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This was a compelling read, describing some fairly weird events with great clarity. I read it at about the same time that I went to see the new Dune movie and the contrast was striking. As Ursula Le Guin pointed out in the foreword of the edition I read, Red is not a character operating on a grand scale. He espouses no ideology and tries only to do well for himself and his family. What scruples he has are eroded away over the course of the book and I read his final, desperate wish as some kind of cry for justification. As the alien artefacts of the story are picked over selfishly without any understanding of their purposes or workings, so we each scrape through lives shaped by the detritus of great philosophies.

One of the reasons I suggested this novel was its endorsement by Ann Leckie and it shares several themes with Leckie's Imperial Radch novels: most obviously the use of futuristic technology to explore identity, the blurring of gender, the cultural impact of empires. It feels a little more sentimental than Leckie and only minor characters (like the hilariously named Six Helicopter) seem really heartless. I did though enjoy the characterisation and particularly the tangled relationships. I admired the subtlety of the chemistry between characters, which seemed to be present before either characters or reader were really aware of it. The relationships across cultural lines give a bit of blood to what feels like a particular interest of the author: the negotiation of cultural identity in an imperial setting, as personified by Mahit, in love with the Teixcalaanli culture that she is trying to keep at arm's length. Teixcalaanli culture itself is painted with depth and rich colours, with obvious Central American and Byzantine influences. It contrasts throughout with what we see of Lsel, more austere and less individualistic (though that doesn't do justice to its nuances). The author's background in history shows through all this, she clearly relishes immersion in foreign cultures and political upheavals, and the book tends more towards explanation than leaving readers to pick at clues themselves.

I agree Sinclair - this book was really well balanced and written, and the setting and characterisation seemed original, engaged, and non-patronising to the reader. Pretty much my favourite style of fantasy. And then it was over! I think linked novellas could have been an option for this one, also.

I read this quite a while ago. A tough read but a good one - would be difficult not to be somewhat decent given what a good stylist Harrison is. I remember hearing this is him tackling space opera (again - he already did with "The Centauri Device" - a novel he now dislikes). Very memorable, with some extremely memorable individual scenes - I can remember the arcs of the three main characters extremely well after all these years. To a degree, I think the engagement with space opera was a little superficial - it was basically "let's take the assumptions of this genre, and play them out in the most pessimistic way possible". But there is enough uniqueness in what actually happens to make it it's own thing, and not merely a pastiche. I can't imagine recommending this book to anyone, however, as who could predict who would like it given it's bleakness.

I listened to an interview with the author, which I quite enjoyed (it was on the "Geeks Guide to the Galaxy" podcast). I think listening to this she is obviously deeply immersed in science fiction - we kind of wondered how much this was a science fiction novel. The next book apparently is from more viewpoints than one - listening to the author talk, I think this might help to give that book the oomph this one felt to lack to me, given it had such good worldbuilding.

Also - this won the Hugo Award. Not mentioned on the cover! I gave it three stars - it's good, but if this is literally the best novel of 2020 (an interpretation I doubt), it wasn't the best year.

I was a bit disappointed by this book. It was pitched to me as an alternative to generic fantasy novels rooted in medieval Europe but to me the novel's African trappings seemed fairly superficial. The story could easily be transplanted to a traditional fantasy setting and spiritually it remains rooted in Christianity. The group has read quite a few novels that offer much deeper alternatives to the traditional fantasy setting. I also found the internal dynamics of the setting unconvincing. I can accept a fantastical world where bloodlines carry magical powers but that those bloodlines wouldn't have monopolised power as an aristocracy is hard to believe! The writing was all right. The author captured the melodrama of teenage relationships pretty well, although that was pretty exhausting even when I was an actual teenager.