This review is courtesy of my 7th read of BotNS: still a terrifyingly excellent read. The composition of a simple yet elusive labyrinth for narrative structure, with a firm grasp on poetic yet simple style marked with deliberate notes of world-building and atmosphere setting in turns brutal and gorgeous, and hand-carved mysteries, lore, and philosophy layered and woven throughout mark this as one of the most powerful science fiction novels of all time. Truly, in any genre, this book is remarkable and far and away deserving of status as classic and important and extremely readable. Do not be fooled: what you don’t know doesn’t need to be explained to you. If you want to read this and enjoy this correctly, you’ll want to read and enjoy this many more times to come. Do so.