Paperback, 416 pages
English language
Published Sept. 30, 2013 by Orbit Books.
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.
Once, she was the Justice of Toren—a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.
Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.
The consequences of (space) colonisation and imperialism, the limits of humanity and how they need to be expended, the relation between gender and language, the irrelevance of gender... So good
Inutilmente complicato e onestamente non mi ha entusiasmato. Forse non l'ho capito io o forse sono troppo legato all'hard scifi classica.
This is an interesting story concept and perspective. There is a huge expansive universe created for this story. I am interested to read more from this universe.
This book got a bit of publicity for the author's choice to make the language of the ruling empire (Radch) have only one pronoun, which defaults to female. So every character in the book is a "she" to the narrator, regardless of whether they actually are. This makes the first part of the book in particular a little confusing; it took me a while to figure out, and I'm still a bit confused about who exactly wasn't actually a "she". Which, I suppose, is an interesting way for the author to have made the point that it doesn't really matter, and also why NOT default to "she" as much as anything else?
Anyway, pronoun choices aside, the book's a very interesting SF story following the Justice of Toren, a sapient battle ship in the Radch military fleet. Justice of Toren is manifested in hundreds of "ancillaries", each ancillary being a …
This book got a bit of publicity for the author's choice to make the language of the ruling empire (Radch) have only one pronoun, which defaults to female. So every character in the book is a "she" to the narrator, regardless of whether they actually are. This makes the first part of the book in particular a little confusing; it took me a while to figure out, and I'm still a bit confused about who exactly wasn't actually a "she". Which, I suppose, is an interesting way for the author to have made the point that it doesn't really matter, and also why NOT default to "she" as much as anything else?
Anyway, pronoun choices aside, the book's a very interesting SF story following the Justice of Toren, a sapient battle ship in the Radch military fleet. Justice of Toren is manifested in hundreds of "ancillaries", each ancillary being a formerly human person whose original personality has been removed, and whose body has been converted to use as essentially a remote tool for the ship. The ship inhabits hundreds of ancillaries all simultaneously in order to maintain a physical presence everywhere needed. This book is the story of one of them that has become separated from the ship (for reasons we eventually find out about half way through the book) and is now living independently, trying to be a person but with the memories of being a massive multi-consciousness battle ship thousands of years old. Which, not surprisingly, is taking some adjustment.
The story flips back and forth in time, mainly between the events leading up to getting separated from Justice of Toren, and the present time where our protagonist is on a journey related to the earlier event. Along the way it also meets several people it knew from when it was a ship and embarks on what seems like a particularly crazy mission for revenge.
It's hard to describe the plot too much without spoilers, but if you enjoy sapient ships and AI (like "The Ship Who Sang", or "Children of Time") and don't mind putting in a little mental effort into figuring out what's going on at the start of the book, it's a pretty unique set of characters and a very interesting galactic empire and set of challenges to overcome. I enjoyed it, but 4 stars rather than 5 as I did find it confusing in places and also most of the characters aren't particularly likeable, which is always a problem for me.
This is the first of a trilogy, and while the story wraps up pretty well without a suspenseful cliffhanger, it's still clear there will be more to come should you wish to pick up the next.
Dass von allen Figuren durchgehend als she/her die Rede ist, obwohl gleichzeitig klar ist, dass sie irgendwelche Geschlechter haben und für andere als das Ich-Erzählwesen auch als Angehörige dieser Geschlechter erkennbar sind, das fand ich gut und interessant. Den Rest nicht, oh Gott, der Plot, irgendein vielhundertseitiger Feudalismusquatsch mit Blumenschmuck und Ritualen. Ich hab es nur aus Starrsinn zu Ende gelesen.
The key twist in this fun sci-fi novel is that the narrator is a single AI operating as a person, but also simultaneously a ship and ancillary parts. This allows the author to give us a god-like perspective while also keeping the narrator just relatable enough to empathize with. It's a great way to play with perspective and it's well-played throughout the novel. Recommended.
I only made it half-way. I had no idea what was going on and I didn't care enough to find out.
Some intelligent writing on a few relevant themes here, namely identity, gender, and civilization. It took me about 150 pages to get used to everyone being referred to as "she" regardless of gender, but by the end of the book it felt more natural. I love that the Radchaai are largely an androgynous people, and that their gender expression is fluid.
I like how Leckie handled the idea of what it means to be civilized. It was cool how Radchaai attire involved wearing jewelry with different meanings, and how the type of gloves one wore could indicate class. The "delicate satin gloves," for example, "suggested she never handled anything rougher or heavier than a bowl of tea."
The whole tea thing, by the way, was a great touch. I loved how it was a necessity for Radchaai citizens, and how what was considered "tea" was different on different planets/cultures. As …
Some intelligent writing on a few relevant themes here, namely identity, gender, and civilization. It took me about 150 pages to get used to everyone being referred to as "she" regardless of gender, but by the end of the book it felt more natural. I love that the Radchaai are largely an androgynous people, and that their gender expression is fluid.
