Wonderful premise with an easy to like heroine. Val demonstrates some great listening skills over the course of the story, but is herself a little passive. The world building is rich and interesting, particularly the various civilizations and political conflicts.

I was hooked from the cover and so glad I got to read this, it had that scifi element that I was looking for and enjoyed the elements in this story. Ben Francisco writes a great story for a debut novel and it left me excited to see where they go from here. It uses the assassination elements and who do you trust perfectly in this. I'm glad I got to read this and it left me wanting more in this world and from the author.

Great premise with a teenage girl being thrown into an extremely high-stakes situation with virtually no preparation. You can't help but root for Val. I like her character development, where she goes from someone who is good at listening and seeing multiple perspectives, but is often too passive, to someone who conducts interstellar peace negotiations and uncovers conspiracies. The alien groups and their civilizations are fascinating, and the political conflict over Hosh is well-thought out. Some weaknesses: there isn't enough description of Hosh to get a sense of what the planet is like. And once the action shifts back and forth between Earth and Hosh, it's clear that what's going on in Hosh is more interesting, with the result that the Earth plotlines get lost. But it's a fun read with a political backdrop that will provoke readers to consider analogies to Earthly conflicts.

thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for a review!

yeahhhh i liked this one!! i was worried at the beginning that the alien politics would take over the entire book, which might've made it kind of boring, but i really ended up getting attached to many of the characters :) i did wish i would have gotten to see more of val's normal earth life, but obviously it's true to story that she didn't get to spend much time in it. after all, there are interstellar treaties to be negotiated!

plot twist at the end DID take my by surprise, did not see that one coming. i really thought val had figured it out (and i was kinda sad, because i liked the character val thought was the murderer!) but i was SO WRONG.

all the alien cultures felt really well thought out! all the consequences of all the little things these aliens could do were implemented really really well into their societies. i almost started crying during the part with Kettle and 'vasek antom' to be totally real with you.

anything i could critique in this book is entirely explained by the fact of its being a middle grade book, and while it might not be for everyone not in that age range, this book really does exactly what it wants to do as well as it possibly can :D

This book is an outstanding addition to the YA landscape. The sci-fi setting is solidly grounded in all the best parts of compassionate sci-fi stories and avoids historically troublesome sci-fi traditions like glorification of war and speciesism. The queer characters are presented as whole characters (rather than tokens); queerness is a natural part of the story rather than a hyperfocus.

The plot progresses relatively smoothly, the stakes are developed intentionally, the main character’s growth is organic. Nothing in this story feels forced or overinflated. It’s a great book and a heck of a debut.