I'm afraid this is one of those times when I've built up really high expectations for a book in my head, and then the book and I just didn't click. There were definitely parts of it that I liked; in particular, I was impressed by the vivid, visceral portrayal of colonialism and all the varied harm it can bring. I liked some of the relationships among the Sands. The prose and the pacing both flowed really well for the most part. There were a lot of interesting worldbuilding elements.

Unfortunately, the main characters just... weren't my cup of tea. Both Touraine and Luca made so many downright stupid choices, it was hard to understand how either of them had survived long enough to begin the plot in their respective positions. Touraine's entire personality seemed to be at odds with the role she was in. She literally gets praised by a friend for thinking before she acts, but the fact is, most of the time she very much doesn't. And Luca so clearly lacked the knowledge and understanding of all things political, which was odd considering the way she was brought up. That just kept taking me out of the story.

Also, the romantic storyline that I expected to be one of the main draws was probably my least favorite aspect of the book. Given the premise and how thoroughly colonialism was explored in other parts of the story, I expected the romance to be more explicitly/genuinely enemies-to-lovers, with higher-stakes conflict, and with an equally thorough examining of the oppressor/coloniser dynamic and its inherent toxicity, hopefully with both leads recognizing the toxicity. Instead, all too often it fell into the usual romanticized tropes with little self-awareness. 

Overall, lots of mixed feelings. Perhaps  I would have enjoyed the story more if it was about the same world and events, but with different characters?