Ancillary Justice

Look, there are some books that you just kinda enjoy without really quite having a complete grasp of what's going on. This is one of those books. The writing is dense, the plot is nebulous at times, and it kept giving me that feeling like I was that one person in a conversation that had no context, no backstory of what's going on, and not getting the references or inside jokes. Nevertheless though, when you do eventually get some semblance of a plot driver about 30% through, the story becomes very compelling - although you'll never quite feel like you have a thorough grasp of what's going on, just an approximation at best.One of the most confusing things of this book, especially at first, is also the use of pronouns. Our narrator Breq is unable to distinguish gender identifiers in people (as per the Radch society she comes from), and so uses “she/her” on basically everyone. At first it just made me feel like everyone she was coming into contact with her female-presenting, but then other non-Radch people that she meets will use he/him on the same person that Breq uses she/her on, Seivarden being the earliest and most prominent example. This got a bit of getting used to, but at least the narrative does have Breq reflecting about this difference in gender identifiers in different societies/cultures/languages, so it's easier for us the readers to get used to it.The plot itself takes a long time to crystallize into something remotely clear enough to follow (about 30-40% of the book), but it does get pretty compelling after that point. There's definitely action here, and it also asks a lot of very thought-provoking questions about colonialism, imperialism, and when would the ends justify the means, in this case the act of making ancillaries. Having just read [b:A Memory Called Empire 37794149 A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) Arkady Martine https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526486698l/37794149.SY75.jpg 59457173], I thought the themes in this book were very similar but dealt with in a very different way. While Empire had a clear stance against colonialism, Ancillary is not quite so clear-cut, and in so being I think it leaves a wider space for debate and thought.Despite how confused I was for most of this book, I would certainly be continuing on the rest of the series.

It ended really well but I had a hard time getting in to this book. I was very confused at first, which I understand is somewhat the point, but it detracted from the story. I also personally had a hard time getting used to the gender neutral characters, not that I have an issue with it, it just made it hard for me to keep track of the characters. That being said by the end of the book I barely noticed anymore and I look forward to seeing how the series progresses.

Wat is dat met meer dan degelijke debuten, tegenwoordig?

En ook: verdorie, ik had moeten wachten tot na de zomer om dit te lezen. Ik had het al lang volgehouden: Ancillary Justice (2013) en Ancillary Sword (2014) stonden al een tijd op de ‘te lezen'-lijst, maar ik had mezelf voorgenomen er niet aan te beginnen tot Ancillary Mercy (2015) uit zou zijn.

En dan had ik pech: mijn vorige boek was bijna uit, en ik had iemand aan de lijn die net Ancillary Justice gelezen had en het mij aanraadde, en lang verhaal kort, twee en een halve dag later waren de twee eerste boeken van de Imperial Radch-trilogie uitgelezen.

Imperia over millenia en lichtjaren heen, mysterieuze aliens die niet echt in beeld komen maar wel vitaal zijn voor het verhaal, onderdrukte lokale bevolkingen: space opera, hoezee!

Achteraf bekeken leest het als een catalogus van genre-clichés, met een auteur die er op de één of andere manier in slaagt om Iain M. Banks met Anne McCaffrey te integreren. Zeer letterlijk, eigenlijk zelfs: het hoofdpersonage is écht een schip dat zingt. Een Artifiële Intelligentie en geen cyborg zoals bij McCaffrey, maar voor de rest: het schip verzamelt muziek en zingt heel de tijd, er is een complexe relatie tussen schip en kapitein, het kan allemaal nogal sentimenteel worden.

Niet overdreven of zo, en er is genoeg spanning en avontuur en karakterontwikkeling en wereld te ontdekken om het allemaal meer dan interessant te houden.

In de wereld van Ancillary Justice zijn de Radch het dominante rijk in het bekende universum. Hun basis is een Dysonsfeer ergens buiten beeld, en hun modus operandi is al een eeuwigheid: werelden veroveren, onderwerpen en ‘beschaven', en dan de volgende wereld. Ze hebben een technologie ontwikkeld waarmee ze menselijke lichamen kunnen controleren als ‘ancillaries': een centraal brein verdeeld over verschillende lichamen, waarbij de oorspronkelijke persoon die in het lichaam zat helemaal verloren gaat.

Die ancillaries kunnen gecontroleerd worden door AI's, en dan gaat het om tientallen en tientallen soldaten, maar het kan ook een soort decentralisatie van gezag zijn: de Heerser van de Radch, Anaander Mianaai, gebruikt al duizenden jaren clonen van zichzelf als ancillaries.

