Arunsr1ni reviewed Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing …
Review of 'Ancillary Justice' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I am torn between loving this book and hating it. For one, the book will be loved by fans of Iain M Banks. It will be an author's favorite. The quality of writing constantly tries to be complex, and while it falters sometimes, it comes out great when it doesn't.
Space operas nowadays are going through a change. I feel the genre is trying to take a hard look at itself - and from being a over expository, feed the reader about various parameters in every scene, to believing in the reader's aptitude and let them understand the inner workings of the story from the big picture the author explains.
Books like Leviathan Wakes and January dancer worked for me because of how distinct their characters were, and how them- coming together drives the story as it goes. But Ancillary Justice seemed one dimensional at best. The culture is distinct, …
I am torn between loving this book and hating it. For one, the book will be loved by fans of Iain M Banks. It will be an author's favorite. The quality of writing constantly tries to be complex, and while it falters sometimes, it comes out great when it doesn't.
Space operas nowadays are going through a change. I feel the genre is trying to take a hard look at itself - and from being a over expository, feed the reader about various parameters in every scene, to believing in the reader's aptitude and let them understand the inner workings of the story from the big picture the author explains.
Books like Leviathan Wakes and January dancer worked for me because of how distinct their characters were, and how them- coming together drives the story as it goes. But Ancillary Justice seemed one dimensional at best. The culture is distinct, but the world building is absent. Even the revealing of Raadch's culture reads not like a thread in a mystery story but like an encyclopedia. Even the big revelation at the end seemed 'meh' to me.
If it were written as a low science fiction, group of entities acting in a universe we can relate to, I feel I'd have liked it more.
The prose is .... different. Sentences like 'I was unsurprised to discover she hadn't meant it' reads as though someone purposefully tried to explain each step of the story in a convoluted manner. It is not a space opera except it has some space ships. Coming from a year full of Alastair Reynolds, James S.A Corey, Lois Mcmaster Bujold, this was a huge disappointment for me.
You might like this if : you like ins and outs of characterization, and you are a disjointed reader - you read 5 pages on the bus and 5 at lunch and another 5 on the throne, as every time you read you'll be explained about the point of the story.
You might not like this if : you love mystery, like a balance of world building and characterization, interaction, multi-dimentional personalities.
Believe me - many reviews go gaga about sentient ship and the culture. I felt it is just that. A sentient ship and a new culture.