This book, my stars, this book. I received a review copy from NetGalley, but took so long to start reading it. I regret that with every fibre of my being. This books is all sorts of amazing. I didn’t want it to finish, and i dragged my heels reading it so i could make it last as long as possible. I honestly only have good things to say, and that fact surprises no one more than me.

First of all, the world building, or, more accurately, the universe building. It’s so rich, so alive and so effortlessly portrayed. It’s not overly explained to the reader in blocks of uninspiring exposition, but rather sprinkled throughout, in different and interesting ways–it’s more part of the essence of the book and the writing style. It made it such a wonderful reading experience, feeling immersed into the world. Everything from the wider concepts of the Galactic Commons, the different species and their history and cultures down to the small details of a wide variety of food stuffs and the intergalactic postal system–all of it is so obviously well thought out and perfectly brought to life.

How massively inclusive and representative this book is blows my mind a little. I was trying to list the awesome subjects this book addresses, either simply by representing them, or by touching on and exploring them, to my partner and i couldn’t get them all. For the rest of the night i kept remembering more and simply crying out, “Cloning!” “Polyamorous relationships!” and, “Gender neutral pronouns!” at random moments. Every new diverse theme broached made my grin a little wider and my heart a little bigger.

A longer review can be read at my blog: Marvel at Words.