Het verhaal begint op een verlaten ijsplaneet (echo's van Hoth, iemand?), waar de enige overgebleven ancillary van het schip Justice of Toren toevallig in de goot een officier tegenkomt die duizend jaar geleden verdween. En dan gaat het over en weer tussen de tijd nu, met de relatie tussen die officier en het schip (dat zelfs duizend jaar geleden die officier niet echt sympathiek vond) en de tijd twintig jaar geleden, waar we ontdekken hoe het komt dat er maar één ancillary van een schip overblijft.

Ik weet niet of het zó goed is dat het al die prijzen waard is (Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Arthur C. Clarke, BSFA) want in het grotere space opera-beeld blijft het allemaal toch wat op de oppervlakte, maar hey, het zijn fijne personages, het is een fijn verhaal, het is degelijk geschreven, en het gaat allemaal vooruit.

Aangeraden, dus.

 

It took a while to get into this one, but by halfway through I was hooked, and even impressed. I loved the idea of an AI that was limited by it's ability to control human subjects – each of which still maintained a slightly unique brain, motivation and mindset. The concept of “I” starts to be a fuzzy concept once “I” becomes a group. The gender ambiguity was also interesting – referring to each character as “she” throughout the book.

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.

It's not just about the gendered pronouns, you get used to those eventually. This book has a brilliant story and universe, too.
The book was a page-turner, and the fastest that I have read anything in a while. I have seen comparisons made between Leckie and Banks, but no recent Culture book has given me as much joy as Ancillary Justice, and I cannot wait to read the sequel.

A dear friend gifted me this book. My star rating might be a bit misleading - for another anchor, I liked it enough that I plan to buy & read the other two books in the trilogy. My two favorite things about the book are both interesting philosophical issues: first, what does it mean to be human (deftly explored from many compelling angles by a protagonist who is not seen as human by the world she inhabits); and second, what is it with our obsession with gendering? The protagonist's primary language doesn't use gendered pronouns, and as someone who works really hard to embrace gender fluidity both professionally and in my personal life, it was very instructive to notice my own desire to “know” the gender of characters all described as “she,” and then reflect on why that felt important for me to know. I think it's a great example of a way of raising a complex and important issue in a novel that never felt didactic, but more truly experiential. Plot-wise, I think Leckie introduced but then didn't fully explore spiritual/existential issues as effectively as she could have, and there were times in the first half when the timeline & characters were a little harder for me to follow than I normally find sci-fi in a way that felt accidental, not intentional. Overall, though, I enjoyed this, and want to find out what the narrator does next in what promises to be a sequel full of moral ambiguity.

A good piece of space opera with an interesting setting, as well as a decent revenge plot at the heart of it. Much of the book flips back and forth between the “present” and the backstory, revealing the central character's motives as we go - I often find this annoying, but in this case, it worked perfectly, adding to the story rather than diluting it.

The most notable feature, of course, is that, since the book is ostensibly being translated from a language that has no concept of gender (something the central character also struggles with) it uses the feminine form throughout. That's most obviously the pronouns, although it extends to words like “niece” and “sister” as well, so that we have no idea of the biological sex of the great majority of the characters. This feels like something of a contrivance, although I got used to it after a while, and there's an in-world reason, so it's fine by me.

This one was a slow and challenging start for me. The complexity of an AI inhabiting multiple bodies with multiple perspectives at once. The main character's culture only uses she/her pronouns regardless of a beings sex. I wasn't sure how to picture a number of the characters in the book, including the main character. 

What resonated with me in this book is how it portrays the challenges and pressures we face with cultural norms. The way we accept or rebel against them and what motivates us. Sometimes known, sometimes not. Half way through I thought I would not likely read another in the series. Now I'm hooked. 

“Unity, I thought, implies the possibility of disunity. Beginnings imply and require endings.”

This is a difficult review to write, because I thought there was a lot to like in this book! I also thought there was a lot that bothered me about this book too! I'm terrible at math and am not sure where my book calculus is going to lie on this one.

I'm going to skip a casual recap of the story, because it's a very hard story to summarize without spoilers. A lot of the reveals aren't really major story twists, but just small things the reader has to put together for the overall story to make sense. I feel like summarizing the story would do it an injustice (hehehe), so I'll just say that this is a civil war-esque story in a sci-fi setting with an interesting main character viewpoint and some twists on standard ideas of gender and identity.

To get what I disliked out of the way first, I sort of didn't like how the book onboards the reader. While normally I don't have a problem with books that start you out in the middle of the action, there's usually enough in-the-moment exposition to at least orient the reader and get them moving in the same direction as the author/story. I feel like more could be done to make the reader feel less lost, as I didn't start putting pieces together until maybe a third of the way through. I also felt like the last chapter was weak, when compared with the rest of the book. Without spoilers, it felt tonally different than the rest of the book, like it only existed to carry the reader from book 1 to book 2.

