15th February 2025

I chose this book mostly because the cover leapt out at me from the shelves of the bookshop, and the description sounded interesting. I really loved it, so this time my quick judgement paid off.

It’s the story of an AI inhabiting a human body - and for much of the book alternates between the ‘present’ and 20 years earlier, drip feeding the backstory that explains how it came to be the way it is.

There’s a load of interesting sci-fi concepts bundled up in this book, doing the typical great job of shining a light on various aspects of our own society.

I really like how Leckie has chosen to handle gender in the novel - showing how different cultures have different norms and different expectations - and yet it did make it harder to visualise everything that’s happening because of the differences in expectation between the novel’s cultures and the one I live in.

A great story, a compelling character, and really fascinating world building. I’ll be on the lookout for the rest of the series.

read more