My wife bought this book for me to read as a travel book during the first part of our move. This is a fun, creative, well-written space opera. The point of view is very refreshing and original. The protagonist has a pragmatic, no-nonsense approach, essentially a noir character, but also cares strongly about a few things that shape both the personality and the plot. The narrative flows easily; it is a page-turner but has to do some backflips in a couple of places to switch perspectives (from a ship-wide AI to a single individual). This book, the main character’s situation and personality, reminds me a lot of “The Murderbot Diaries” by Martha Wells, which were published later, but I read before reading this (even to small details like a love of singing versus a love of watching episodes of a serial). Another interesting aspect of how this book is written is dropping gender distinctions in the pronouns. For us used to using the English language, we end up guessing and searching for clues to the person’s gender to try to figure it out. It feels like it is missing, but why? Many languages do not distinguish male and female genders the way English does unless it is specifically pointed out. When we hear the word fish in English, we usually don’t start worrying right away if it is plural or not, much less the fish’s gender; however, we do focus on this when we do not have a he/she distinction to work with for human characters. This illustrates another example of how much language may influence us in ways that we are not aware of.
I am building up a backlog of books to post about; I’ve been reading a lot lately. I’ll try to get a few more posted soon.
Links
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancillary_Justice
- https://www.amazon.com/Ancillary-Justice-Imperial-Radch-Leckie/dp/031624662X/
Wordlist
- Adjunct—a supplementary nonessential part.
- Ancillary—a necessary supportive role.
- Anticendants—something that precedes another.
- Antiphonal—sung or chanted in alternating turns.
- Aplomb—self-confident in a trying circumstance.
- Catenaries—a U-shaped curve formed by a rope hanging between two points.
- Congenial—I thought this just meant someone that was generally nice and easy to get along with, but I looked it up to check, and it has a more specific meaning. It describes getting along well with someone because they are similar to you or share interests with you in some way.
- Contrite—feeling remorse or guilt.
- Equably—pleasant and without sudden changes.
- Gauche—awkward, boorish, foolish, rude, unsophisticated. From French for left, like the term sinister from Latin.
- Interiority—inner nature.
- Nonplussed—confused and bewildered or nonchalant, that is the question. This word is a mess. https://www.michiganradio.org/arts-culture/2018-06-17/its-not-unusual-to-be-nonplussed-over-the-meaning-of-nonplussed
- Obeisance—differentially respectful (as in bowing to someone).
- Ostensibly—seemingly or so-called.
- Propriety—appropriate behavior.
- Rancor—large alien carnivores as David points out. However, some may use it to mean bitter and resentful.
- Reticent—keeping your feelings hidden. This is a word that I know and have heard used, but I don’t yet feel comfortable with.
- Sardonic—mocking in a grim way.
- Scion—a shoot of a plant or a descendant of a family.
- Self-possessed—composed, calm, and confident.
- Susurrated—making a faint sound like whispering or rustling.
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