This is the second book in The Captive’s War, following The Mercy of Gods.
It is James S.A. Corey. I loved every single Expanse book, and I love this series too, so I am not exactly a neutral party here.
What they do well, they keep doing. The alien civilisations are actually alien, which sounds like a low bar until you notice how rarely anyone clears it. Most science fiction gives you humans with a different number of limbs. This gives you something whose reasoning you have to work at. Alongside that there is a full imagining of how a society and an economy would actually hold together under these conditions, and none of it comes at the cost of the pace. It is a thrill ride the whole way through.
Not much else to say. It is pure, holistic, good science fiction, and I will read the next one the week it comes out.