So… I made the mistake of reading The Language of Knives (short story) at the same time as this. And the two paired just give a whole new meaning to bringing relatives to dinner. Okay, having said that, and having read the Bel Dame Apocrypha, I knew what I was getting into here: Hurley is a master (mistress?) of the creation of TRULY unique worlds with intricate worldbuilding, but also being able to delicately throw that information at the reader. I have absolutely zero doubt that she’s figured out plumbing for each of her cultures, but she has the grace not to explain it to the reader. I have to admit that most of her writing leaves me in the mind of China Mieville, who I consider the king of the New Weird genre, but honestly? I think she’s better at it. Unfortunately for me, I’m not a huge fan of New Weird, so while I enjoyed the uniqueness of the setting, it also had a tendency to get under my skin. THIS IS NOT TO SAY this is not an awesome book, because it is -- it is to say that I’m not one for this much complexity in my reading. ( )

On one hand, this is an amazingly deep, original and good book - it feels like Malazan written by Jemisin. On the other hand, it is a terribly tiring reading experience (again, like Malazan) and I felt like studying for an exam while reading it. So a 5/5 book, but a 2/5 experience. ( )

DNF I had a very hard time keeping track of who was who, became frustrated and just gave up. ( )

Like so many new books I read these days, this one is excellent, but again, not for the faint of heart. Herein is an abundance of brutal violence, sexual and otherwise, as well as some cutting critique of static gender roles in more conventional books of the fantasy genre. This book features a culture with five genders, one with three genders, and one where male/female gender roles are "reversed," as it were, with women running everything and going off to war while the men are confined at home as objects of sexual gratification. The latter case is exemplified by a POV character, a ruthless general named Zezili, and her husband Anavha, who have a rather abusive, dysfunctional relationship that many readers may find disturbing.

Nevertheless, if one is unfazed by the above, the book has much to recommend it. Kameron Hurley's world building is excellent as always, and the aforementioned non-standard gendered cultures all feel totally plausible and the result of a natural societal evolution, rather than gimmicks contrived to shock and awe. The idea of having the magic system based off satellites, where adepts are only powerful when their star is ascendant, is an inspired one, and is also worked well into the world building and culture. Fans of her previous series, the Nyx Apocrypha, will know that the author is particularly fond of organic technology, and that is present here as well, in the form of magically grown plant-based weaponry, architecture, et al.

While all of this is interesting and I greatly enjoyed the book, comparisons to God's War are inevitable, and I didn't find myself enjoying this book quite as much as Kameron Hurley's previous work. There are boatloads of characters, as is to be expected from the genre, and I had some difficulty keeping them all straight, forcing me to refer to the glossary at the back a few times. Further, I felt that the political intrigue to bloody violence ratio was just a bit higher in this book, and I occasionally found some of the politics tedious. The book is also a bit longer than I usually like, but in the end, all these criticisms are largely subjective in nature and offset by the book's positive qualities. Four stars, and I look forward to the next one. ( )

It was ok, but Hurley goes way overboard in the "creating new names for things that really actually don't need them" department, which made the entire thing more than a little frustrating to read. ( )