In a bid finally to win the attention and approval of her politician mother, Ingray arranges to smuggle Pahlad Budrakim, heir to one of her mother's rivals, out of the prison planet known as Compassionate Removal. From the start, things don't go as planned. After a tense encounter with the alien Geck, Ingray manages to return her charge back home to Hwae, but the two are entangled in a murder investigation when a visiting diplomat from the Omkem people is killed in their company. While there are references to elements from Leckie's "Ancillary" books, the action focuses on Ingray, who wants her foster mother's love but fears her scheming brother will forever be the favorite.
VERDICT Following up her magnificent "Ancillary" trilogy, Leckie wisely moves to a different area of the same universe, showing that she is still interested in nonbinary ideas of gender in this latest character-centered space opera from one of sf's brightest stars.
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