Ancillary Justice

I happened to see that  Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice had won multiple major awards. I had been looking for some good science fiction to read, so I gave it a shot. This post includes spoilers.

There is a lot to like about Ancillary justice. Leckie describes the pieces of her world masterfully. From the dreary ice planet, to the city-like space station, to a newly annexed planet--her descriptions feel real. The system of social stratification of Leckie's world is not unlike our own, with its "houses" or varying power and prestige. It is like our world's House of Bush, House of Kennedy, House of Windsor, House of Vanderbilt, House of Castro. And it is fun how tea is central to social interaction among members of the higher houses. It helps renew my fondness for tea.

The mechanics of how Breq, the main character, came to be are fascinating. She was the artificial intelligence of a ship and its ancillaries (human bodies whose mind and will the AI has taken over to serve as, well, slaves). Breq is what remains of the AI when the ship and all but one of the ancillaries are destroyed. She is essentially a simple human.

With that said, I didn't enjoy the book as much as I had hoped. I think I just didn't like the story. With such masterful writing, the novel comes together as a tale of a weird conflict between two segments of civilization's supreme leader. It doesn't make much sense to me and it isn't very interesting.

This the first book of a trilogy, and I assumed it would hook me and I would have to read parts two and three. But one is enough.