At 46% everything is starting to feel veeery repetitive and pedestrian:

- Mahit, based on almost nothing, conveniently uncovers one of Yskandr's plots. 

- We hear fuck all from Yskander, and Mahit can’t manage a sentence without begging him to return. 

- Mahit can't trust anyone but really wants to be everyone's friend. 

- Weird chat about literature that’s getting too convoluted, and not in a good way. 

- Oh no, Lsel is under possible attack. Maybe from within (shock, horror). 

It's all so wishy washy, and basically all just Mahit's speculation. Nothing has actually happened apart from a war being declared, but even that wasn't exactly interesting. The levels of bland are outstanding, and from reading reviews it isn’t going to get any better.  

 

And so much of it doesn’t even make sense in the world Martine has created! For example, the flimsiness of the imago line tech, especially with how excruciatingly important they apparently are. Surely something a little more sophisticated could have been made to secure data (a cloud, data relay etc.)? Also, how Mahit has supposedly been training her whole lie to be ambassador, and is obsessed with Teixcalaanli culture, yet knows pretty much NOTHING about them?? How does that work then? 

I also really can't help but compare the book to Yoon Ha Lee’s Ninefox Gambit, which (published three years before this) includes many of the same themes/tech and is an absolute MASTERPIECE. After reading something so similar and so well done, Martine’s work unfortunately fails rather drastically in comparison.