while overall I thought this book was wonderful and I greatly enjoyed it, I hope in the next installment there's less of telling rather than showing.

We're told multiple times that Teixcalaanitzm are strange and alien to Stationers (Mahit reiterates this several times) but I would have liked to have seen it and felt it myself through her interactions on Teixcalaan rather than being told it constantly, because honestly I never felt like the Teixcalaanitzm where ever so "alien". They all seemed like perfectly normal people who just have more subtle facial expressions and a fondness for poetry.

Particularly with her first conversation with Nineteen Adze, we keep being told that ohh she's masterfully manipulating Mahit into talking ohhh she's so scary! But I don't want to be TOLD how I'm meant to interpret a scene, if Nineteen Adze is really intended to be such a adept politician I should be able to come to that conclusion on my own without the author jumping through the page, grabbing me by the head looking me directly in the eyes and telling me "this lady is Serious Business. For Real."