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Bait and switch from hard scifi to young adult fantasy! Characters not especially sympathetic, plot completely bogged down in the final third and no major galaxy exploration or major narrative stakes realized, it's all punted to a cliffhanger ending setting up the next book after coming in very strong in the opening third with speculative science fiction.

Extremely strong entry that leans into its identity and develops the "silkpunk" genre. The amazing payoff of this book consists in its deeply thoughtful and realistic descriptions of technology, as it might have been found and discovered in the context of a medieval east-asian themed island-continent empire. I would recommend going in with as little spoilers as possible. I am disappointed at how whimsical a main characters' choice is toward the very very end to just go off on their merry way, and I don't like that previous main characters who used to be super clever are reduced to fools to the point that you get angry watching them be duped.

But generally the characterization is strong and the underlying ethos of the book, that the world is discoverable, is a beautiful theme that powers the technology, the "magic" and the major questions of civilizational progress.

Also structurally, if it seems slow at first, keep going because momentum will pick up dramatically. If I say any more it's a spoiler. But excellent book overall and I can't think of anything else like it in the fantasy space.

Fantastic, builds on Grace of Kings in many ways. A high water mark for "silkpunk" as a subgenre with rich descriptions of east-asian themed discoveries of technology and ways they can be brought to bear in fascinating ways in times of war and peace.