I really struggled with this.  I love NK Jemisin, and like always, the fantastical elements of this book were well-developed and imaginative.  But I just could not buy the characters, and I think that’s more a failing of the plot setup than anything else—so often the characters felt like caricatures, which they kind of had to be because of their nature as avatars.   Which makes for a very tough read, if you ask me.  So much of the dialogue felt contrived.  And I think the choice of narration style, which didn’t really commit to any one perspective after deep dives into each, did not help.  

I had other issues—I think the plot was messy and slow—but really the big issue for me was the characters.  Having felt so invested in the characters of her other books, this was disappointing.  I would only recommend this to people who have already read something else by the author (who I think is brilliant!).