I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did Mal Goes to War. In fact, if I’d read it first, I might never have read the other – which would have been a shame. 

Some of the themes and underlying ideas are the same between the two books, though the plots are quite different. I think what made me  love this one less is that the characters weren’t as rich. They were good, whereas Mal and the characters in that book were incredibly vivid and compelling.