I loved this follow-up to Ancillary Justice and the continuation of Breq's journey. I wasn't certain what direction we would take after the fall-out at the end of Ancillary Justice, and hadn't expected a story as mysterious and contemplative as this one, but it was fitting. Breq, now the Captain of a Mercy, takes her ship and new crew to begin locking down gates and warning the other planetary leaders of the emperor's personal civil war. But Breq, being Breq, can't really leave anything alone, which has been clear from the moment she rescued half-dead Seivarden in book one. So, of course, Breq begins simultaneously investigating the unjust labor conditions of tea plantation workers and the mysterious political machinations at the "Ghost Gate." 

Where book one explored personhood through sentient AI (touching on issues of imperial violence and colonization just as the book ends), this positions us wholly within a colonized world. In this, Breq explores the violence of its overseers - "civilizers" - and the various threads of organization and revolution woven throughout the colony's history. I appreciated how plainly Breq calls out the habits of colonizers to ignore all religious and cultural nuance in favor of violent indoctrination, and how she repeatedly shows us the ways in which they have desecrated holy sites, assaulted and abused native people, and maintained language barriers for the purposes of subjugation. 

Because we were time jumping in book one, and we no longer have flashbacks to a previous storyline in book two, we now have the opportunity to really lean in to Breq's ship-connection and the various ways that the ships and their crews operate. This felt like West Wing hallway-walking as we pan between multiple scenes happening simultaneously - I loved it, and it really worked well on audio. 

And, of course, we have our continued gender-bending, as Breq maintains the practice of using only one set of gendered pronouns for all people (she/her/hers) unless engaging with cultures that recognize multiple genders. 

I highly recommend this series to those who love space opera, sentient ships, and politically sharp sci fi with excellent character development. And the audio! Adjoa Andoh's narration is excellent.