19th October 2025

An absolutely amazing sequel that takes the character from the first book and puts her into a new situation, shining a light back on the real world, while exploring new cultures.

Some of the detail of the first novel escapes my memory now, but that didn't matter at all, as only the broad brushstrokes really mattered to setting up this second story.

This is a tale of someone seeking redemption, trying to put the world to rights, and trying to protect their loved ones. I really loved being with this character again, and seeing them in this new situation.

The world-building is amazing - there's so much going on, across multiple situations, and having that all come together and serve the story is very impressive.

I absolutely loved revisiting this world, and am looking forward to reading the third book (and I've recently learned there are more stories in this universe as well!)

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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.

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