People keep being like “If you liked Gideon the Ninth, try this other book about lesbians and space and empires!” And some of those books are very good but what the recommenders seem not to grasp is that Gideon the Ninth is fun to read. Even funny. If I want space adventures, I can go to any sci fi book from the past century or so. If I want to see lesbians, I can just go on Instagram. If I want to see an empire brutally attempting to maintain its stranglehold on those it oppresses, I don’t need to go anywhere. What I want, and do not get, is, “I did offer him a stupendous work of a titty nature, and he got offended.”