I can see why this was a surprising shift in tone for people going in expecting more of the Ancillary trilogy. It also doesn't have the cool multiplicity of points of view aspect we got with Breq, and the gender stuff in the empire was replaced by other gender stuff. But there's more aliens, so for me it balanced out in the end.

I really enjoyed another outing in the universe with (at least initially) slightly lower stakes. I was describing it as "delightful buddy comedy about a dumb fuck aristocrat's daughter and the rando non-binary criminal she picked up along the way, attempting to do crime" and that more or less sums it up, with "and accidentally interplanetary shenanigans" and "cute f/f romance" towards the end. Competence porn this was not, but I liked being on the trip with someone whose skill set was not at all matched to the situation in which she placed herself, but who more or less figured how to make it work anyway. I liked that it was mixed on the value of loyalty to a family that probably isn't all that loyal back, and trying to navigate toxic relationships. I might have lost track of some of the plotting and counter plotting towards the end there, but it had all the action adventure and fun aliens that the first ones did.

Very much enjoyed, looking forward to my library someday getting Translation State on audio.