I must admit, I chose to read this book first in my quest to read all of this year's Philip K. Dick nominees simply because I expected to find least interesting. I'm not big into military stories (the only other military-themed SF I can remember reading is Heinlein's [b:Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1234902570s/17214.jpg|2534973]), so when sorting from least-curious to most-curious by back cover blurbs, this made it to the top of the pile.

However, I found it a lot more interesting and enjoyable than I expected. While there's certainly no doubt about this falling into the realm of military SF, it incorporates enough other aspects through Ia's abilities, characterization, and motivation that I had no problems getting through to the end, and never felt like I was slogging through it or reading it "just because" instead of out of actual enjoyment. Military hoo-rah may not be my thing, but Ia's an interesting enough character that I'll enjoy following up with her story when the sequels come out.