I like how Leckie handled the idea of what it means to be civilized. It was cool how Radchaai attire involved wearing jewelry with different meanings, and how the type of gloves one wore could indicate class. The "delicate satin gloves," for example, "suggested she never handled anything rougher or heavier than a bowl of tea."
The whole tea thing, by the way, was a great touch. I loved how it was a necessity for Radchaai citizens, and how what was considered "tea" was different on different planets/cultures. As an avid tea drinker, it was interesting seeing the pastime in such a role.
Etiquette was another big motif I noticed. I liked how the deepness of a bow indicated the level of respect, so that when Breq exchanged a shallow bow with someone you could tell they were kind of insulting each other.
One of the more painful things i have read, and that includes much that hurt. very well worth it. Gains strength on the re-read, too.
Finished all 3 books in the Imperial Radch trilogy: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy.
Possible spoilers, but not really.
It took me 20% of the book and over 3 weeks (I had to re-new my library loan) to get into Ancillary Justice. A big reason I did was because a friend looked up stuff about the book and gave me just enough spoilers that I could keep going without all the spoilers.
I understood what was going on from the outset and the many/one perspective as not an issue, but I missed the length of the time-jump, or at least could not retain the length. I know people get irritated when key points are reiterated throughout a book, but that one needed to be. I also did not like the narrator until probably 80% of the way into the book. The authors goal is that you never forget …
Finished all 3 books in the Imperial Radch trilogy: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy.
Possible spoilers, but not really.
It took me 20% of the book and over 3 weeks (I had to re-new my library loan) to get into Ancillary Justice. A big reason I did was because a friend looked up stuff about the book and gave me just enough spoilers that I could keep going without all the spoilers.
I understood what was going on from the outset and the many/one perspective as not an issue, but I missed the length of the time-jump, or at least could not retain the length. I know people get irritated when key points are reiterated throughout a book, but that one needed to be. I also did not like the narrator until probably 80% of the way into the book. The authors goal is that you never forget what the narrator is, but I was disgusted by the way these ancillaries were made. It is at least discussed, if not addressed to resolution, that the ancillaries themselves are not responsible for how they are made.
Bit of a slow starter for me but was absolutely into it by the end! Really dig the narration & the treatment of gender from a gender neutral perspective!
Ancilary Justice è prima di tutto una riflessione sul potere e sulle sue contraddizioni, poi una riflessione sul concetto di identità e, infine il ritratto di un bellissimo personaggio: Breq, un frammento della coscienza di una grande astronave millenaria, la Justice di Toren, intrappolato in un unico corpo, dopo la distruzione del vascello in cui risiedeva il centro della sua mente (lascio al lettore il piacere di scoprire cosa siano questi corpi e cosa questi comportino). Chi ha causato la distruzione di Justice di Toren? Cosa sta succedendo veramente nel Grande impero Raadchai? Una vicenda ricca tanto di colpi di scena quanto di spunti di riflessione come solo un grande romanzo di fantascienza riesce ad essere.
Wow. This is the first real world-building scifi I've read in a while that wasn't a continuation of an existing world, so the first few chapters were a bit of a wade as it set the scene. Then the book took off and I couldn't put it down.
A lot's been made of the way Leckie handles gender, and it is an interesting detail. Personally, I also really appreciated a related part of this world: that languages are hard. So much scifi waves away all language problems with some kind of magic translator, but in this book it's repeatedly made clear that characters have to invest time and effort into learning each others' languages, those who haven't put in the effort simply can't communicate, and those who have routinetly find some things easier to say in some languages than others. It's one of those details that helped make a world …
Wow. This is the first real world-building scifi I've read in a while that wasn't a continuation of an existing world, so the first few chapters were a bit of a wade as it set the scene. Then the book took off and I couldn't put it down.
A lot's been made of the way Leckie handles gender, and it is an interesting detail. Personally, I also really appreciated a related part of this world: that languages are hard. So much scifi waves away all language problems with some kind of magic translator, but in this book it's repeatedly made clear that characters have to invest time and effort into learning each others' languages, those who haven't put in the effort simply can't communicate, and those who have routinetly find some things easier to say in some languages than others. It's one of those details that helped make a world in which there's a lot of almost-invincible tech and so on feel that much more real.
2nd time reading this one. Wish I had written a review the first time
I prefer the smug Ships of the Culture to these brooding ones. The book throws a flood of esoteric concepts, proper names, and entities at you from the outset (an "Ancillary" is one of thousands of zombie cyborg avatars of a sentient troop-transport starship, a "Justice," and that doesn't even get into the ten different types of Ancillaries and the crazy-ass larger human society they inhabit). It seemed very clear to me that the far-future human society being depicted was some Imperial mishmash of East Asian traditions, but then I went and read the author interview in the back, where she claimed her inspiration was the Roman Empire! No. Way.
