3.5
Ancillary Justice
ByPublisher Description
Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards: This record-breaking novel follows a warship trapped in a human body on a quest for revenge. A must read for fans of Ursula K. Le Guin and James S. A. Corey.
"There are few who write science fiction like Ann Leckie can. There are few who ever could." -- John Scalzi
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.
"There are few who write science fiction like Ann Leckie can. There are few who ever could." -- John Scalzi
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.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesAncillary Justice Reviews
3.5
“In Ancillary Justice, we follow an Artificial Intelligence who was previously a large starship called a Justice. The sense of self implied by the word “was” is an important theme here. Breq - as the main character is often referred to as - was not in control of the ship, they were the entire ship, as well as the many ancillaries under the ship’s command. An ancillary is a human body that is taken to be used as a body that can be controlled by the AI. Essentially, corpses that are remotely controlled.
We follow two main plot lines through most of the book. The “present” is the single surviving ancillary of the Justice, which also happens to be the final fragment of the AI’s consciousness. The “past” takes us back 20 years, just before the Justice is destroyed, and shows us what led to the event of the AI finding themself with a single human body.
The past/present plot structure isn’t my favourite, but it is done well enough here. The first half of the book would likely be slow and confusing if not for the past to explain some of the concepts and explain some lore and events.
It being 2026, AI - for better (ha) or worse - has taken a different meaning than it would have in any other point in the past, including when this book was released. This may turn some readers away, or bring in external biases or expectations that were not present before. However, I want to be very clear that this is very much a sci-fi AI, and could not be more different to the AI we are experiencing in the real world. For all intents and purposes, Breq is a conscious being - albeit not a fully human one. As the book progresses, it becomes very clear that this is an entity with thoughts, emotions, fears, and desires. If anything, this is a stark contrast to our modern day, where AI is a stateless text generator that mimics language well enough to fool far too many into thinking digital sentience is moments away.
But enough about that. I am here to review a book. The story is an entertaining journey, with a slowly unravelling mystery of current aims and past events. I wouldn’t say it is action packed, and prefers dialog to battles. There is some similarity here to Dune, where language, and the meaning beneath it, are vital to getting what one wants through clever manipulation of politics and expectations. That said, there are some set-piece moments with big danger or consequence. Once the climax begins, basically once our characters reach the palace, we are treated to the return of some “past” characters, and a methodical but gripping charge towards the ultimate goal of the book.
I thought the ending served the story very well. There were no huge twists, but I was satisfied that the plot threads were resolved. I’ve had complaints with other books recently where there was a large focus on setting up sequels and while that is definitely done here, that wasn’t at a detriment to the story in its own right.”
“OMG THAS WHATS SPACE OPERA IS ABOUT”
About Ann Leckie
Ann Leckie is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, and British Science Fiction Award-winning novel Ancillary Justice. She has worked as a waitress, a receptionist, a rodman on a land-surveying crew, and a recording engineer. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
Other books by Ann Leckie
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