she laughed, as though i’d said something moderately witty. “if that’s what you’re willing to do for someone you hate, what would you do for someone you loved?” i found i was incapable of answering. but the ship and most of the bodies were destroyed, and now all the soldier has left is one frail human ancillary against an incredibly powerful antagonist. i simply did not vibe with this book. that’s the easiest way to say it. reading it felt very emblematic of the experience i usually have reading older sci-fi: i liked the themes and core concepts, but i found the execution and characters thoroughly lacking, and in certain ways it even felt dated. even though it deals with a lot of issues that i tend to find fascinating -- colonialism and the effects of imperialism, how class and status inform one’s position in society, the concept of identity and gender, and how an advanced AI might function amidst all that -- i didn’t feel leckie’s approach was holistic or evocative enough. probably because i had trouble connecting to its characters and its prose, and also because i couldn’t help but think that every theme or concept i found lurking around was done better by another SF story. so fans of this series, be warned. this review will be critical. ancillary justice is written from the first person perspective of breq, the aforementioned former soldier of the radch empire. there are two timelines in the narrative as well: one taking place during current day, and the other a flashback timeline. “that,” i said, “is why i hate you.”
ancillary justice tells the story of one lone soldier of the radch empire on an almost insurmountable quest of vengeance. why? this soldier was once many; an artificial intelligence controlling a warship called justice of toren and dozens of human bodies called ancillaries.
© cover art by John Harris
the current day chapters follow breq in the shape of one human ancillary while she hunts for a powerful weapon on an icy, desolate planet for purposes yet unknown. this is breq without resources and lacking a lot of computing power, while also having to deal with saving an asshole of a stranger who might not be so strange to breq after all.
the flashback chapters take place about twenty years earlier when breq was still enlisted with the radch empire, and still a warship and dozens of ancillaries at the same time. this details all the disasters that led up to the destruction of justice of toren and breq’s current predicament.
one of the largest challenges of a character like breq is obviously how to establish a highly sophisticated, 2000-year-old artificial intelligence who is multiple bodies and a spaceship at the same time, while flipping to future breq who is only one just one ancillary.
breq’s multiple perspectives in the flashback chapters were really well done. there are subtle differences between different ancillaries; never enough for non-AI characters to consider them very different (or human, for that matter), but breq herself notices it.
and the interweaving of different scenes and dialogues was also a nice touch. several ancillaries of breq’s will be shown having conversations at different locations on wildly different topics with a lot of different people, and it somehow never gets complicated or convoluted.
“or is anyone’s identity a matter of fragments held together by convenient or useful narrative, that in ordinary circ*mstances never reveals itself as a fiction? or is it really a fiction?”i could believe how breq was interconnected and how her identity weaved in and out of being one and the same to being multiple instances whenever her ancillaries and ship fell out of sync. the utter dread at suddenly no longer having access to certain information and this idea of dozens of ancillaries suddenly diverging was very palpable and interesting.
it was a fascinating look at identity, and how it can wax and wane in subtle ways.
i’ll also easily admit that i preferred the flashback chapters over the current day ones, mostly because they give us more glimpses into the worldbuilding than the current day timeline does.
the radch empire, known for its brutally effective annexations using mostly ancillary soldiers, is a fascinating beast reminiscent of a roman empire or a ruthless colonial power. as an artificial intelligence and warship, breq is an intricate part of it, but still very much considered a tool rather than a person.
she exists in service to the radch military; the various lieutenants that she liaises for as ancillaries or keeps safe in her ship in orbit. much like the annexed cultures that the radch pluck their ancillary bodies from.
