I really enjoyed this, but I wish it would have been more than it was.

What I loved

The worldbuilding. A post apocalyptic world mixed with the wild west, yes, sign me up! An oppressive government and a group of female librarians working for the rebellion under the cover of being 'proper women' - sign me up! The premise is cool and I feel there are a lot of great stories to be told in this world.
The representation. I love representation and here it didn't feel forced, it fit the story and got its message accross clearly without hitting you over the head with what it wants you to take away from it.
The writing. It was engaging, very on point and I want to read more of this. I will definitely check out more books by Sarah Gailey.

What didn't work for me

I don't know if a novella was the right format for this story. It actually took me a bit to get into it, which I feel a novella shouldn't do. And then once it got started, it tried to do so much in the little time it had. I feel like this story should have been told in a novel or it should have been shortened to fit the length of a novella. As it is, some of the resolutions came too quickly for me, without much buildup, and at the same time I wished for more character development, but there wasn't time to explore those characters further and most of them ended up a bit flat.

I wish I could read a whole novel set in this world, and I hope someday I will.