"Too Like the Lightning" by Ada Palmer. (First of four books called the "Terra Ignota" series.) It's one of the handful of books that genuinely changed my mind

"Too Like the Lightning" by Ada Palmer. (First of four books called the "Terra Ignota" series.) It's one of the handful of books that genuinely changed my mind about serious questions -- in my case, relating to gender, politics, & religion. But it's definitely not coming from anywhere you'd expect. I compare it loosely to Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Dispossessed". The author paints a picture of a utopia, and gradually we see deep human flaws tear it apart. It starts off with investigation of a puzzling criminal tresspass, which slowly spirals upward into greater and greater consequences -- and it intensely rewards careful reading, or a second reading, as major reveals are subtly foreshadowed early and often.