Naruto meets Catch 22, in space. At the start of the book it felt a little too YA, but but I think some of the cringiest moments are there to contrast against the latter third, which is non stop action and very hard to put down. I got strong anime vibes from the whole thing, and the story plays out as you'd expect it you've seen any tournament series. It has some interesting things to say about war, courage and militaristic cultures and makes a good counterpoint to the likes of Ender's Game. I think it can also be read as a parable about neurodiversity, but to say more would involve spoilers. I'd definitely recommend this to any YA nerds, and judging by the other reviews plenty have found it already