Breq is an AI in the body of a human but 19 years ago she was also known as the ship Justice of Toren and at the same time occupy dozens of other bodies while serving the Imperial Radch. Now, Breq is on a mission of revenge with takes her across space and and may set off a war.

How to even begin reviewing this book. I should start off by saying that while I'm giving this a three star, that's a strong three star. While I enjoyed the book and felt it was extemely (almost insanely) well written my levels of enjoyment were just not quite high enough for it to be a 4 star YET I think if I reread the book, being familiar with the story already and going in not so blind, I would give it a 4 star. There is just so many things going on and the idea and plot are so complex, it definitely took me a while for my brain to get what was going on and for me to really get into the story. This probably had something to do with me reading only a handful of hardcore sci-fi, and no other space operas but like I said, I did enjoy my reading experience with this book.

Breq herself was pretty interesting. She was human at times, cold and passive at others She often did things I felt out of character, such as repeatedly saving Seivarden for seemingly no reason. I never really did get why Breq kept Seivarden around. I do feel at times there was very little connection between me, as a reader, and Breq as the whole story was being told very matter of fact and with very little emotion.

The setting and the detailed history of the Imperial Radch, the Gadraii and all the other planets, races and religions was amazing and so well thought out. Leckie obviously put so much work into creating this world and I definitely think there's so much potential with it and I can't wait to see where she goes in Ancillary Sword.

Breq's use of gender and misgendering was very interesting, though at times confusing. The Radchaii don't seem to be a people who display their gender obviously and they don't care about gender pronouns so everyone is a she so Breq calls everyone 'she'. However, someone else will then say 'him' over a character is referring to and while I love the fact that gender fluidity is apparent in this book, it did make for some confusing moments for me when trying to picture the character Breq was referring to as I never knew if they were masculine or feminine.

This is the kind of book that you definitely have to read several reviews of right after finishing, just to make sure you were on the same level of understanding as others (at least I did) and I think it's a trilogy, for me, that will have to read quite close together due to the complex nature of the plot and world. I am looking forward to reading Ancillary Sword though!