This entry in the Imperial Radch universe really shows Ann Leckie's writing skills. We have three protagonists, and cannot do without any of them. And we get to learn more about the Presger, that incredibly alien threat.
There's also a lot of interesting and astute political commentary here. Leckie has built a consistent world where gender and race are fluid concepts, with alternative pronouns used naturally. She then reintroduces race and oppression through the Phren and the Hikipi, two human races from LoveHate station now residing on a planet. The Hikipi suffer from terrible oppression at the hands of the Phren, but this does not make them into saints and martyrs. The Hikipi fall for disinformation (the Presger aren't real!) and commit violence just like real humans do. The point of valuing all people, and lifting up those who have suffered oppression, is not to put them on a pedestal. It's to make space for them as people.
Family and human connection are the center of the novel. Protagonists Reet (raised as human) and Qven (a Presger Translator) want to be human, and their family (who adopted Reet, and then embraced Qven when Qven is in a relationship with Reet) fight for their right to be human.
There's so much high quality teaching going on that it starts to become the point of the book. That's the only issue I have, and hard to say it's a real one. The Imperial Radch is an incredibly complex place, Leckie can explore it for her whole career and just get started. Looking forward to the next one.
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