One of the most impressive first volumes in a science fiction series I've read. Big ideas - utopia, how it can be achieved, and what needs to be sacrificed to maintain it - presented in an inventive way - an unreliable narrator aping the style of an eighteenth century novel. There's lashings of philosophy and religion, a strange take on gender politics which takes a while to get used to, and an even stranger metaphysical undercurrent which may or may not actually be real. I'm holding off on a 5 star rating to see if Ada Palmer can stick the landing, but I have high hopes for this series