4.5 A very lovely story about a couple of old men discovering their friendships and how to not act unemotional for others' benefits. The one bigger complaint I have is that it is just a little too nice and easy for most of the part. Sure, there are some challenges for Cliopher, the Emperor and their friends, but apart from one section there are few parts where the reader really feels any tension and the new society they're building is just too good, but I guess the latter is kind of the point. Minor quibbles are that the last third is dragging on a little, the editing is bordering on quite bad in parts and the thing is quite literally the heaviest read I had in a while. If you have the paper version you might want to invest in a good lectern.

The undeniable strong points are the depiction of rich fantasy world that is modern in most ways except for technology, but where PoC are not only the default, but almost the only characters. Of course, there's still racism too, but the story wonderfully shows how the protagonist is learning to stand up for his home culture in even more ways and how difficult it is to reconcile identity and home connections in the face of moving away. This could have used some more challenges, of course, but it is still a topic rarely explored in any detail in fantasy.

Overall I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to anybody who likes their reads less hectic and less dark.