N.K. Jemisin has crafted a fascinating world to explore in this book. Unfortunately, I find myself unable to say much about the strengths of the plot or the characters, since a lot of the depth and interest comes from slowly unraveling surprises and mysteries that are better left unspoiled. But rest assured, it's well worth the read. There are some really interesting narrative twists here, and though the story is very dark, there's a lot of humanity to the characters nonetheless. 
 It's not a perfect book, of course, and I have a few gripes with it. I don't particularly like that some of the chapters are written in the second person - it's jarring and feels arbitrary, and creates more distance between myself and the protagonist than necessary. I also found it very hard to imagine the material conditions the characters live in - while the world and the environments and the people are well-described, I found it very difficult to imagine their clothes, their tools and possessions, their technology and medicine, the inside of their homes and buildings. Every time I thought I had settled into a comfortable idea of what it all looked like, something would come along and feel jarringly wrong. 
 But those are minor gripes. This is a somewhat grim story, but it's well worth the read to dive into this fascinating place.