Paperback, 330 pages
English language
Published Dec. 26, 2015 by Orbit.
For just a moment, things seem to be under control for the soldier known as Breq.
Then a search of Athoek Station's slums turns up someone who shouldn't exist — someone who might be a refugee from a ship that's been hiding beyond the empire's reach for three thousand years.
In the meantime a messenger from the alien and mysterious Presger empire arrives, as does Breq's enemy, the divided and quite possibly insane Anaander Mianaai —ruler of an empire that's at war with itself.
Anaander is heavily armed and extremely unhappy with Breq. She could take her ship and crew and flee, but that would leave everyone at Athoek in terrible danger.
Breq has a desperate plan. The odds aren't good, but that's never stopped her before.
I know I should like this book. But I don't.
I get tired of the talk of breakfast and tea. The voyeurism of private conversation and personal heartbreak. The totally unprofessional military officers. And I can't believe the AI are that stupid. It just doesn't work for me. It's like The Culture crossed with Downton Abbey.
