Read All About It: Ancillary Justice

This book reminded me of all the reasons I want to be an editor, sparking this lovely twitter thread that I think you might enjoy!

I can't believe that I haven't read any of Ann Leckie's works before. Ancillary Justice is the first novel in a trilogy about a former ship, now soldier who is fighting on a quest towards intensely personal vengeance, and it's an absolutely incandescent space opera, where your brain gets twisted, pronouns are wonderfully confusing and fluid, and the universe is infinitely more intricate and chock full of new and exciting cultures. It's the kind of book I hope I get to help create when I become an editor!

I will say, this book made my brain hurt at a few points. I had to step back a few times and re-read a few pages, because I'd get lost in my own head while I tried to make sense of some things, or I'd get the timelines confused between chapters. If you prefer simple, straightforward novels, this book probably isn't for you. But if you like to be challenged by your science fiction, and love exploring cultures and unfamiliar spaces, you will fall in love with Leckie's way with words, just as I have.

And wow, this book competes on a level of science fiction that won it five different awards, including Hugo and Nebula awards. And you can tell.

Image Source: goodreads.com

Follow the soldier, Breq, as she tries to carry out her own form of vengeance against the person who stripped her away from what she had been--a starship AI, with multiple bodies--and made her a single Ancillary, basically human, separated from her home and crew by a tyrant at war with their universe. Along the way, Breq picks up an unlikely companion in the form of a former lieutenant of her own, Seivarden, who has fallen on hard times--through a thousand years. And so, Breq sets out to kill the tyrant that forced Breq to murder others, and in doing so discovers that she's more than just a broken piece of a former ship--she's almost human.

Breq is an Ancillary, which sets her apart from a world that is rapidly moving past her form of existence at the orders of the tyrant. Ancillaries are basically the bodies within which a larger starship is able to interact personally with its crew, fulfilling duties that range from house-keeping to defense, and providing invaluable service. The AI in this universe has been intertwined with emotions--there is no impassionate science in Leckie's novels, and instead it is able to question orders, make its own decisions, and most importantly, learn.

One of the major strengths of this novel is that Leckie makes it clear gender stereotypes have no place in this highly advanced universe, and makes this novel all the better for it. Using mainly feminine pronouns and a dash of explanatory confusion, Leckie conveys her own beliefs in the fluid expression of identity. The language of this universe was a bit confusing for me to sort out at first, and I had to reread the first two chapters before I caught on to how the characters were identified, but it gets easier as you go on, and it really adds depth to this universe.

Really, my review for this book could just have been "BUY THIS BOOK YOU'LL LIKE IT I SWEAR" but I figured that you would appreciate something more coherent.

The sequel to this novel, Ancillary Sword, is next on my list and bookshelves, and according to Amazon, the final book in the trilogy, Ancillary Mercy will arrive on my doorstep very soon. I couldn't resist. If all goes to plan, the next few days will be a Lecki-fest, so keep an eye out for those reviews!