Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

4 reviews

shottel's review against another edition

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• 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

What a goddamn amazing book.

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.

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Content Warnings

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

fmcphaden's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• 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

The first book in one of the most sophisticated sci-fi trilogies I’ve ever encountered. Crosses several sub genres. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, War, Blood, Classism, Medical content, Murder, Addiction, Xenophobia, Death, Deportation, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Bullying, Police brutality, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Confinement, Ableism, Classism, Genocide, Police brutality, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Addiction, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, War, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

• 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

3.75

So hard to read. Like Harrow the Ninth hard. The AI flashback chapters with multiple shifting POVs was a huge challenge. The POV being an AI character made it feel like instances of an unreliable narrator. For example, character descriptions from an AI perspective weren't normal literary depictions, so as a imaginative reader it was hard to form a normal picture.

All of that being said, it was an extremely interesting read. The characters were very well-defined, the plot was intriguing and original. Awesome twists! The beginning was a bit of a drag, but the end picked up so fast I immediately rented the next book in the series. I think it'll be like LOTR, where Fellowship is 90% set up and the rest is faster paced.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug abuse, War, Grief, Colonisation, Racism, Addiction, and Torture