Ancillary Justice

ByAnn Leckie

Release Date: 2013-10-01
Genre: Science Fiction

Score: 4.5

4.5

From 728 Ratings

Description

Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction, Locus and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.
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.

In the Ancillary world: 1. Ancillary Justice2. Ancillary Sword3. Ancillary Mercy

Reviews

Deeply satisfying
5
By rumpole55
In my 60 years of reading sci-fi this series conjures great themes, original plots devices, strong tension — as good as I’ve ever enciuntered.

I see however that many reviewers report being incensed, outraged! by Leckie’s plan to hijack one set of gendered personal pronouns.

If science fiction presents the potential of future techno society and diverse cultures, the gripes about “she” and “her” (used almost universally in this series) are provocative and brilliant.

Brava.

Those who suffered from confusion or dismay can move on to other authors.

Leckie has written a classic.
Ancillary Justice
1
By Achilles-27
I want my money back. I get more enjoyment from reading ikea instructions. In a language that I don’t speak…
Good.
5
By Drlivingston
Good and it’s good quick.
When is the book going to start
1
By YM Jeff
Books says I’ve read 20%. I don’t know what is going on, I don’t feel anything for any character, I’m not really even sure who each character is. There isn’t anyone to root for, there isn’t anyone to root against, and there is no one interesting enough to share a coke with.
Pronoun issues
3
By Azzedine
The story is good but the pronoun issues are distracting. Having lived in Asia for a time I can sympathize with those whose languages don’t have he/she pronouns and are confused when dealing with English. This is a professional author so there is no excuse for switching genders and using “it”. When a gender was already assigned. The book attempts to use she as a default gender the way we use it or he but it’s not well done and distracts from the story. Even when the main character speaks in a language that has gender it’s not clear. At some points I just had to put the book down in frustration. I’ve read other books that do this with explanation and artistry and have no issue with it. I enjoyed the story enough to try one more book but that will be the limit of my patience. I would have a difficult time recommending this without a warning comment.
Big Bold Space Opera!
5
By Prairie_Dog
It’s easy to see why this book won the 2014 Nebula and Hugo awards, it’s amazing in many ways. It’s Ms. Leckie’s first novel, and the first book in her Imperial Radch Series. It’s a big bold opening to a different universe.

First, let’s look at the Radch. They have built a interstellar empire by conquest, turning conquered planets into new citizens. When doing this they absorb their cultures and religions while imposing their own. They have mainly concerned themselves with other human civilizations, but there are at least two off-screen alien civilizations.

To support this military might, there are large AI controlled starships such as the Justice of Toren which is a troop-carrier with vast numbers of Ancillaries, which others refer to as corpse-soldiers. Each of these mind wiped, augmented, and repurposed human bodies is an extension of the ship. The ancillaries form a sort of a hive-mind with the ships AI, and should be little more than tools to be used and thrown away. However, when the Justice of Toren is lost through treachery, only a single ancillary that calls itself Breq remains.

This Ancillary seeks revenge for the loss of its crew, and all the other parts of itself. It once was a mind that far exceeded human ability, now it is just one mind in one body. But it has its mission, and that drives it over years and light years…

Ms. Leckie has started a major space opera, and it has a vast scope. From its minor rituals to its major underpinnings, it looks like it can be a great setting for more adventure.
Reviewing after 3 years…
5
By ucvuucvu
3 years ago I read Ancillary Justice for the first time as part of a binge of Hugo novels. I’ve read many books since then, but I keep coming back to this one.

I find that this is the only book that messes with gender as a major detail that really, really *gets* it. I think this aspect of the story will hit the hardest for readers that already believe biological sex and gender are truly disconnected. Gender isn’t treated weirdly in this book just to be weird, and it certainly isn’t meant to be some sort of “ironic reversal” of today’s gender politics. It strikes me as an honest imagining of how gender might change in tens of thousands of years.

I find it amusing to read the reviews here that complain the gender conventions in Ancillary Justice are somehow “nonsensical” or “arbitrary” or “unrealistic.” Do they not see that our real-life gender conventions would be just as arbitrary and “illogical” to an outsider?
Wonderful Book with a few Quirks
4
By Bubba Bill Jones
This is an engaging story about a troop carrying ship turned into one of its controlled soldiers out to answer questions and get revenge. The concept and imagination in the main character are sound and the unusual post-human setting is bizarre and far away somewhat reminiscent of the Culture. I did enjoy reading this story.

My one complaint is the insistence in using ‘she’ as an ungendered pronoun when a suitable pronoun could be taken from an existing language, or made up, or use the ubiquitous ‘it’. This gets more confusing when the characters start speaking in gendered language then switch back to ungendered. I understand it is used to flesh out the setting with a more feminine culture, but a lot of unnecessary confusion was added in the attempt.
Ancillary Justice
5
By Ken Follet
Absolutely brilliant. Destined to be a classic in Sci Fi. Unique universe superbly fleshed out.
What the?!
1
By Gairuntee
Wait. What just happened?! How the heck did this win? Am I missing something here?