Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

[superborb]

I could NOT take the shame of having to borrow a book from the library three times, so I stayed up until an absurd hour to finish it. As a result, the entire second half of the book is pretty hazy in my memory, so I won't call this a proper review, more a bunch of impressions.

The premise: the Radch empire is an expansionist dictatorial one, though the expansionist bit might be over (for now?). As part of their military might, they use AIs that are based on space ships and control ancillaries (human bodies from previous annexations). The main character is/was one such AI, left in the body of the only remaining ancillary component of the Justice of Toren, called Breq. Early on in the novel, she meets Seivarden, who had been a lieutenant on her ship-self a thousand years ago.

The first half of the book is told in alternating chapters of "present day" and "past events", before the action of the plot starts up midway through and it sticks to the "present day" from then on. It's very much a descendent of space opera, with the attendant tropes and preoccupations.

Spoilery discussion ahead!

I really liked Breq-- the hidden heart was a very interesting motif and I thought it was well executed. Reading reviews, it seemed that people distinguished more between the Justice of Toren self and the One Esk Nineteen self than I felt though? Maybe I believed Breq's perspective on herself too much, that she was mostly part of one big hive mind, and the One Esk part of her was just as integral to the whole without an individual self? Because the way Anaander Mianaai is presented, you always know she's of two motivations that are opposed, but I didn't feel that Breq was the same to that extent, though they were clearly meant as parallels.

Seivarden was less enjoyable, because to me, the change in her deportment was SO sudden and extreme. I also didn't think her motivations were as interesting to me. I'd almost rather she have stayed sullen and assholeish instead of just suddenly latching onto Breq the way she did. It felt unearned...

(I wasn't expecting Strigan to just disappear after her part was done? That kind of surprised me.)

I didn't like the way the language differences were portrayed! People kept praising it, but I wonder if I hadn't just been reading so much translation theory recently that it affected how I viewed the novel. Like, any differences in language were painstakingly spelled out for emphasis. I don't know, it was interesting and a vital worldbuilding component, just clunkier than I would have liked.

Overall, I enjoyed it! Will definitely be reading the sequels when I can get my hands on them.

Comments

[rekishi]

I'm trying to remember, but I don't think any language differences bugged me at the time. In fact, I can't remember language differences at all (but it's been a few years since I read them).

It took me forever to figure some thing out that I do remember.

And I think the sequels will help with the personality distinguishing.

[brownbetty]

When I read it, I felt like the top of my head had come off, because it was doing things so differently, but even ten years later, I'm not sure it would be as revolutionary. (Maybe it wasn't as revolutionary as I remember, maybe it was just the first time I encountered it.)

That said, I hope it still stands up!

[littledust]

Oh, now I want to reread the trilogy! I loved the first book when it came out and liked the next two books. (There's a bit of a tonal shift in the second and third books, and I historically get cranky when something I got attached to has the audacity to change. *G*)

[silveredeye]

It's been a while since I read Ancillary Justice and the only thing I really remember about different languages in the book is the "Radchaai do zero gender" one. I figured that had a lot to do with an English-speaking author trying to convey the utter lack of gender in Radchaai to an English-speaking audience. (My native language doesn't do gendered pronouns either, but it seemed like the Radchaai lack of gender was cultural, not only linguistic.)

I should probably reread the trilogy, I did like all three books.