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First, I really appreciated that this book was not set in NYC, despite the author's initial intentions. NYC is cool and all, but not the only city.

The hero is based on a real young black woman who killed a cop in self defense during the 1919 riots in Washington. That incident is not central to the plot, but it does play an important part in explaining how the protagonist got to be who she is.

The book really centers the black characters, both heroes and villains. In a broader sense it includes a lot of discussion of the divisions of colourism and classism within the black community at that time. The external structural causes (hello white people!) are noted, but people have agency for good and ill.

Politics and history aside, the characters are fun and the plotting solid. If you squint at it the right way it turns into "four people with special abilities band together to save the community". The ending is maybe a little conventional, but consistent with the overall "comfort reading" slant of the book.

I liked that dealing with the spirits in the book was very similar to getting in debt to an organized crime group. The notion of debt and deals is crucial.

Reynolds fans will be sputtering at the title, since of course the Glitter Band of his own Revelation Space universe is also a good match for "The Congregation", the collection of stations orbiting the old sun that are the setting for all 3 Revenger novels.

This is the third of the series. It is probably readable as a standalone novel, but it would somewhat spoil the other two, as there is essentially one big story arc.

The book is first and foremost an adventure story about two middle-class sisters who run away to become space pirates. There is also musings about deep time and the flow / cycle of history that will be familiar to readers of Revelation Space.

Technologically the setting is a bit steampunkish, with most of the locomotion involving solar sails, and fairly primitive space vehicles. This is interspersed with a variety of artifacts from older/distant civilizations, and a few early-20th century electronics.

The characters are interesting for being ethically nuanced. Even the bankers turn out to be not completely evil, although mostly so. The main characters are engaging enough that at least this reader cared whether they lived or died.

The plot is a bit like a roller coaster in that some of the ups and downs you see coming, but there always tends to be one more reversal of fortune to keep you reading. I did stop once or twice to take a breather, so I guess the plotting succeeded as (the audiobook equivalent of) a page turner.

There is some space-opera style big reveals, but although those were interesting enough, I would not say they are the main reason to read this book.

The world building does seem mostly quite original and always well crafted. Towards the end of the book I did start to see more echos of Revelation space, but I think this could be seen as related to the "end of series big picture explanation" above.