threatens her freedom from the job she hates, she decides to steal Happiness X, a supposed instant joy to whoever finds it, and give it to her cynical and annoying guest. It’s all going well until Planet Happy- a hedonistic heaven and a setting for the story, gets attacked by an activist group, and Ellis and Nara get pulled into a scheme bigger than they expect.

“A planet called happy” is an action-filled rollercoaster with crazy pacing, fun set of characters and an absolutely hilarious final boss (which reminded me of Alexis from “That time I got drunk and yeeted a love potion at a werewolf”).

I listened to the audiobook along with reading the arc (yes, I am very late, massive apologies) and I honestly had enjoyed myself so much while following our characters’ journey, I haven’t even realised I’ve been cleaning the house for 4 hours straight 😂

Other than Ellis, who unfortunately was a bit boring and stuck up, I loved all the characters in this story! I think the activists were a intriguing group and I kind of wish we spent even more time with each of them, separately. I think my favourite character, other than the final boss (won’t spoil who it is😅) was Trevyr. He was the classic pure hearted idiot, who provided some much needed comedic relief. Oh and his pet Parrot was the cutest!

Nara was such a charismatic and morally grey character, an absolute perfect lead for an action packed book! I really love how she wasn’t afraid to go for whatever she felt was right in the moment (for herself or the others). The situations where her anger and frustration at the injustice of her world spilled over and made her blow up and confront oblivious entitled people were genuinely really satisfying!

I really appreciate the themes and topics this book tries to tackle like, obviously, what is happiness and why is it subjective? Why achieving everything doesn’t mean achieving complete fulfilment? Or the very much applicable to current times: how far will the greedy corpo-tech overlords go to turn everything around us into profit and how big is the involvement of AI in this ploy?

I think the only thing I’d disagree with is the idea that if working class (or indentured servants like Nara) would get to the same level of financial security as upper class, we still wouldn’t be happy because humans always want more and more. And it is true to some extent but let’s be honest, a £1000 for a millionaire is nothing, while for someone who earns even above minimum wage, this can be a momentary relief, if not life changing amount of money. Also, I refuse to feel bad for rich people, even if the book makes the point that we all work for in the same machine. Yeah, nah.

That being said, I still really enjoyed this book and I just bought the previous book from this author, because one of the characters in “A Planet called Happy” makes a reference to the events of “The last gifts of the universe” and I’m curious to find out more.

Thank you so much to Del Rey and NetGalley for this arc💕

[Sarah]

Imagine if you will, that a huge corporation has taken control of an entire planet and turned it into several enormous theme parks, each designed to cater to a different pastime or entertainment chosen at will by the guests who pay crazy amounts of money to stay here for their holidays, all in the pursuit of happiness. There are different tiers of guests on this planet - we start by following Ellis a VIP who has been to Happy a few times and his personal VIP assistant Nara - whose job is to watch Ellis 24/7 using background info and medical data about him to try and enhance his time on the planet (all in the hopes that he'll spend more money). Nara has a 20 year long contract working at Happy - she works crazy long hours taking stimulant drugs to keep her awake and able to cater for her VIPs whims - and she hates it. She is well aware that there is an (at best) artificial and cynical motive behind all these things to try and achieve happiness for the guests and keeps being pulled up by management for not following protocol to basically be a good little corporate drone (while also being a indentured slave). I really enjoyed this book, I think there are a lot of deeper meaning aspects of it (what is true happiness and how do we get it?) alongside a sci-fi rollercoaster ride through various imagined worlds. I did struggle to imagine what was happening about 2/3 of the way through when the characters we're following are taken into the core of the planet, but once they emerged it was all systems go and despite being absolutely off the wall bonkers I thought it worked really well.

[Books By Your Bedside]

Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I loved Riley's previous book - The Last Gifts of the Universe. It was so bizarre but I thought they were such an original and interesting author that I was thrilled to be sent their latest one.

It's set in the same universe as their other book, so in a way it is like a sequel but I don't think you need to have read one to read the other. But it has been a while since I read it so I may be misremembering, but I didn't feel at a loss just because I couldn't remember what happened in the other one.

I was a little confused by who was narrating this. It seems to be two different people but within the same chapter and there's no explanaction when it switches POV and so I found that a bit difficult to figure out.

