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Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch) by Ann…
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Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch) (edition 2013)

by Ann Leckie (Author)

Series: Imperial Radch (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
5,9153641,668 (4.01)1 / 587
Now isolated in a single frail human body, Breq, an artificial intelligence that used to control of a massive starship and its crew of soldiers, tries to adjust to her new humanity while seeking vengeance and answers to her questions.
Member:MFormichelli
Title:Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch)
Authors:Ann Leckie (Author)
Info:Orbit (2013), Edition: Later Printing, 416 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

  1. 92
    The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (lquilter)
    lquilter: Fans of either Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness or Leckie's Ancillary Justice should enjoy the other. In common, the pacing, character-centered perspective obscuring aspects of the universe, political machinations, far-future setting, and treatment of ethics; also interesting for its simultaneous foregrounding and backgrounding of gender.… (more)
  2. 60
    All Systems Red by Martha Wells (chlorine)
    chlorine: Main protagonists are at least somewhat AI, and both books have a neutral take on gender.
  3. 50
    A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (g33kgrrl)
    g33kgrrl: Both books feature complex, political space sci-fi with amazing characters and world-building.
  4. 40
    Ghost Spin by Chris Moriarty (libron)
    libron: Ancillary Justice is great - but for a nuanced, riveting treatment of AI, Moriarty has her beat, hands down. I hope to see more rigorous explorations in future of what Leckie has limned in her first outing.
  5. 30
    Ring of Swords by Eleanor Arnason (libron)
    libron: Arnason's depiction of an alternative (alien) gender/social structure is awesome. I hope Leckie can flesh her own ideas out further beyond pronoun ambiguity in forthcoming books.
  6. 30
    The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (RidgewayGirl)
    RidgewayGirl: Utterly different in tone, this also features the "mind" of a ship and the people she interacts with.
  7. 30
    A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. Wright (sandstone78)
    sandstone78: Some of the dynamics in Leckie's Ancillary Justice remind me of the much more obscure single-volume space opera Wright's A Matter of Oaths about two warring immortal emperors and a protagonist with a mysterious connection to them- if you like one, you may like the other.… (more)
  8. 30
    Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh (sandstone78)
    sandstone78: Leckie has said that Cherryh's Foreigner books were a big influence on Ancillary Justice and sequels
  9. 41
    Embassytown by China Miéville (electronicmemory)
  10. 20
    A Fire upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (electronicmemory)
  11. 31
    The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (souloftherose)
    souloftherose: Both are optimistic space operas that focus on the characters and their relationships.
  12. 20
    Fool's War by Sarah Zettel (Dilara86)
    Dilara86: Sentient AIs and spaceships
  13. 10
    Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (g33kgrrl)
  14. 10
    Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (souloftherose)
  15. 10
    Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones (CelestiaJK)
    CelestiaJK: Both have interesting AI themes and a great understanding of human nature.
  16. 10
    Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky (aulandez)
  17. 00
    The Lazarus War: Artefact by Jamie Sawyer (dClauzel)
  18. 00
    Lock In by John Scalzi (sturlington)
  19. 00
    Worlds of Exile and Illusion: Three Complete Novels of the Hainish Series in One Volume by Ursula K. Le Guin (sturlington)
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English (367)  Dutch (1)  French (1)  All languages (369)
Showing 1-5 of 367 (next | show all)
Que maravilla de ciencia ficción. Una inteligencia artificial tan extensa, con capacidad para controlar miles de cuerpos, atrapada en un cuerpo individual. Una galaxia dominada por un imperio extenso y a veces cruel.

Al principio quiza cuesta hacerse con el mundo, pero a medida que lo vas leyendo se hace cada vez más disfrutable e intenso. Me ha enganchado, sobretodo pasado el ecuador del libro. Voy a tener que correr a por el siguiente de la trilogia. ( )
  Cabask | Mar 27, 2024 |
I bought this because it won the 2014 Hugo for Best Novel, and I can see why! Leckie has performed a marvelous feat of world- and culture-building in this novel.

There is one aspect of this, though, that took some getting used to. In the main culture of the story, they don't make any gender distinction: even though there are biological sexes, everyone is referred to as "she" and "her". There are hints in the narration that indicate which sex some of the characters are; but it is hard to get and hold a mental image of the character, especially when at 20% of the way through the story you find that someone is biologically male and you didn't know until then.

Still, I was going to immediately purchase the sequel. But it isn't available yet. (Soon, though...) ( )
  Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |
First thing I read about this book was how it was refreshingly interesting because of the specific use of gender and gender point of view (which makes me think that people did not read David Weber). This always puts it in perspective of the times when book is published and to be honest it made me think long before starting to read it. Might be me but whenever people start to worship things because of current political and social climate it puts me off.

