I really wanted to like this book, but the lack of solid world descriptions and context niggled at me all the way through. Ninefox Gambit rushes the reader right into the action - by itself, not a bad thing - and immerses them in vocabulary and references they have no hope of understanding immediately. As you play catch up, Cheris is introduced who gives a bit more form to function, but at that point the tide has already washed you out to sea and you're drifting in the unknown. 
 For some aspects of the book, this method worked well; the author could introduce possibilities into play that surprise us as much as our protagonist, mostly for the reason we didn't know it would or could have existed. The military sci-fi theme fits snug as a glove at least and it never felt like it went soft on what it was trying to be. The regime of the Kel is viciously alien, and Cheris spoke about it with the casualness you would expect over Sunday tea. What Yoon Ha Lee did very well was create a sense of dark, heavy mystery that clouded everyone's view, with all involved having to desperately piece together what they did know just in order to survive. It did make the pinnacles of the action very intense. 
 I personally would have enjoyed this with a bit more attention to description. It was difficult to picture these alien worlds, these magnificent military maneuvers, or even the dramatic turn points of the book simply due to a gaping absence of what they looked like in the first place. Yoon Ha Lee delights in action and seems to discard anything but the very necessary to the cutting room floor, which means I feel I missed half the splendor because I blinked at the wrong time and remained blind to it. 
 The ideas explored in Ninefox Gambit are what kept my attention, alongside the characterization of Cheris and Jedao. It's a shame that I felt my image of the bigger picture was limited as the scope that Ninefox Gambit attempts to cover is truly admirable.