The pacing is a bit too fast and haphazard. I know it matches what the characters are doing, but as a reader we never get to settle in one place or with one theme but it moves on to something else, so I felt at arms length to what was going on and couldn't connect to it. I think it would benefit from being a little longer so we had time to explore this world more.

The characters I felt were a little bland. Nara was better than Ellis, but even so, I found her a bit grating after a while.

It's a fun fantasy story, but it does ask some interesting questions, mainly, what does real happiness look like?

I think it's a good premise and there's no denying Riley's storytelling ability, but this one just fell short of what I was hoping for.

[Isabelle]

A Planet Called Happy by Riley August

I was obsessed with The Last Gifts of the Universe (especially Pumpkin) so of course I had to read this too! No, I didn’t read the description of it so I had no idea what to expect. I just trusted Riley August to deliver again—and they did!

(Yes, I used an em dash. I love em dashes and you will not take them away from me.)

I enjoy books where the MC has what seems to be a super mundane job in their world because something always happens to make their life so-not-mundane. This particular world turned out to be pretty crazy in a way that feels terrifyingly possible in the worst ways. Some of it felt very extra, but it was done in a way that worked for this story.

I’m not surprised that Riley once again managed to address serious issues in an entertaining story. The delivery is heavy-handed, but I personally think that works well because it’s (partially) the point of the story. And it’s the characters that make it so compelling. If you love characters that come out of their shells, that are defiant, that band together with unlikely allies to do good things, then this is a story for you.

Found family. Animal companion. Comedic relief in the middle of terrifying chaos. And even some nods to The Last Gifts. I wanted more scifi fun, and I got it with this book. I can’t wait to see what August brings to us next.

[Clairiefaerie]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!

I loved this one, it was bonkers but in much the same way that my very favourite sci-fi the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is. Planet happy is in theory full of parks that should help you achieve pure happiness … but the effect is pretty hellish. The employees have numbers not names and the chipper sounding Marshall’s will pursue you relentlessly for any rule violations.

The writing was funny and the imagery was vivid. I loved the journey that Ellis and Nara took me on, while I laughed a lot and enjoyed the weirdness, the story did have a real heart.

I would have liked to spend some more time at each of the parks but otherwise I didn’t mind the fast pace of the action.

Perhaps the most relatable thing in the whole book was Ellis’s continued concern over the wellbeing of his dog Mr.Man, especially when he realises the girlfriend he left him with isn’t quite who he thought she was.

I recommend this for when life has got you a bit down and you want to read something completely different that will make you laugh and contemplate.

Thank you to Random House UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC, I loved it.

[Jessica Juby | jesshidesinbooks]

I was super lucky to win this proof copy of this book from the publisher. I enjoyed the prior novel, The Last Gifts in the Universe, while I was away in Hay-on-Wye and really enjoyed it, so was keen to see what would come next.

A longer work, I felt like Happy contained way more subtextual meaning and gave me a lot more to think about. To me, the novel speaks to the commercialisation of happiness; a very timely conversation when I'm seeing ever increasing ads fed by algorithms that mine my data and claim to know me and shape what I see.

In the story, Planet Happy has been constructed to provide visitors their ultimate happy experience - whatever makes you happy, they can give it to you. At a price. There's scenes where ads are subtly, or not so subtly, shown to coerce people towards a certain scenario, reaction, or feeling. The whole planet and experiences there are engineered to manipulate visitors into feeling happy.

When everything is fake, what is true happiness?

Maybe I was overthinking this (Hello, hi, I'm the problem, it's me) and took things from it that weren't intended, but I definitely felt more awake after reading this. So obviously, I recommend it

[Ben Gilman]

A Planet Called Happy is an exciting and hilarious sci-fi adventure, set on a planet-sized theme park. a story of brilliant worldbuilding, this book takes the universe set up in The Last Gifts of the Universe and adds a brilliantly diverse cast of characters and an incredibly entertaining villain, as well as adding depth to many aspects set up in the previous book. Every chapter opens with an excerpt from either Planet Happy's "official" guide or Nara's alternative, in a perfect contrast between the false corporate image presented to the customers and the dark reality behind the scenes. A story of deep emotions and brilliant humour, A Planet Called Happy tells a story that is not only an entertaining adventure through a beautifully built world, but also a timely reminder that happiness is an experience that is found, not bought.

