It follows Mahit Dzmare, the ambassador from Lsel Station to the Teixcalaanli Empire, as she investigates the death of her predecessor and the instabilities that underpin that society.

Twelve Azalea and hundreds of other Teixcalaanlitzlim are killed as civil unrest mounts and various generals and aristocrats seek to claim the throne.

The Emperor commits ritual suicide to quell the succession crisis, and Nineteen Adze ascends the throne as regent for Six Direction's clone.

[2] The Verge observed that the book discusses how institutional memory guides society and shapes politics, and provides insight into the ideas of conquest and colonialism by comparing the different worldviews of the expansion-minded Teixcalaanli Empire and the fiercely independent Lsel Stationers.

[8] Kirkus Reviews stated that the novel was "a confident beginning" and compared it positively to the works of Ann Leckie and Yoon Ha Lee.

Set a few months after the events of A Memory Called Empire, the action takes place in part on the Jewel of the World, but also at Lsel station and mostly in the warships on the boundary of the Teixcalaan universe.