Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie

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I finally read Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie and I enjoyed it a lot. It took me a while to get into it: during the first half or so I kept putting it down again because it didn't really grab me. The worldbuilding was interesting, and I especially loved how it handled language: several times it mentions translation problems, especially in regards to gender, and the Radchaai language includes a lot of gestures, which is very cool and I was very surprised to realize that I can't remember seeing it before, or not often. But I wasn't invested in any of the characters yet. That came later, when Seivarden quit being such a jerk, and from then on I really loved how the relationship between Breq and Seivarden developed. The relationship between One Esk and Lieutenant Awn also took a while to become interesting. At first there wasn't even much of one because of One Esk's position, but it does develop slowly as we learn to appreciate Awn through One Esk's eyes, steadily more until the tragic ending.

Another thing that I didn't like about the first half of the book is how the plot doesn't really make sense. Breq rescues Seivarden because of sentimentality, but we only really get to know that side of her later. And the whole plan we get at the beginning is that Breq plans to kill Anaander Mianaai by - shooting one of her thousands of bodies with a special gun? That won't do anything to kill what makes Anaander Mianaai. The idea to confront Anaander Mianaai with her own split personality only came much later. It doesn't help that Breq doesn't really know what kind of hidden commands might have been hidden in One Esk and therefore isn't sure of her own motives. She's very determined to reach her goal, with a very unclear picture of what her goal actually is. I'm not sure why Strigan trusted her. (Btw Anaander Mianaai is one of those names that seem impossible to separate and at the same time sound very funny when written several times in a row.)

It was interesting how the book handled identity, and one-identity-in-multiple-bodies, and one-identity-split-into-several. To be honest I'm still not sure I understand how the split of Anaander Mianaai worked: I guess like dissociative identity disorder in humans, only with multiple bodies and the identities sort of divided the bodies up between them in the beginning?

I got the recommendation for this book from my flist, so: people who've read Ancillary Sword, can you recommend the sequel?

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

I liked Ancillary Sword very much. It's a small-picture type of story where Ancillary Justice was a big picture story. Yes, I totally recommend it.

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Good to know, thanks :)

[mific]

100% - they're both great!

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Good to know :)

[scintilla10]

Ahh, yes, it's so wonderful! I think I loved it more than the first one.

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I hope that since I already know a few characters it'll be easier to get into than the first one.

[scintilla10]

Yeah, I think because of familiarity with the world and characters, it was easier to access than Ancillary Justice was at the beginning (for me, anyway). I hope it works for you!

[genarti]

I liked Ancillary Sword a whole lot. I would definitely recommend.

I do definitely know other people who liked the first book and -- didn't dislike the second book, but liked it less. There are some shifts in dynamics/outlooks that might or might not be justified by the continuity depending on how you read the situation; I was fine with them, though. I'm being vague here but I did want to mention it because I know I hate it when I go into something expecting it to be THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD and am disproportionately out of sorts when it's merely very good. Definitely recommend, though. And there's definitely more playing around with identity and how it is and isn't divided.

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Thanks for the "warning". I was disappointed by too high expectations before (Firefly, Farscape...), so I appreciate it.