Review: Ancillary Justice

I've been putting this one off.

How do I get across just how much I loved this book? I've said it so many times recently, the words seem kind of wan. And yet - and yet -

And yet I find myself, four days later, just reliving one moment or another from this book. One sensation or another. A sudden desire to be in the presence of one of the characters. This doesn't happen to me often.

I'll keep it short. Once again, I'm late to the party. This book already won all of the awards, we can all sit down and bask in the glow.

What did I like about this book, you ask? I'll tell you! I liked the voice. It was a voice clearly not human, without being so other that it felt forced. Yes, this was an AI talking, one mind spread across multiple bodies (a ship, it was an entire ship) and yet I didn't feel Leckie trying to force it's inherent AI-ness down my throat. It was just there.

And I liked that this was okay. By which I mean, I liked that this was just okay with One Esk/Breq. Breq didn't have moral dilemma's about her identity, although other characters had plenty enough on her behalf. Breq had her intelligence, and her goal. One step and then the next. This book is so much more than the question of what constitutes a human, although that is a question that is present throughout. The other question, that comes up again and again is: What do you do when you have two options, and neither of them are right?

Again, I don't see Leckie tripping over Breq's tongue to preach to us what we should do. Breq makes choices, and some are more damaging, others are less damaging. An excellent thing about One Esk as a focaliser is that we can see, through One Esk and the Justice of Toren the small and large scale impact.

Just- wow. I could wax on about this all day long, but I wouldn't be waxing lyrical or sense because I genuinely don't quite know how to do this book justice. I can't wait until I get my hands on the next.

This counts for the Mount TBR Challenge.