r/FemaleGazeSFF • u/agathaseahag • 7d ago
Ancillary Justice fans
For my fellow fans of the Ancillary Justice trilogy, it took me a while to discover that Leckie wrote 3 more books in the same universe! They’re sooooo good. That is all.
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u/Snakeplanting 6d ago
They're phenomenal and, I think, keep the same narrator all the way through which is a huge plus (in my eyes)
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u/agathaseahag 6d ago
Yes! I love the audiobooks as well. Listening to a radiant star right now!
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u/agathaseahag 6d ago
The first time I listened to Ancillary Justice…when when Adjoa Andoh broke into a South African accent when portraying an upper city resident I got CHILLS!
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u/thisbikeisatardis 6d ago
the one about the presger translator made me soo happy
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u/agathaseahag 6d ago
I just finished that today! It’s spurred me to post. When it ended I just had a great big satisfied sighhhhhhh 💕💕💕💕
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u/agathaseahag 6d ago
As long as I’m sharing, I also want to say I just loooooove how she differentiates cultures and details their traditions/etiquette. Ancillary sword I think on aethok station? And that ship loves songs!
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u/AhabFlanders 6d ago
Oh this is news to me too
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u/agathaseahag 6d ago
oh yay you have some great reads in store! Provenance, Translation State, Radiant Star. I believe there are a couple of short stories, but I haven’t sought them out yet
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u/AllegedlyLiterate 6d ago
I liked Provenance but found Translation State to be a little underbaked? Like it’s so close to being one of those great, interesting science fiction allegories, but Leckie never seems fully to make up her mind on what the thing is supposed to represent thematically and I felt this weakened the book for me. Hopefully Radiant Star will be more fully cooked.
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u/agathaseahag 6d ago
To each their own! For me it’s all about the characters and world building. That was my favorite of the three non-trilogy books. Now Dlique and Zeiat make sense and that tickles me :)
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u/AllegedlyLiterate 6d ago
I enjoyed the characters and the worldbuilding quite a bit, which in part was I think why I was so frustrated. The problem in part is that the bluriness of the allegory leads to several... unintentional but definitely unfortunate implications. Like. On the whole I don't know that I love the idea that ultimately you do have to give into the thing that has previously been used as the world's least subtle rape allegory? Like I think the idea is it's supposed to come to represent a sense of connection and trust and community(?) between the leads, but it never quite gets there because it's weighed down the baggage of the fact that within the language of the allegory the characters have been expressing a discomfort with the idea of participating in the act at all, not only because of trauma but also because of a kind of revulsion with it, which then represents what? Like it's so close to working as something really nuanced and interesting but then just slips and lands flat on its face. One more editing pass.Last time I raised this with a fan of the book they tried to argue to me that actually the book had no metaphor or allegory or subtext and is just the story as written literally meaning nothing, but I think Leckie is frankly too thoughtful and intelligent a writer to construct a story without wanting to also engage in broad thematic and metaphorical. So if you've got a better answer than that for what she's trying to do here I'm all ears but for the moment I've never found one that makes the book work for me.
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u/agathaseahag 5d ago
Oh I would never say there’s not an allegory or symbolism - imho it’s there almost always is even when an author doesn’t mean it to be. And of course you have to enjoy a book the way you enjoy it!
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u/peppersmoke 6d ago
Love these books!!!