Ann Leckie continues to be the embodiment of all the good things about CJ Cherryh and Lois McMaster Bujold that we didn't know we needed but would have if we'd thought about it for a second. Her crisp prose style and complicated universe and elegant plots and loveable protagonists are entirely her own, however. With much of the focus on the terrifying and enigmatic alien Presgrs and the treaty which keeps them from casually dismantling ships, stations and people, this one is especially intriguing, and if the Presgr remain as inscrutable as ever, we have a better understanding of what we don't understad by the end, and that's good sci fi.