{"id":1581,"date":"2023-06-16T12:32:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/?p=1581"},"modified":"2023-06-23T18:25:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T18:25:29","slug":"ancillary-justice-leckie-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/2023\/06\/16\/ancillary-justice-leckie-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancillary Justice (Leckie 2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_20230615_175408761-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1582\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_20230615_175408761-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_20230615_175408761-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_20230615_175408761-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_20230615_175408761-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_20230615_175408761-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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&#8217;s situation and personality, reminds me a lot of &#8220;The Murderbot Diaries&#8221; 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&#8217;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&#8217;t start worrying right away if it is plural or not, much less the fish&#8217;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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am building up a backlog of books to post about; I&#8217;ve been reading a lot lately. I&#8217;ll try to get a few more posted soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Links<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ancillary_Justice\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ancillary_Justice<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ancillary-Justice-Imperial-Radch-Leckie\/dp\/031624662X\/\">https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ancillary-Justice-Imperial-Radch-Leckie\/dp\/031624662X\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wordlist<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adjunct\u2014a supplementary nonessential part. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ancillary\u2014a necessary supportive role. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anticendants\u2014something that precedes another. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antiphonal\u2014sung or chanted in alternating turns. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aplomb\u2014self-confident in a trying circumstance. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Catenaries\u2014a U-shaped curve formed by a rope hanging between two points. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Congenial\u2014I 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 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">because<\/span> they are similar to you or share interests with you in some way. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contrite\u2014feeling remorse or guilt. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Equably\u2014pleasant and without sudden changes. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gauche\u2014awkward, boorish, foolish, rude, unsophisticated. From French for left, like the term sinister from Latin. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interiority\u2014inner nature. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nonplussed\u2014confused and bewildered or nonchalant, that is the question. This word is a mess. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michiganradio.org\/arts-culture\/2018-06-17\/its-not-unusual-to-be-nonplussed-over-the-meaning-of-nonplussed\">https:\/\/www.michiganradio.org\/arts-culture\/2018-06-17\/its-not-unusual-to-be-nonplussed-over-the-meaning-of-nonplussed<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Obeisance\u2014differentially respectful (as in bowing to someone). <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ostensibly\u2014seemingly or so-called. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Propriety\u2014appropriate behavior. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rancor\u2014large alien carnivores as David points out. However, some may use it to mean bitter and resentful. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reticent\u2014keeping your feelings hidden. This is a word that I know and have heard used, but I don&#8217;t yet feel comfortable with. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sardonic\u2014mocking in a grim way. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Scion\u2014a shoot of a plant or a descendant of a family. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Self-possessed\u2014composed, calm, and confident. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Susurrated\u2014making a faint sound like whispering or rustling. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[17,35],"class_list":["post-1581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literature","tag-book","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/PXL_20230615_175408761-scaled.jpg","views":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1581"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1635,"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions\/1635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floydsplace.us\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}