4.5 / 5, rounded up

So good! Amazing that it's a first book from Dickinson - very excited to see what he'll produce in the future. It's not 100% perfect: some of the plot developments are a little too convenient, and I think the book could have been fleshed out a little to make it more believable. At just under 400 pages, it could have used maybe 100-150 pages in the early parts to set the stage more. I've seen conversation arguing that the later parts read as too top-down, but I enjoyed the feeling that I was reading almost a blow by blow for a strategy game since that's essentially what Baru is doing.

The setting was fresh, and I particularly enjoyed the Asian influences. It reminded me a lot of James Clavell's Shogun.

Even suspecting the ending I couldn't stop for the last 50 pages or so. What a punch in the gut!