Villordsutch reviews Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie…
Ancillary Justice has been shortlisted as a possible winner of the 2014 Clarke Award. This Ann Leckie debut novel has already secured a shortlisting for every science fiction award, including the Kitschies (where it won the Golden Tentacle), the Philip K. Dick Awards, the BSFA Awards, the Tiptree and the Nebula Awards. So as you can see this book has certainly impressed a few people since its release with Orbit back in October 2013, and with the Clarke Awards coming up, here’s our review…
As regular readers will be aware that I’m rather a large science fiction fan and the prospect of getting my teeth into something which is making critics and award givers stand up and listen is rather exciting. When I received the book I took note of its small size (less than 400 pages)and I’d expected to devour it in a matter of days; clearly my over-confidence was my downfall here. I didn’t so much as struggle with the book, but felt more that I had to leave it at after finishing each chapter due to the work I had to put into some of them; on more than one occasion I went back a few paragraphs to re-read the story and I felt that what was revealed hadn’t been given to me in a clear way. I consider myself well versed in a wide spectrum of sci-fi literature from the easily accessible to mind twisting and yet I felt unfairly distracted, at certain points, from the tale being told.
The book is told from the point of view from the remaining piece of AI, who due to the assassination of itself in the form of the ship (that it was), places itself in the body of an Ancillary (Breq) and is now seeking to kill the leader of the of the known higher cast of humans (and her most venerable leader). Along the way of this twenty year vendetta she finds the Captain of another ship (that was destroyed by a weapon that shouldn’t have existed) from a 1000 years ago dying in the snow. Breq takes pity on this Captain, unsure as to why as she didn’t like her very much a thousand years back, and helps her back to health and status.
The book moves between a number of different stories and for the initial opening, about sixty pages or so, I was convinced that I was reading book two of an Ancillary Saga. I even took to Wikipedia to check and then to Orbit’s own website as I believed Wikipedia to be wrong. What felt like it could have been a main story eventually becomes a backstory and then two-thirds in our book follows a more linear method, but still manages to keep these moments of confusing the reader.
I know I’ve been negative of Ancillary Justice so far, and to come to the defense of the book I do have to say when it finds its rhythm it’s fantastic; it holds you and you’re dropping the F Bombs along with the book as moments unfold that you really can’t see happening nor want to as they do. As a parent I found the book sad, and I’m unsure why – perhaps it was the favourite talk the ships had about people on board, or the willingness to for Breq to help a fallen Captain, but as Breq and the Captain begin to grow and trust each other, so does your like for the characters and your want for these two people to succeed.
If you can push against the tide that the book occasionally turns towards you, you’ll find a rather good first sci-fi novel here. It’s ideas are very lofty and I don’t think in book one that Ann Leckie has managed to achieve everything she may have wanted to, but she has certainly shown everyone what she will be capable of in book two.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published March 31, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
