I liked this book very much. It was fun to read. I have read the Imperial Raadch-trilogy earlier and find myself enjoying Ann Leckies universe. This story was more conventional and much easier to follow than those (I guess it helps to not have a protagonist that is an artificial intelligence divided among thousands of bodies including a large starship, at least for parts of the book).

Following other cultures in the same universe deepened it a lot and I both look forward to reading Translation state after this one and reading the Imperial Raadch-trilogy.