Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series continues to be one of the most unique trilogies I've ever had the pleasure to read, and that's saying a lot.

It took me a little bit to get into the new direction this novel takes, but if any of you folk were creeped out by Kujen in the previous novel with all his psychosurgery and inventions, you're going to love this book. You might say that this last book in the trilogy is all his.

Jedao has yet another large role again, and believe me, it's not what I had expected. He's a 400-year-old immortal general who has a talent for getting things done, but in the first book, being uploaded into Cheris's mind took a rather odd turn and despite the fact he's known everywhere for being a mass murderer and a psychopath, he sacrifices himself to let Cheris have his memories. The second book has Cheris playing a long game pretending to be the general that everyone is deathly afraid of and she manages to set off a fractured calendar. (Consensual reality math-magic that can perform some super-powerful stuff.)

This book picks up after that. A decade later. And now two sets of fractured Jedao memories in two different bodies are running wild.

I love the mirroring and the way this particular novel feels like an inversion of the first. It also feels like Jedao is a puzzle piece, two halves of his soul, his memories, are fighting each other in an epic battle that reflects just how morally and ethically GRAY this entire series is. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who knows?

But the fact is, it's brilliant. I love the vast worldbuilding, the magic maths, the alien species that are subjugated by the humans, the servitors (AI robots), the sheer number of people, and the social building throughout.

I won't say this is an easy read, but it is easily one of the most rewarding. I've read the first two books two times and this one a single time, and I keep discovering new things in each. I'm also more invested. I recommend this very highly for any of you true fans of original and fearless SF. :)

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, too!

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