Ancillary Justice

I enjoyed the slow crescendo of drama. The characters are well-inhabited and I always love the gradual revelation of a world's secrets. I only rarely got confused about the names. I would normally fault a book like this for how many coincidences the plot rests on, but I didn't find them overly implausible in Ancillary Justice's case. There was some reason for each one, and none of the coincidences felt like they strained the plot, just distilled it. I won't call the language sublime, but it read well. Open Ancillary Justice for a space opera that interrogates the assumption of empire, for a character's silent pain dredged in flashbacks, loyalty, and that character's patient search for a sense of self. The central sci-fi conceit deals with what it means to be only a part of yourself, and the impossibility of repressing your feelings forever.

the comparisons to the Culture novels are apt. establishes itself slowly but overall satisfying

writing a protagonist who is several different people wrapped into one consciousness, and is for some part of the story, not necessarily reliable as a storyteller, feels like it would've been a challenge, but ann leckie made it seem natural

the worldbuilding is, typically for good sci fi, brilliant. i felt absorbed into it. the constant surveillance within the radch is disturbing and feels connected to the real-life present. the colour and the characters are lovely.

i also noted that this is ann leckie's first full length novel and i'm super impressed.

i'm eager to read the next 2 in the series, though i'm going to read something else in between so i don't get series burnout!

J’ai eu du mal à me mettre dedans, les règles grammaticales sur le genre étant non seulement confusante mais désagréable (j’ai eu l’occasion de lire un livre où tout était genré au féminin « elle pleut », « la bébé », mais ce n’est pas pareil).
Après quelques chapitres (et ayant appris que la version originale était aussi « perturbante » et que ce n’était pas une aberration de traduction), j’ai enfin profité du livre.
Une histoire complexe et très bien ficelée, originale, que j’ai trouvé très rafraîchissante.

Really enjoyed this book. In some ways it's a classic space opera but there's enough twists on the formula that it feels super fresh. Fascinating explorations of identity, language, and class. The writing was fun and engaging, I ate this book up.

There's a lot of death and destruction happening throughout the book and the Radch is quite an evil Empire. Nevertheless, the two main characters grew on me quickly. Great world-building but done in a restrained manner. The story itself is quite the wild ride. It also stands on its own, despite being the first book in a trilogy.

Leckie's novel explores so many different worlds and how the worlds see each other that it provides interesting insights into what makes something alien. The transhumanist space ship AI as a first-person character also asks questions about what it means to be alive. One of the central themes of a society with a genderless pronoun also forces the reader to consider if gender matters in this future world, while also examining why certain characters are expected to have a specified gender.

A fascinating exploration of colonialism, gender, and the question of human agency told through a remarkably human, arguably nonhuman protagonist. A must-read for anyone who enjoys outside-the-box thinking and sci-fi worldbuilding.

Space Opera in 3 parts — long, grand, sci-fi, easy & fun to read. Incidentally the main civilisation of the book does not distinguish gender, which is represented in the book by giving everybody female pronouns, which is kind of a cool reading experience. I like the depiction of fragile consciousness of the protagonist.

Inutilmente complicato e onestamente non mi ha entusiasmato. Forse non l'ho capito io o forse sono troppo legato all'hard scifi classica.