[Tamsin]

For those who have been here a little while, you’ll know I adored The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August - I’ve got a tattoo dedicated to it.
When I saw A Planet Called Happy released I couldn’t resist.

Another stunningly thought provoking read looking at what happiness really is, how we have lost our sense of community and connection, whilst reflecting on what it truly takes to heal. It challenges the view on how we can only find joy or fix our sadness by focusing on ourselves, but instead looking at how we can heal, find joy and connection when we focus our efforts outwards. To helping the greater good and others.

A Planet Called Happy is fun and full of joy, action packed and full of banter between the characters, whilst not only diagnosing a current crisis in modern society, but also offers an antidote.

[Sasha Wolf]

An indentured worker joins forces with a resistance group, a colleague and a VIP tourist against the ultracapitalist company that owns her contract... and wants to take over the world.

If you're looking for an unhinged romp with non-stop action sequences, this will probably suit you well. Unfortunately, that just isn't me. Long before we got to the final act, the action had become boring rather than exciting. I did like Pepper, the AI companion bird, and the human characters were okay, if not standout. The enumeration of the fundamental flaws of capitalism is spot-on; it's just also a bit too heavy-handed for my taste.

[Sierra Branham]

I had such a good time with this book. It had my favorite sort of jaded and sarcastic protagonist, tons of delightful chaos, really fun characters, and excellent social commentary.

At once fun, satirical, and sharply prescient, this wild ride of a novel holds up a broken mirror to our own world and asks: are you happy yet? I loved every moment and hit the last page feeling both thoughtful and uplifted.

[Kate (monstrouslybookish)]

About 60 pages too long. I really enjoyed the first 70% but after that it was repetitive and not super fun to read.

The Last Gifts of the Universe was one of my top reads of 2024, it's a bummer this didn't live up to that.

[Charlie]

Genuinely fantastic. Couple of continuity errors and things that another round of proof reads would of caught, but nothing that can't be overlooked.

Genuinely enjoyable, effortless read. Highly recommend.

[KKUURRTT]

This book rules.

[Azrah]

Big Loki S1 meets Westworld vibes and I had a fun time!

Full RTC

[Aaliyah]

such a fun read

[TC]

Loved the concept, a planet and amusement park looking at what makes us happy. An easy read but found the pace relentless, it was however a lot of fun

[Hannah]

This book was a really fun yet thought-provoking comment on the relationship between people and social media conglomerates, technology and free thought! There was an element of humour to it which helped to make the book enjoyable, but the message behind it is stark - there are companies who have even more of an overarching influence over the general populace than we think. Although in theory I would love to visit the planet Happy if it existed in real life, the negatives would by far outweigh the positives!

The pace was sometimes a bit fast and there were occasions when I struggled to keep track of what was happening, or to picture what was going on and where. However, the fast pace works in the book's favour most of the time as it helps the reader to get swept up in the peril faced by the main characters and it encourages you to keep on reading to find out what happens next!

A really enjoyable read, would recommend

[Chrys]

This was unexpected, it was nowhere near the cosy sci-fi I was hoping for but it was an exciting experience, if not a whole lot darker.
Set in a dystopian universe, with poor people being treated appallingly (will we ever learn?) Our main character is working as a virtual personal assistant for guests at Happy; the resort planet that knows exactly what you want. Our secondary character is a very disillusioned, and unhappy guest. They get caught up in a political terror attack and more terrifyingly, are hunted by the Augmented Intelligence that is running the planet.
This was fun but it was very chaotic.

[Catherine]

"The well-meaning questions people ask when they aren't wanting - not really, really wanting - for the universe's most valuable resource, which unbelievably is not water, food or love. It's money."

I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked The Last Gifts of the Universe, and was looking for another thoughtful, but still lighthearted story to enjoy. This definitely has the same vibe, and I thought the different characters served as great representations of the complexities of a society motivated by money.

Sometimes this focus on the message behind the story made it feel as though you lost sight of the story itself, and it did become difficult to keep track of what was happening.

However, there was definitely plenty to enjoy!

Books with similar vibes - The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson, The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay, and The Humans by Matt Haig.