It had been a long time since I read the first two books in this trilogy, so I’d forgotten a lot of the minor details. This story picks up pretty immediately where the previous left off, but I was able to slip right back into the action with only a few minor hiccups.
This remains an intense space opera with lots of action and multiple fascinating characters. Breq continues to be the best sort of nontraditional hero, and I adore how Leckie represents the language of the Radchaai. Flipping the expected “norm” of pronoun usage does a lot to feature the characters as individuals rather than defaulting to judging them by gender expectations.
The conclusion to the overarching plot of this trilogy delves into questions of sentience. Leckie drops hints at the beginning of the book, which transform into full-blown story elements by the end. A clever way to solve the immediate problem while leaving open so many opportunities to revisit this universe.
Which I hope happens. I still have so many questions about the “alien” species, especially the Presger! And I wouldn’t mind a visit to see how Breq and co. are doing as well.
Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.