A review by asterope
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

adventurous challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

Excellent and totally lived up to my expectations. I wanted something new and unique and I got it. I always go on about worldbuilding but it's something really important to me and I appreciated how well-written it was here. The details and conversations in the flashback chapters built everything up quite naturally for me, but I still had to work for it. If that makes any sense...I mean, the writing is a challenge but it's super rewarding too. I loved having all these new concepts and cultures to learn about, and how the different viewpoints of Justice of Toren were written.

I spent about the first 30% being a bit confused, but not in a bewildering way. I trusted that things would come together eventually plot-wise and I wasn't disappointed. The mounting feeling of dread in the backstory chapters was great too - backstories slowly coming together is a favourite feature of mine. The only other thing I did remain confused about was the full structure of a ship's decade and its ancillary units. I got it eventually but some clearer examples earlier on would have helped.

I'm very keen to read the rest of this series and will continue soon after a small break. I'm going with 4 stars for now but once I finish the series it might change.