I will say that once the story started coming together for me (literally, about halfway through), I really felt drawn in and interested in what was going on. I liked the uniqueness of the main character's viewpoint, and even the side characters all felt interesting and varied (if a little disposable, when compared with both the main character and the antagonist). The twist on the idea of gender was also unique, ultimately leading me to the idea that gender didn't matter in this book. I also liked the exposition on identity and what it means when you're not human.

I give this 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 out of respect for the friend who recommended it to me and the fact that Goodreads doesn't do half stars. I'll definitely continue the series some point soon out of curiosity to see where the story goes.

I absolutely loved this novel! The main character, Breq, is awesome. She not only provides an interesting point of view for the reader, but she is also very relatable–which is weird considering the fact that she isn't human, she's an AI. And that just goes to show how brilliant Ann Leckie's writing is (yeah, I'm officially a fan of hers now)!

I'm definitely picking up the next in the series (Ancillary Sword, I believe, although it's still in production). I seriously cannot wait until it comes out!! I probably haven't been this excited for a series since Harry Potter.

I would recommend all science fiction fans out there to pick this one up. I'll admit, it's a fairly complex book and might not be for everyone. The different points of view can be confusing and the use of pronouns is non conventional, but I really believe that it deserves a chance. The worse that can happen is that you end up not liking it, and that's not so bad.

Few books have the power to transform the way you think about reading. Ancillary Justice raises deep questions about the nature of personality and of social roles; questions that may remain with you long after you've finished reading and may affect how you think about language. (Note: the reading itself may be tough going at times. Stick with it). I can't say much more without spoiling your experience, and this is one voyage you need to take your time on.

Clumsy in places: some plot elements involving superstition, religion, military command structure, and family intrigues were hard to swallow, and IMO detracted slightly from the story, but they're forgivable. Worth taking off one star but the rest of the book is so damn good (6-7 stars) that it balances out to 5.

A thoroughly engaging read. I very much enjoyed the author's exploration of what it means to be a person. The hero's native language is genderless so all people are referred to with female pronouns regardless of their gender expression. While on the one hand, it makes it hard to envision some of the character, it also works to make the distinction between sexes a meaningless one for the story. That combined with the fact that the main character is a severed shard of an artificial intelligence inhabiting a human body, programmed to believe she is less than human, makes for a very interesting viewpoint (especially when people around her come to a different conclusion while she remains oblivious). The action builds nicely into a satisfying climax, but only comprises the opening act for a larger story. Now, if you'll excuse me, time to dig into the sequel.

This book started for me as a fascinating challenge in perspective shifting both with the change of personal pronouns and the multiple segment personality of the ship both when complete and when torn as Breq. Left there it would hVe been a good and fascinating story. But Ms. Leckie did not rest on that laurel. By the end of the book I was surprised to learn that not only had my brain been well accustomed to accepting ‘she' as irrelevant to the gender of a subject, but I was enjoying a rich and satisfying science fiction story of intrigue, and depth. This is without a doubt the best thing I've read all year and overhead some very excellent things.

I found [b:Ancillary Justice 17333324 Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1) Ann Leckie https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1372169565s/17333324.jpg 24064628] to be quite interesting. The main character, Breq, embodies a truly novel concept (to me at least). She is a splinter of a hive mind; the single remnant of an AI that once controlled a warship, The Justice of Toren. (That's not a spoiler. It is one of the first things you learn.) The story is told in two timelines: the present, in which Breq is seeking justice for an evil deed, and a flashback timeline in which that evil occurred. Though, Breq is only a shadow of her former self, she is still very competent and very dangerous indeed.And is Breq even a “she”? At the end of the story I still don't know. Gender indifference and gender confusion are an integral part of the story. Most characters are referred to as “she” or “her”, but gender designations switch sometimes. This reminds me somewhat of [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg]'s [b:The Left Hand of Darkness 18423 The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle #4) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309282484s/18423.jpg 817527]. However, in that book (IIRC) most characters were referred to with masculine pronouns.The social system is very interesting. It is based on families and “clients” in a hierarchical structure, but with some provision for meritorious advancement. I don't think the writer meant to mimic any particular society, but it brought to mind ancient Rome and medieval Japan and has some resemblance to that of [a:Walter Jon Williams 48960 Walter Jon Williams https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1275489992p2/48960.jpg]' Dread Empire's Fall series . The entire social structure is run by an all-powerful entity made up of clones with a shared intelligence.All in all, Ancillary Justice is a good story and a solid first novel. I have to give [a:Ann Leckie 3365457 Ann Leckie https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png] major props for imagination and world building.

