The following is take straight from a notepad:
Already this voice is much more concise, precise, and refined than her last two books. Like, it's amazing how much action passes when I rewind 15 seconds sometimes. I liked this one a lot!! I enjoyed Falk as a character and I think it started getting really philosophically interesting when he reached Es Tock. The whole idea of lying, death, finding the truth(s) is obviously a major theme here, and it is not lost on me that the main character, twice, leaves his home on a path of no return to find the truth of this identity (being half Terran and alien), subsquently losing his current identity (death) and, in the end, synthesizing both identities as Truth. The ideas of "What is death" as well, and the obsession over virtue "...We don't kill", is it a lie? Truth? How must it be defined and is it that simple? (No.) Harkens back to Falk's book... "More than 1 path/name". Admittedly did almost fall asleep a few times around the beekeepers and Kansas. Not because of the book, I was sleepy. Also not a fan of Estrelle being a genderqueer femme fatale. I dunno it was weird having the villains be genderfluid (?). It adds to the "illusions" bit ig and perhaps it is a way for the Shing to enforce control via gender dysphoria + lack of self identity? Not sure. That's a generous reading.