So eventually I took it and I have to say this is quite a book. To make things clear from the start - if you find Ghost in the Shell anime/manga to be confusing this book will confuse you to the core. This is the world where large space battleship AIs control what today would be called zombies - enslaved people conquered by the Imperium of the Radch put under direct control of the AI used as ground troops wearing advanced weaponry and benefiting from AI overall control and much faster reflexes.

Heh, I can bet you have completely forgotten what I said first - enslaved people used as puppets by the AI to pursue the goals of the Imperium.

And this is where book shines (when you get through the initial puzzlement with who is who and how many are there of each). Imperium of Radch is not unlike the Melnibone from Moorcock's stories of Elric. It is not benevolent empire - it spreads through the stars, annexing the other worlds, putting them to torch and deleting all life when it feels like, all under the command of the Empress, one and only and forever living, mighty avatar of the Shiva equivalent in Radch's religion. Those lucky to survive get assimilated into Radch society, society without privacy, under constant monitoring and control of every individual. What author portrays is very interesting role religion plays in this process. You see Radch are not atheists (which is usually case in SF operas of this kind) but people worshiping rather large pantheon and connection between the newly annexed societies and Radch Imperium is quickly established because (like polytheistic people from ancient times in our age) these religions are not exclusive - it is very easy to reconcile the differences because all deities are portrayed in every society in a more or less same way. Of course, as is case with every conquering force, Radch see themselves as force of enlightenment that bring prosperity to those they crush (which then makes W40K Empire of Man human rights organization). There are benefits but it is somewhat difficult to survive such a benevolence and get into position to profit from it.

For the Radch government newly conquered population is just batch of new subjects that sometimes need additional purge through pretty sneaky and merciless intrigue (very much W40K Inquisitor style)- and this is what happens on a remote world where annexation goes wrong and soon all witnesses need to be eradicated. All but a single person, who is not person at all but one of the zombies controlled by and inhabited by battleship AI, that feels betrayed and decides to take its vengeance. Of course being an only remnant of the once huge hive-like mind of the battleship this causes quite an identity crisis.

So as you can see there is much much more to this book than gender. And when it comes to gender for me it shows only megalomania of the Empress herself and her role as an avatar of ruling goddess of the Radch official pantheon (just replace He with She in sentence 'pronoun created world to pronoun liking'). Similar to other stories of this type (W40K again) Empress is an enigmatic person and question remains is she, after that many millennia, still human (although to be honest in Asher's novels all Radch would be treated as post-human).

Nevertheless very interesting presentation of communication between completely different cultures (another book with similar subject, "Left Hand of Darkness" is on my TBR list, cannot wait for it).

This is very interesting books, lots of concepts, with anti-heroes playing role of heroes.

If you like space opera with plenty of twists. can keep up with AI caprices and enjoy darker stories like Glen Cook's Black Company or Moorcock's stories you will enjoy this one.

Recommended. ( )
  Zare | Jan 23, 2024 |
This is solidly one of the best space books. I loved the borg-type ancillary systems, I loved the Roman Empire Style Space expansion. The writing and plot were all solid. I loved the critical analysis of social issues. ( )
  mslibrarynerd | Jan 13, 2024 |
Story: 4 / 10
Characters: 9
Setting: 6
Prose: 6

Really impressive concept. Sadly, not a very good delivery. The plot doesn't develop until well over halfway through, which leaves the story wandering aimlessly.

Tags: Ancillaries, AI-human interaction, mind control, houses, families, birthright, privilege, class, imperialism ( )
  MXMLLN | Jan 12, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 367 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (18 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Ann Leckieprimary authorall editionscalculated
Andoh, AdjoaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Benshoff, KirkCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Harris, JohnCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kempen, BernhardTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nunez, BillyCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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For my parents, Mary P. and David N. Dietzler, who didn't live to see this book but were always sure it would exist.
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The body lay naked and facedown, a deathly gray, spatters of blood staining the snow around it.
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Surely it isn't illegal here to complain about young people these days? How cruel. I had thought it a basic part of human nature, one of the few universally practiced human customs.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Now isolated in a single frail human body, Breq, an artificial intelligence that used to control of a massive starship and its crew of soldiers, tries to adjust to her new humanity while seeking vengeance and answers to her questions.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
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. - Goodreads.com
Haiku summary
It's alive... or dead.
A.I. or human? Who cares!
She, or he, is BREQ!
(pickupsticks)

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