venneh 's review for:

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

5.0

---

Again, somehow didn't review this when I read it originally, so let's fix this now. :) Was thinking back as I was reading this book, and I think this is one of the first books I read where lesbian relationships were treated as a matter of fact, and to point out the weirdness of gender perceptions within society. We also get more of the politics of who is and isn't considered "people" within the confines of empire, especially in a relatively small plot point that ends up taking unexpected importance. While there's a lot going on in this book in terms of the larger plot, it also isn't afraid to let what might've been a side plot in another book take precedence for most of it. The varying scales of scope, the setup for the next book and continuance of plot points from the original book, and just all of this in general hit in just the right way. Still The Good Shit, almost a half decade plus on.