Ancilliary Justice by Anne Leckie

[fjm]

Everyone's been raving about this but the first time I tried it I got bored and drifted off. Finally got back to it yesterday feeling I really ought to try it again

Comments

[coth]

Is it a generational thing? We remember being bemused at claims of William Gibson's genius when it had already been done by John Brunner.

[scott_lynch]

I think it probably has something to do with the relative dearth of unapologetic high-concept space opera, particularly over here in the States, where we seem to have more grumpy semi-retireds than we do active keyboard-bangers in that little corner of the field. Throw in the fact that Leckie tries (and occasionally succeeds) at doing interesting stuff with gender, and I think you also have an influx of interest (or at least online noise) from a younger reader demographic for whom that is a primary interest

[coalescent]

Hmm. My perception is that (a) a lot of the enthusiasm for AJ has actually been driven by UK-based readers and bloggers, and (b) much of the rest has come from fans of CJ Cherryh-style space opera. So I'm a bit sceptical of some of your analysis. My own take would be that its success is partly due to how effectively it marries conceptual/political ambition to a very commercial structure and style -- it's Scalzi meets Gwyneth Jones, in some ways. (I also think it's at least as much military SF as it is space opera.)

I thought it was good but not exceptional. I hope it does well and opens doors for more.

[scott_lynch]

Oooh, Cherryh's a good comparison. And the Scalzian structure/style thing, too (can't speak to the Jones comparison as I haven't read her, though BOLD AS LOVE is sitting on my Mortal Guilt Pile... er, To-Read Pile).

I can readily accept that a lot of UK readers and bloggers have made happy noise about AJ, as I read many of them, but in the main the people I get to see and talk to about this stuff face-to-face are still over here in the US. So, dueling perceptual anecdotes, shrug.

I did like AJ enough to recommend it at nearly every bookstore I stopped at while touring recently, and I absolutely do hope it opens doors for more Leckie and more stuff in this vein.

[coth]

If Cherryh is a good comparison then I'm upgrading it to my 'check it out list' - thanks.

[queenoftheskies]

I liked the concepts involved and the story, but it was a slow read for me because I had to read carefully in order to comprehend everything.

[saare_snowqueen]

Your comments are very heartening. Personally suspicious whenever I encounter a blitz of pro-comments, I'm holding off on Ancillary Justice until I've read enough balanced commentary to make up my own mind. Thank you.

[fjm]

If you like the Culture you'll love it. If you don't, it will be "meh".

I always had mixed feelings and this novel gives me the same mixed feelings, although like Banks Leckie is sound on imperial expansions and ideologies of colonialism.

[ext_194791]

For my part, I heard how great the Culture novels were, tried reading one or two, and found them super boring and stopped after fifty or a hundred pages. I picked up Ancillary Justice and found it riveting. Some of the same ideas, I hear, but very different execution.

[fjm]

Interesting. Execution is everything!

[autopope]

The Raadch gender thing (I got halfway into the book before giving up) put me in mind of Delany: IIRC among other things "Stars in my pocket like grains of sand" played similar gender pronoun games (default is female pronoun, male pronouns apply only to individuals that the narrator/narrative viewpoint is sexually attracted towards).

I got off to a bad start in the very first chapter, which appeared to be set on a single biome planet: always a big world-building fail in my opinion. And I didn't find our narrator's sense of distributed identity convincing, either.

On the other hand ... I'll try her next novel, too: shows promise, can do better.

[blufive]

I believe the next novel is a direct sequel...