The Splinter in the Sky

This had all the markings of a book I'd really enjoy, but the end product came off kind of aggressively bland. I can't even really point to why, just that by the end I was actually kind of bored with the whole thing.

There was a war of conquest between the Vaalbaran Empire and the Ominirish Republic that ended in failure. The Vaalbaran Empire surrendered, but the societal divides between the two still exist. Enitan of the Ominirish Republic is just a scribe and lover of tea, fairly far removed from all the political machinations moving above her, but she gets unwillingly dragged into being a spy, a double agent, and political prisoner when her sibling is abducted by the Vaalbarans.

This book hits the imperialism/colonialism tropes hard, as one might expect from a story in the aftermath of a war of conquest. I struggled to really get into this great world the author built, because once Enitan ends up in Vaalbara, it feels like she entirely forgets her mission to save her sibling for a large chunk of the middle book while she hosts tea ceremonies as a cover for spying for the Ominirish Republic. Every tea ceremony had an incident involving in-world racism, classism, colonialism, cultural appropriation, or some other tangentially related social issue worked in somehow, which made it feel a bit heavy-handed and same-y after a while. I have no problems with social issues being worked into the books I read, but I also hate feeling like I'm being beat over the head with the same message over and over again. I got it the first couple times, I promise.

Even after the plot starts moving again, I felt like it was too little, too late. Enitan, despite being the main character, didn't really have a lot fleshing her out. She makes good tea, she's devoted to her sibling, and she wants respect for her people. That's essentially the extent of her character as shown in the book. Her supporting characters get even less treatment, which is a shame considering I thought Menkhet had the most potential to be a great character.

It's fine as a book, but kind of a letdown from the premise.