I don't like YA very much but I had no doubt Charlie Jane Anders was going to do something absolutely worthwhile here and I really wanted to be a part of it. So the majority of the issues that I have with this book stem from YA-ishness, and I'm kind of grading on a curve, i guess? Not penalizing the author for something i knew full well going in. 

It took me a considerable while to get used to the narrator and I'm trying not to hold that against the experience either! In terms of the story? I was vibing along with a familiar ish kind of space opera story and then I really was rather shockéd by the twist thrown in regarding the whole idea of Humanoid Superiority! I had been planning a whole medium 3.5 rating and then just like that Charlie Jane Anders reminded me 100% why I read Charlie Jane Anders.