Ann Leckie’s debut novel Ancillary Justice tells the story of a woman, Breq, who was once the “soldier” of a space ship–Justice of Toren, or rather the fragment of the ship’s intelligence and is now seeking revenge on the Lord of the Radch who was once her leader. Leckie’s narrative is told from the first person point of view of Breq in the “present” of the novel and the past. The novel begins when Breq arrives on a cold, distant world, where she rescues a soldier in – Seivarden Vendaai – her service over two thousand years ago. It was a strong, evocative opening to the novel.
The gender politics and reversed male-female representation are just one element that sets the novel apart. The gender politics on a cold planet evoked Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness for me, and I would suspect this was intentional on Leckie’s part. From there, she takes the story in a different direction that intermingles more technological issues in with the societal issues. The character of Breq is one of the most unique in today’s SF. She’s female, two decades prior to the “present” of the novel in which the flashbacks take place, she was a part of an AI on the aforementioned Justice of Toren and she is the sole survivor. We meet her on the frozen planet beyond the boundaries of her former government Radchaai Empire. The Radchaai overtook many planets through their Justice ships, brought them into the empire and converted a portion of the populace into what amount to zombie soldiers, called ancillaries.
Leckie has an inventive point of view and injects a lot of originality into the novel. There’s interesting things to ponder in terms of evolution, singularity and machine intelligence in a far future. Breq is far from a reliable narrator and her past selves aren’t fully able to resolve themselves and their memories as she progresses through the present. The system of Justices and planetary colonization seems like it could be fodder for a great many stories. Although Leckie isn’t the first to posit intelligent, thinking star ships in a Space Opera setting, her execution and foundation from which the story flows is something she makes her own, it feels fresh.
I also thought she did an exceptional job of relaying the difficulties in communication between the various cultures presented in the book. In this respect, if not in the execution, but the concept of careful and complex communication, I was reminded of the uses of poses in Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet. That communication/language coupled with the convincing religion depicted in the novel, makes for a future society with great depth.
Where the novel didn’t work for me was the inconsistent pull of the narrative and the continual gender swapping. Some characters are referred to as both he and she and while I understand the necessity that some characters be less than honest on these counts, it proved to be a more cluttered execution. The shifts between the past narrative and the present proved problematic, it wasn’t a smooth transition for me and I found myself having to re-read back a bit in some cases to get a better understanding of the timeframe in which the story lens was focusing at that time. Although the opening grabbed me, as the story progressed, the narrative and the character’s plight failed to significantly hold my attention.
Prior to reading the book, I’d seen quite a few people who, like me, received advance copies of the book praise the novel quite vociferously. Perhaps that worked against the book and unfairly raised my expectations. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting with Ancillary Justice, but for me the book ultimately did not work. That having been said, Leckie’s got a bold voice and one I’d read again given the opportunity.
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this book though I realize it did work for a great many readers.
© 2013 Rob H. Bedford
http://www.annleckie.com/
Excerpt: http://www.orbitbooks.net/excerpt/ancillary-justice/
Trade Paperback 978-0-316-24662-0 / 416 pages
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
Hi Rob
Contrarian views can be illuminating all the same (consider Ria Bridges not liking The Incrementalists much). No book works for every reader.
Fair point, Paul and I appreciate the comment. I can’t recall having such an opposite reaction to nearly every other reader who has been reading a book as I have with this book.
The first chapter and the last few chapters grabbed me, but i had issues with the rest of the novel. Yes, it was innovative, but it didn’t work at all for me. Much the dialog had me scratching my head in confusion, in many scenes I wasn’t sure what was happening. the genderswapping thing felt overly pushy, it was so much of an annoying distraction for me that it got in the way of me enjoying the good parts of the book.