Inez is a former space pilot of The Rule, a colonizing force in the galaxy that took her and her friends in before their home worlds were burned to ash. After an accident, Inez is left for dead and spends a decade stewing in resentment and hate until she is dragged back by the Rule and forced to work for them - but she wants to destroy them instead. 

Sui approaches this story from a perspective that isn't seen all too often. Yes, it is a revenge story and yes, it is about one person fighting against a larger fascist military rule, but she's no hero. She's a person barely holding it together. The story follows her as she deals with seeing her ex-girlfriend, ex-best friend (who is now sleeping with her ex-girlfriend), and the Third Sister, one of the ruling family of the Rule. Toxic relationships and bad decisions abound. 

This is more of a character study in the end; while Inez is driven by revenge in a way that you may often see in grander space opera stories, there's nothing here to be said about faciscm, about colonialism, about revolution or society. It's just Inez's story as one person facing her own demons.  That, I think is where this novella felt weak for me. The focus on the character work and the toxic relationships really took away from what I felt was a powerful story about a broken person facing her past and trying to burn it down because she has nothing left to give.

It's certainly an interesting story as a whole, though, and I liked this glimpse into the world. I wish it had done a little bit more to make the world feel more whole, but I did like how close it was to Inez as a character.