Thursday, June 11, 2015

Book Review: Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch Book 1)

Author: Ann Leckie

Pedigree

- 2013 BSFA Winner
- 2013 Golden Tentacle Winner
- 2013 Nebula Winner
- 2013 PKD Nominated
- 2014 Clarke Winner
- 2014 Hugo Winner
- 2014 Locus FN Winner
- 2014 Campbell Nominated


Dust Jacket Summary

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Breq is both more than she seems and less than she was. Years ago, she was the Justice of Toren--a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of corpse soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

An act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with only one fragile human body. And only one purpose--to revenge herself on Anaander Mianaai, many-bodied, near-immortal Lord of the Radch.

Good Points

- The basic concept is really cool, an AI that used to control a star ship and numerous other ancillaries (human slaves) but is now confined to a single human body.
- The author does a decent job of weaving together the past and present to reveal character's motivations.

Bad Points

- The pronoun game is a gimmick and gets tiresome after awhile.
- The first half of the book is plods along and occasionally we get a glimpse of a character's story or motivations. The pacing of this novel felt bogged down in the details and traveling.
- The characters and dialog are wooden and uninteresting.

Final Word

I really wanted this book to be more as it has gotten some great reviews and won major awards. While the concept is not wholly original the author does a decent job developing a tale of revenge. However, the plot and pacing drags the story down.

                                                           My Rating



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