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Ancillary Justice - by Ann Leckie
I was all set for a space opera. I totally dig space operas! I'm even willing to try out a book by a brand new
author who brags about their humble non-author roots and has an interview with themselves as the last few pages
in their first book. Heck, Sword and Laser picked it as the November book, and Scalzi - whose writing I typically
enjoy - proclaims it's worth from the front cover.
Alas, my jiving with this book was not to be. I think I need to take a break from sci-fi, because it's probably not the
fault of the books or the authors, it's probably the fault of some unrealistic expectations I have for the work. This is
also '3 strikes' for Sword and Laser (again - my fault I suspect) so maybe I'll focus on some literature for a while and
return to the popcorn with a re-nourished mind.
This first volume in a stated series follows the efforts of Breq, a splinter from a hive-mind intelligence, on a quest for
vengeance across the galaxy. Or - so I assume. The book actual reads like yet another Japanese slice-of-life work following
the minute hand gestures and facial ticks of the main character and several other under-developed players. The
motivation for her actions and her overall plan seem fatally flawed, and I struggled to find a single character
in the book at all likable.
The author tries to make a sort of statement about gender perception by making the pronouns almost entirely impossible
to follow - mixing them often in the same sentence. The future, it seems, has less of a focus on gender, to the
extent that the protagonist is unable to tell anyone apart in that regard. While a fine notion, and interesting
to explore, it came across a bit heavy handed. That, compounded with the liberal use of a number of made-up words
which are only barely explained via context, embedded in a text which is almost entirely discussion and conversation
instead of plot or action, made it a difficult read. Having just finished 'The Little Minister' which likewise has
a language theme, in presenting the Scottish Brogue as a humorous foreign tongue, I ended up finding this read more
exhausting and frustrating due to the overall lack of engagement I was able to generate with the efforts of the
author. Again - I entirely buy the possibility that I should be more charitable with this book, but so it goes.
As has been said in other reviews, it seems that most of this book was spent with character introduction and world building. I
definitely agree, except some of the developed characters were killed off, and the world building boils down mainly to the
complicated politics of the Radch society. I'm happy that some people really dug all this, and maybe this framework will
be put to better use in forthcoming books, but I don't expect I'll personally find out.
I made a dismissive gesture. 3.6 seconds passed.
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