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It would be unfair to call it derivative but it seems clear the author is an Ian M Banks / Culture novels fan. What makes the book interesting for me is the exploration of the question of "what if effective and precise self-regulation of brain chemistry was possible". This has interesting ripple effects on politics and the definition of personal autonomy.

This is really good, I would say genre transcending. While reading it, I had the (probably trite) thought that good books make you think about the system, great books make you think about your self.

At points this felt a bit like a murderbot homage (or at least a sly reference).

I'm a fan of the Ancillary books, so probably biased, but I enjoyed this. Just enough thinking with my coming-of-age-space-adventure.

For once I think the cover comparisons to other space-opera luminaries like Alistair Reynolds or Iain M Banks are fair. I have yet to decide if there is anything deeper there, but am enjoying it so far. It also upended my ideas of Elizabeth Bear as a writer, so that's a feature.

Overall I found it decent, but it was a bit of a slog. I think most of the character + world building could have been done with less words. I listened to it on audiobook, which usually makes long books somewhat easier to (passively?) take.

Based on a review by wandering.shop/@Pheebsdw