I always enjoy Tor.com novellas. There's just something about them that you can really sink your teeth into. Diverse casts, stories with real consequences, a delicate balance of introspection and external action, and often the kinds of stories we wouldn't find anywhere else.

I had a bit of a hard time following a long with this one, namely because we don't get much of an introduction to our "main character" the cleric. But also because the audiobook I was listening to kept cutting off the last few seconds of every chapter thus leaving me confused.

I love the richness of the culture - between the games of luck and fortune (since several of these games were also conscripted for use for "seeing the future" and telling fortunes), the political intrigue of an Empress from the north married to the powerful southern emperor and how often she was underestimated, the wholesome relationships between women of different socioeconomic statuses who are forced together by circumstance, and much much more. I'm actually very excited to read the next novella in this world!