What a brilliant and satisfying follow up to A Memory Called Empire. What a pleasure when the second book in a duology is arguable stronger than the first! This book picks up pretty much exactly where the previous one left off, with Mahit back on Lsel Station, Three Seagrass still in Teixcalaan promoted to a high level Information Ministry role under the new Emperor, and war against an unintelligible alien force brewing in the very edge of Teixcalaan space. Nine Hibiscus heads the fleet facing the mysterious enemy and her friendship with Twenty Cicada, her second in command, shines as one of the highlights of the story. This book once against wrestles with the limits of identity ("How wide is your your definition of you?" is a question asked over and over) as well how hard is it to resist soft power/cultural exports of empire, even by a people who desire to maintain an independence government. I highly, highly recommend this series and plan to keep reading anything Arkady Martine publishes!