Ancillary Justice

I picked up Ancillary Justice when I saw it in the bookshop the other week. It's the debut novel by Ann Leckie, and it's gathering awards left, right & centre. I've seen quite a few reviews in the various blogs I read and I don't think I've seen one that didn't like it.

The story is set in the far future, when humans have colonised many many worlds across the galaxy. The narrative has two threads in alternating chapters - one is the "now" of the story and the other tells us the back story. The protagonist, Breq, was once an AI for a ship called Justice of Toren. Justice of Toren's mind and persona didn't just reside in the ship as a computer, but were also distributed across several (hundreds) of once-human bodies called ancillaries. When the story begins one of these ancillaries, calling herself Breq, is a long way from home and acting on her own. The backstory chapters reveal the world Breq came from, and what happened to get from Justice of Toren to Breq on her own. And the "present-day" plot is about what Breq is going to do about it. The action takes place on various worlds in the Radch's galaxy spanning empire, involving military action, intrigue & politics. To avoid spoilers, I shan't talk much more about the plot.

Please click the link below to read the rest of my review!