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shottel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Sci-fi has a mold, sets of well-worn tropes that make it comforting and familiar. Leckie is very comfortable with taking you well outside that mold. It somewhat resembles Star Wars in that it presents a world so far off, in time and space, from our own that it has morphed into something with science we simply couldn’t recognize. But while Star Wars smuggles fantasy into sci-fi, Ancillary Justice trades in exotic political systems and societies.
What happens when one person can be many people? When an AI can control numerous bodies? When time begins to become less and less meaningful with medical and technological advancements? Things definitely begin to look a little sideways.
It’s in this world full of unfamiliar, society-defining technologies that Leckie explores several big themes: What does it mean to be civilized, or to exist in civilization? What makes a person? What makes a political system legitimate? What does gender or sex mean when technologically-assisted reproduction is commonplace? Is the self a coherent unity or is it just a useful fiction? Taking on these big questions in less than 400 pages of fiction is a huge ask, one that Leckie handles mostly well; my sole critique of Ancillary Justice is that sometimes it does get a bit in-your-face about its philosophical questions. I love thoughtful fiction, but Leckie does get a little unsubtle at times.
Nevertheless, this is an absolutely genre-defining piece of fiction, innovative and engaging as it comes. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in sci-fi or philosophically-minded fiction.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Classism, Death, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, War, Racism, Addiction, and Colonisation
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Rape, and Sexual assault
kitkathy24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Colonisation, Classism, and Genocide
scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, and Death
Moderate: Murder, Xenophobia, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Medical content, Slavery, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
szuum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Murder, Gun violence, Colonisation, and Classism
avacadosocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Death, Colonisation, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse and Addiction
Minor: Body horror
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Colonisation
Moderate: Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Genocide, War, and Body horror
linda_wolf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Minor: Addiction, Gun violence, and Death
sincetheflood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Colonisation, and Gun violence
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Genocide
Minor: Vomit, Body horror, and Grief
lbelow's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Addiction, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Classism, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death
rystonlentil43's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Classism and Colonisation
Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and War
Minor: Addiction