Seconding Breq/Seivarden yes please :) I find it difficult to imagine anyone not wanting that at the end of the book because it's given us so little but juuuust enough. And Seivarden's emotions were just great - so much reckless emoting and so different from the usual male emoting (smash, rrrr). Also Awn and Skaaiat :( I want Skaaiat to meet someone in the next book.
The one thing I kind of have to work through is the way that Seivarden and Breq are gendered by people in other worlds - I'm still working out what that means in terms of a society where gender isn't coded which exists in a universe where it is in other places and is read by readers who do code gender. I pretty much agree with you that this book provides a not too scary place for people to explore gender conversations, but I'm still looking at how exactly it makes it safe.
Also, I loved that I could just assume everyone was female because of the use of female pronouns. LOVED IT. I kept thinking about the way China Mieville springs 'turns out this person you might not expect is a woman' surprises in his books and how although I find those useful, I kind of preferred this direct tack more.
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The one thing I kind of have to work through is the way that Seivarden and Breq are gendered by people in other worlds - I'm still working out what that means in terms of a society where gender isn't coded which exists in a universe where it is in other places and is read by readers who do code gender. I pretty much agree with you that this book provides a not too scary place for people to explore gender conversations, but I'm still looking at how exactly it makes it safe.
Also, I loved that I could just assume everyone was female because of the use of female pronouns. LOVED IT. I kept thinking about the way China Mieville springs 'turns out this person you might not expect is a woman' surprises in his books and how although I find those useful, I kind of preferred this direct tack more.