Ancillary Justice

This was a tough book.

The Radchaai have been on a several thousand year long campaign of violent expansion and have a complex culture centered around family houses, social standing, and religious devotion. Ancillary Justice is story told from the perceptive of a ship AI serving the Radchaai, who is, for all intents and purposes, omnipotent until her primary vessel is destroyed and only a fragment of her once vast consciousnesses survives in a human body. The author (Ann Lecke) throws you into the middle of that drama without any preamble. You are in the mind of Justice of Toren and as the reader you are forced to piece together a very alien universe from her perceptive.

This book took me almost all summer to get through, and there were times when I almost put it down and walked away. I didn't find the plot to very engaging (at first), and everything about the setting and narration was complex and difficult to follow. I'd find myself reading pages and paragraphs several times just to understand what was happening. I felt very dumb.

Although it was a challenging read, it was also incredibly rewarding. It takes place in a rich universe, the characters are complex and flawed people, and it touches on some really profound philosophical topics. What is the “self” when it is spread across thousands of minds and bodies?

I can't really recommend this book to everyone, but if you want to take on something that will really make you think you should give this one a shot. I didn't really “enjoy” the book until about 70% of the way through, but I was engaged and interested the entire time.