Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch) (edition 2013)

It took a while to get into this, but it was well worth the effort. The atmosphere created by the author is surreal, with a lot of philosophical undercurrents throughout the story. The suspense is understated but very tangible. ( )

Wow. This is the first real world-building scifi I've read in a while that wasn't a continuation of an existing world, so the first few chapters were a bit of a wade as it set the scene. Then the book took off and I couldn't put it down.

A lot's been made of the way Leckie handles gender, and it is an interesting detail. Personally, I also really appreciated a related part of this world: that languages are hard. So much scifi waves away all language problems with some kind of magic translator, but in this book it's repeatedly made clear that characters have to invest time and effort into learning each others' languages, those who haven't put in the effort simply can't communicate, and those who have routinetly find some things easier to say in some languages than others. It's one of those details that helped make a world in which there's a lot of almost-invincible tech and so on feel that much more real. ( )

This book is AMAZING. I was going to read it because a Goodreads group I'm member of was going to do so, and at first I didn't really think it would be anything special. Boy, was I wrong.

I love how the chapters are alternating between the "present" of the main plot, and flashbacks to relevant past events leading up to the present circumstances. The author was able to integrate these with each other in a non-obtrusive way, leading to several cliffhangers at the end of chapters that made the book hard to put down (or turn off my eReader in my case). The multiplicity of Justice of Toren is also exquisitely integrated in the story, in a way that is not-obtrusive and doesn't in any way make the main plot hard to follow. This is very impressive indeed, kudos to the author for this accomplishment.

Being a polytheist myself, I was very pleasantly surprised to see Radchaai culture, and others mentioned or featured in the book, being depicted as polytheistic. Not only that, it was depicted in a very natural way conforming to what polytheistic cultures are actually like, and not the way Christianity and Islām usually portray it, with the consequent negative perception thereof by Western culture as a whole.

I also love the linguistic and cultural details the author manages to work into the story, like the gendering-issue in non-Radchaai languages, the necessity to were gloves in Radchaai culture, and all such cultural traits that might seem silly and insignificant, but ultimately make the whole thing believable.

So a well deserved 5-stars from me, I can't wait for the sequels! ( )

Very cool book. ( )

Teme:
Mikro: Da li počiniti nešto što ne želimo ili ne smatramo ispravnim ako će to biti manje od dva zla?
Makro: Šta se desi kada imperija koja se izdržava osvajanjem prestane da osvaja?
Edit: U stvari, možda je najzanimljivije porediti AI-eve sa našom sopstvenom svešću/identitetom. Kao i jedan lik u knjizi i mi možemo kriti stvari od sebe, biti u ratu sa sobom, i raditi po svoju štetu.

Zanimljivosti:
Glavni lik i njegovi/njeni odnosi - Justice of Toren/One Esk (Nineteen)/Honored Breq je AI koji ima osećanja. Takođe svemirski brod koji prenosi trupe - bilo ljudske, bilo ancillary-je (leševi koje kontroliše AI). Voli da peva. Interesantan njen odnos sa drugima, posebno jer je pametan, dobroćudan i pravdoljubiv AI. Za mene je on(a?) čovek koliko i sami ljudi, pa čak i više čovek od nekih ljudi.
Mudrosti tu i tamo - ni blizu koliko bih želeo, but just hear this:

Luxury always comes at someone else’s expense. One of the many advantages of civilization is that one doesn’t generally have to see that, if one doesn’t wish. You’re free to enjoy its benefits without troubling your conscience.
Društvo i univerzum u kome se odvija - najprimetnija stvar je da ljudi nemaju pol i za svakog se kaže "ona" (she). Ali balansi moći, rapidno širenje i posledice takvog društva su mnogo zanimljivije. I to kako sve funkcioniše prividno bez ikakve greške. Ne bih rekao da je distopija, već pre društvo koje je dobro za sebe samo, ali koje posle nekog vremena počinje da puca po šavovima i zanimljivo je videti kako su ljudi navikli da sve rade bez pogovora, a odjednom moraju da se suoče sa neizvesnošću.

Nažalost, takvih najzanimljivih stvari ima malo. Veći je akcenat na samom plot-u, priči, kako protaginst(kinj)a ostvaruje svoj cilj kao jedna jedinka, i kako je živela dok je još uvek bila AI ogromnog broda sa hiljadama tela. I negde od poslednje trećine romana ove dve priče se spajaju u jednu (i bukvalno i figurativno). ( )