Ancillary Justice
By Ann Leckie (2013)
Series : Imperial Radch #1
Page Count : 318 pages (Digital Edition)
Medium used : Kindle Paperwhite 11 version.
Winner of Nebula Award (2014), Hugo Award (2014), Arthur C Clarke Award (2014) + Others.
Genre : Space Opera, Science Fiction, Fantasy, 2023-read.
Rating : 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ann Leckie is an American author and this is her debut novel. This book has won a bunch of prominent awards like Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C Clarke among others. The prose is wonderful and cinematic. The script is novel and takes time to follow, fitting all the pieces together. I had to read some portions of the text multiple times to register what is being implied and this slowed down my pace a bit. But this is to be expected since this book, first in the series called Imperial Radch, lays down the ground work introducing a new and inventive space system in distant future.
On a high level, this story represents a fight and split between good and evil. Since the same consciousness/entity represents both of them - lot of confusion ensues. Not just to the reader but the characters in the story are just lost and at their wits' end about whom to support and who is the villain, who is not. It's the same entity that wants to collaborate with aliens and the same entity that doesn't want to. It's the same entity that wants to continue annexing planets and also that doesn't want to. Its confusing isn't it?!
Robots have human bodies with distributed consciousness and are controlled by a centralized Artificial Intelligence. These individual segments of robots are called Ancillaries. Radch empire is built through annexation of planets using this robotic military force and bringing them under control. The undisputed and highly revered leader of this empire is Anaander Mianaai. His consciousness is distributed among thousands of ancillaries and they operate seamlessly with the goal of expanding their vast empire through increased use of ancillaries. A split occurs in this consciousness and takes forms of good and bad. Their is an internal strife,unknown to anyone and unacknowledged by Mianaai to himself - for a thousand years. The same consciousness (in the form of a Mianaai body) wants to do good and bad through its ancillaries. The directives and orders it gives are hence confusing and contradictory, self defeating. In one of its maneuvers to defeat the other half, a battle ship Justice of Thoren is destroyed. All the ancillaries controlled by the ship are destroyed except one fragment called Breq. This is the story of Breq who comes back twenty years after the event to avenge his destruction.
The end is left open ended for the sequel. Most of the confusion and lacunas in the story are addressed towards the end. I enjoyed thoroughly the varied number of conversations Breq has with different people. They are both philosophical and enlightening. The customs of Radchaai (inhabitants of the Radch empire) are quite novel - singing, praying to gods, believing in omens, integrating the gods of the planets they annex and so on. It is a refreshing experience to meet such human like AI agents who act and think very human! I would be happy to read the next book in the series to see what happens with Breq, Servidian and Mianaai consciousness. Its only a soap opera and not hard core scifi .. do pick up for some imaginative fun! :)
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