I’ve been reading JCP’s books for years, and have been amazed by the storytelling in the worlds she builds. This book is no different, and it was a credit well spent. The story and characters kept me guessing and it’ll definitely be one I reread. The additional short story at the end was a perfect coda to the main story.
Side note: one thing I was glad I saw in another review so my expectations were set correctly, due to the circumstances of the fictional world, there is one kind of explicit love scene and that’s it. As it was an amazing story and that narrative choice makes total sense (even touching is taboo in their society), it was fine – I’m just glad I didn’t expect otherwise based on some of the author and narrator’s previous work. It still manages to be totally romantic and pretty hot in its own way.