“you’re the ancillary, the non-person, the piece of equipment, but to compare our actions, you loved her more than i ever did.”both timelines eventually strive to paint a picture of breq beyond that of a monolithic, unemotional, non-involved AI. there’s emotional growth here, even though it is subtle, and won’t fully come to fruition until the main motivation for breq’s vengeance and the antagonist are revealed.
still, the current day chapters were so slow. i found them a slog to get through, as well as including several aspects that felt so badly motivated and even illogical from breq’s perspective that i could only really see them as planted there by the author.
first up, breq’s plan for vengeance is absolutely atrocious, and i can’t really believe that she’d be the first to start hunting for the powerful weapon she needs for her plan. i’ve had some trouble believing how much she sacrifices for a certain stranger she saves from freezing to death, too, but at least i can chalk that up to the necessary emotional arc.
the same goes for some aspects of the worldbuilding. the radch empire has existed for thousands of years, but somehow its methods and the way it operates have not changed during that stretch of time at all. it’s also never made clear just how the lord of the radch got to her power, and how she kept it during all those eons.
nor do we know how their AI developed or how it actually functions (ancillaries included).
that said... now we get to the gender gimmick.
according to breq, the radch don’t make the same sort of gender distinctions that other cultures do (even though they are not genderless), and they don’t have gendered language/pronouns, nor explicit signifiers (clothing, style, etc.).
thus, breq struggles in correctly gendering people from non-radch cultures (very valid), and the author chose to use she/her pronouns as a stand-in for a neutral pronoun to show that breq doesn’t gender the other characters in her thoughts at all.
the result is this: (1) it’s not clear what gender most characters are which i assume was one of leckie’s goals, (2) characters get annoyed at breq misgendering them, and (3) it very much looks as if breq is continuing to misgender them when these characters refer to themselves as he/him or male, and breq’s inner train of thought keeps using she/her.
though i think it’s nice to confront your reader with how silly gendered assumptions and stereotypes are especially when it comes to a story’s characters, i really think it’s only a surface-level ‘narrative’ device here. because there is no genuine, in-depth exploration about the concept of gender within the narrative of this book.
also, i just cannot believe that breq is one of the most sophisticated AIs in the world, having existed for over 2000 years, and having encountered numerous annexed worlds in which gender distinctions are a thing, but is yet unable to learn or integrate ANY of this knowledge and just constantly puts her foot in it and misgenders the sh*t out of everyone. i can’t.
“the gender thing is a giveaway, though. only radchaai would misgender people the way you do.”so yes. i found that aspect annoying, even though it doesn’t really affect the actual story; so perhaps it’s the acclaim for this part of the novel that annoyed me the most, to be truly honest.i’d guessed wrong. “i can’t see under your clothes. and even if i could, that’s not always a reliable indicator.”
but i digress. back to the rest of the book.
the prose was the final nail in the coffin of not particularly enjoying this story.
breq’s perspective is distant and devoid of emotion or any particular warmth, presumably to illustrate the experience of an AI. even to the point where the emotions of other people in the book are often described through gestures alone (i.e., “she made a dismissive / angry / tired gesture”), not through any other means.
but that distant, nearly philosophical tone, as well as certain phrases or habits being overused (see: the aforementioned gesturing, but also drinking tea for some reason), didn’t make it a pleasant reading experience for me.
i found it difficult to connect to the characters, even the more emotionally-involved ones, and as a result, i tried to focus more on plot -- but that only served to lay bare a pace and other plot elements that i didn’t find enjoyable, either.
© cover art by John Harris
you can see where i’m going with this: ancillary justice was not for me.
it has clunk (sluggish pacing, improbable plot elements, obvious narrative devices), but it also has many evocative themes and several surprising relationships at its heart that i can understand would very much entice and entertain other readers.
even i was eventually touched by the brushes with religion, and the relationships surrounding lieutenant awn and seivarden. there are some beautiful yet subtle things happening there.
so i find it hard to lay down a final verdict on whether i’d recommend this or not.
i think that if you’re interested in explorations of identity in the context of ancient colonial empires and artificial intelligence, you might come a very long way in reading this. the identity aspect of the book was probably the most intriguing aspect to me, and i loved it as a concept.
for me, however, it’s onto the next SF series.
✎ 2.5 stars.
★ this was a buddy read with carol, David, Jessica, Nataliya, and Stephen, and i cannot be more grateful for the discussion this book sparked and all the things we talked about. you all make me appreciate reading so much more :) ★
