Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A new sci-fi author to keep an eye on! Leckie is a world builder — the setting is broad in scope and lavishly depicted. Early on there was a bit too much exposition for my taste, but once I got into the setting I loved its richness. The characters and conflicts were compelling, including fresh takes on some genre tropes like artificial intelligence and cyborgs. Imagine a starship intelligence with a linked cyborg crew — every body shares the same overriding consciousness. Pretty cool, and deftly presented. There is plenty of moral ambiguity too; characters have complex motivations and don’t always make good choices. Thankfully, there are no obvious “good guys” and “bad guys,” except perhaps the main character / narrator, who is pretty easy to root for.
According to an interview with the author at the end of the book, this is the first of a planned trilogy. There is room for a whole pile of stories in this setting, and I’d like to see more of it. I’m looking forward to the next installment.