Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

N.K. Jemisin crafts such a badass protag and while I was orginally not drawn in by the "emotionless population has it's first murder" plotline in the back description because I thought it wouldn't have a heart to it, the story is actually all about what emotional agency looks like, how anger can be protective, and coming face to face with state violence. Jo, or Lantern Mullien, is dealing with traumatic memories from witnessing police brutality when she was on the force. She quit and was recruited to be a lantern to help people, and then summoned to this alien planet, "The City Enduring" to solve their murder case. She is supposed to be the only person in their society with real feelings, which means people question her rationality alllll the freaking time, very much mirroring how Black women are treated on Earth. Also, I'm pretty sure there are no white people in this? So that's cool.

Also everyone is really queer, and while the world building can be dense and I was left confused on some of the actual details, the character arcs were so satisfying that I didn't care much.