This was an excellent follow up to Ancillary Justice. Where that book was a study in what it means to be human, this book looks at how humans treat each other even in "civilized" society, resulting in a study that reflects real world class and racial structures. Even when you ostensibly accept someone as an equal citizen, your actions reflect what you think of their background and heritage and show how you truly classify others. 
 The action this time feels closer, centered around Athoek Station and its accompanying planet. There is still a lot going on with political plots, social jockeying, non-humans, and Breq's continuing adjustment to being single bodied. Leckie continually shows this struggle through Breq's use of her implants to communicate with the ship and station computers and monitoring of her officers and crew members. This results in frequent switches in perspective that are similar to those in the flashback scenes of Ancillary Justice, but still fresh here and colored by the lack of absolute knowledge and her frustration with not being able to pull down all of the data she once could have. 
 Leckie builds personalities and motivations into so many places, and it is a delight to read. From the recognizably human station residents and field workers to the AIs built into the ships and the station itself, there is a broad display of motivations and individual goals that adds to the immersion of the reader. The AIs are the most noticeable in this regard as it makes perfect sense (being created and influenced by humans) that they would establish their own pecking order and hold biases against other classes of ships.