Executive Summary: This is an odd one that may not be for everyone but that I really enjoyed in the end.Full ReviewI had never heard of [b:Ancillary Justice 17333324 Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1) Ann Leckie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397215917s/17333324.jpg 24064628] or [a:Ann Leckie 3365457 Ann Leckie https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1402526383p2/3365457.jpg] before about two weeks ago. If not for it being the November Sword & Laser pick, I may not have read it. I would have been missing out.This one was slow to grab me. The protagonist does not have one point of view but many. How you ask? Well it's a sentient ship made up of hundreds of mobile units referred to as Ancillaries. Just what is an ancillary exactly? It's not exactly clear at the start so, you'll have to read to find out.I'm not very well read in Sci-Fi, so I don't know if this concept of Ancillaries is new or derivative of previous works, but it felt very unique to me. It was hard to get accustomed to at first. The sudden swap of perspectives on the same scene can be quite jarring and confusing. As I'm only a solitary unit, and not a shared collective I don't think well that way.I don't recall if this is the first time I've read a book with an artificial intelligence as the protagonist, but the fact that I can't certainly shows it's something unusual for me. I think Ms. Lackie does a good job with it. It certainly doesn't feel human to me, but that doesn't make it uninteresting.I don't tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the books I'm reading while I'm reading them. I've seen/read far to many Movies/TV/Books over the years that when I do, it can ruin the experience for me. I tend to just “sit back and enjoy the ride” as it were and saving the thinking for when I'm done. This one was hard to do that though. There was a lot going on, I couldn't help but wonder and theorize.My only real complaint about this one is it takes too long for you to know what exactly is going on. The story alternates chapters between past and present until meeting somewhere in the middle and you finally have things click into place. I can see this turning people away from the book and missing out.There are just too many books out there competing for everyone's attention and it's too easy to put down something that doesn't grab you right away. Overall though, I really enjoyed this one and will be waiting for the next book in the series to come out.

Pros: fascinating premise, thought provoking, hard SF

Cons: Seivarden's personality changes a lot

Twenty years ago she was Justice of Toren, the artificial intelligence of a Radchaai spaceship with thousands of ancillary units at her command. Now she is simply Breq, a single ancillary. Her mission: to destroy the entity that reduced her to her present state.

This is a fascinating novel. It's predominantly told in chapters alternating between Breq's present and what happened 20 years ago when One Esk was stationed in the newly annexed city of Ors.

I liked the idea that the Radchaai language had no genderization (he/she), so Breq finds it difficult to determine the genders of people when speaking other languages, often guessing wrong. The use of ‘she' in the book for everyone made me question my own preoccupation with gender, as I first tried to figure out what gender all the characters were, with some difficulty. As the book wore on, I finally gave up, even though the correct genders for several characters were stated. Once I got used to the idea that the character's gender didn't matter, I found it oddly liberating not caring about what gender everyone was and simply appreciating the characters for their actions.

There were several quotes that spoke to me in the book, like this one by Breq about the actions of her ancillaries and officers who participated in a genocide:

“It's easy to say that if you were there you would have refused, that you would rather die than participate in the slaughter, but it all looks very different when it's real, when the moment comes to choose.” (p. 114, ebook edition)

The book definitely makes you think about identity and choices.

While there are jump gates to facilitate and speed up space travel, the book is hard SF in that it still takes a long time to get places. While you won't find detailed explanations of how the ship and station AIs work, there is enough information about it to create a good backdrop for the rest of the book.

While there is a plot, it's the character of Breq/One Esk that carries the book. She's such a fascinating figure that you read on just to find out more about her and her past.

I'm not sure I believed the extent of Seivarden's transformation from highborn snob to what he becomes at the end of the book, but I did appreciate what he went through and could see how such events would change a person a lot.

The ending was exciting and satisfying given what's happened in the story. It's open enough for the coming sequel but does stand on its own.

I highly recommend this book.

It took a while to get into this one, but by halfway through I was hooked, and even impressed. I loved the idea of an AI that was limited by it's ability to control human subjects – each of which still maintained a slightly unique brain, motivation and mindset. The concept of “I” starts to be a fuzzy concept once “I” becomes a group. The gender ambiguity was also interesting – referring to each character as “she” throughout the book.

perhaps it was my skyrocketing high expectations, perhaps it was the fact the main character is a literal AI, perhaps it was the slow plot... ancillary justice was just quite dull. and distant. felt no attachment to the story. last few chapters were slightly interesting. overall, alluring concept that to me, fell cold in execution.