So...like apparently everyone else, I ended up here via Foz's review and, while I take some issues with her characterization of the book (it is more like Goblin Emperor than Ancillary Justice, but they still strike me as very different books indeed and recommending this to people who liked those is not a sure bet), I'm glad I came over.
Sanders is doing something fascinating here with the bildungsroman in fantasy. More often, books in fantasy with elements of the bildungsroman are basically the story of the epic hero. This is closer to Great Expectations, in a way, than to the hero's quest. The world, life--the life one is born into and the life one seeks out, the implacable society and its dictates are not so much antagonists as obstacles to navigate. And the reward for getting through is having done so, having grown up.
What makes Sanders book different is that, in setting the bildung in fantasy, she has a chance to question and think about so much of how the world works, how we think and how we understand those who are different than us.
With all that said, it was an exhausting read. (Or I'm just exhausted). And one that I can appreciate and find technically excellent but not the kind of book with which I want to fall in love.
This is the problem - I never liked Great Expectations.