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Imperial Radch
Translation State
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2023)The mystery of a missing translator sets three lives on a collision course that will have a ripple effect across the stars in this powerful new novel by award-winning author Ann Leckie.
Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them: learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn't "optimal behavior". I's the type of behavior that results in elimination.
But Qven rebels. And in doing so, their path collides with those of two others. Enae, a reluctant diplomat whose dead grandmaman has left hir an impossible task as an inheritance: hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. And Reet, an adopted mechanic who is increasingly desperate to learn about his genetic roots--or anything that might explain why he operates so differently from those around him.
As a Conclave of the various species approaches--and the long-standing treaty between the humans and the Presger is on the line--the decisions of all three will have ripple effects across the stars.
Masterfully merging space adventure and mystery, and a poignant exploration about relationships and belonging, Translation State is a standalone story set in Leckie's celebrated Imperial Radch universe.
Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them: learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn't "optimal behavior". I's the type of behavior that results in elimination.
But Qven rebels. And in doing so, their path collides with those of two others. Enae, a reluctant diplomat whose dead grandmaman has left hir an impossible task as an inheritance: hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. And Reet, an adopted mechanic who is increasingly desperate to learn about his genetic roots--or anything that might explain why he operates so differently from those around him.
As a Conclave of the various species approaches--and the long-standing treaty between the humans and the Presger is on the line--the decisions of all three will have ripple effects across the stars.
Masterfully merging space adventure and mystery, and a poignant exploration about relationships and belonging, Translation State is a standalone story set in Leckie's celebrated Imperial Radch universe.
422 pages, Hardcover
First published June 6, 2023
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March 10, 2023
So few of my usual tags make sense here. Main character of color? Check, only of course in Ann Leckie's future worlds the category hardly applies since most humans are some variety of brown and many persons are not even human. Humor? Check, except for how the existence of baby Presger Translators is Hobbesian and then some. Child abuse? See the preceding. Trans characters? Ehhh ... kind of? Only, like race, the category barely applies since in the Radch everybody is denominated female and in the other polities there are multiple gender designations none of which seem to be connected to anyone's genitals (I bet Ann Leckie would have a thing or two to say to any TERF she happened on). Come to think of it, we never learn anything about anyone's genitals even though, as Qven -- the Presger Translator who's one of the three protagonists -- puts it, several of the characters do sex.
Anyway, like Leckie's other books, Translation State functions on the level of political meditation -- who is a person? what does "human" mean? how, if at all, do genetics and identity match up? how much does our genetic inheritance affect our actions? what choices do the seemingly powerless have, and how can they influence or change the structures of power? But God, nobody enjoys political tracts disguised as novels, so it's fortunate that Leckie's protagonists and their friends and family are so appealing, that her plots are twisty and suspenseful, and that her future worlds are so imaginative. I loved Enae, Reet, and Qven (if you don't laugh at Qven's body count during a crucial meeting, you're made of stronger stuff than I) and I stayed up way too late two nights in a row biting my nails over what would become of them. (Psst: Sphene shows up late in the action, wearing a kilt and NO GLOVES OMG!)
Leckie leaves intact certain conventions with which we're familiar: Mr., Ms., and Mx. as terms of address; coffee (and of course tea); long lines at checkpoints for incoming travelers. Some of these, especially the terms of address, surprised me, but I think she's made an authorial choice to locate the strangeness and disorientation of her world in more fundamental places. Besides, you know if anything's going to be a human constant even hundreds of thousands of years from now, it'll be bureaucracy. Look out, by the way, for a nifty subversion of the arranged-marriage romance trope.
Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC. I can't wait for the audiobook, and I'm crossing my fingers that Adjoa Andoh narrates it as she did Leckie's other works.
Anyway, like Leckie's other books, Translation State functions on the level of political meditation -- who is a person? what does "human" mean? how, if at all, do genetics and identity match up? how much does our genetic inheritance affect our actions? what choices do the seemingly powerless have, and how can they influence or change the structures of power? But God, nobody enjoys political tracts disguised as novels, so it's fortunate that Leckie's protagonists and their friends and family are so appealing, that her plots are twisty and suspenseful, and that her future worlds are so imaginative. I loved Enae, Reet, and Qven (if you don't laugh at Qven's body count during a crucial meeting, you're made of stronger stuff than I) and I stayed up way too late two nights in a row biting my nails over what would become of them. (Psst: Sphene shows up late in the action, wearing a kilt and NO GLOVES OMG!)
Leckie leaves intact certain conventions with which we're familiar: Mr., Ms., and Mx. as terms of address; coffee (and of course tea); long lines at checkpoints for incoming travelers. Some of these, especially the terms of address, surprised me, but I think she's made an authorial choice to locate the strangeness and disorientation of her world in more fundamental places. Besides, you know if anything's going to be a human constant even hundreds of thousands of years from now, it'll be bureaucracy. Look out, by the way, for a nifty subversion of the arranged-marriage romance trope.
Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC. I can't wait for the audiobook, and I'm crossing my fingers that Adjoa Andoh narrates it as she did Leckie's other works.
July 13, 2023
I suspect that writing a blockbuster trilogy nearly right out of the gate (or appearing to--I'm sure that even the authors of debut smash hits have their piles of increasingly polite "no thank you" letters from publishers) has to be incredibly rough on authors.
Pressure, of course, but also the fact that no one who reviews your work can do so except in light of the looming impression made on them by your first work(s).
I can't help but think I might be more generous if this were the first work by Leckie I had read. (For reader-compatibility gauging purposes, I loved the initial Radch trilogy, really enjoyed Raven Tower, and emphatically did not care for Provenance.)
I devoured this in nearly one sitting, staying up absurdly late the first night before forcing myself to settle on a stopping point. Clearly, I didn't have to fight my way through it by a long shot. So why the 3 stars?
I went in a little cautiously after Provenance and was, I admit, on the lookout for the things that had so thoroughly put me off of that book. Most glaringly for Provenance, I could not stand the main character, Ingrid--she drove me bananas. So good news for Translation State: there are 3 MCs whose stories we follow in alternating chapters! Even if one of them were to end up grating, at least they weren't the only one.
I ended up feeling like Translation State had a cracking good plot (and gosh--finally! learning! about the inscrutable Presger!) but suffered from some of what I found to be the shortcomings of Provenance. But where those shortcomings were turned up to 11 in Provenance, they were a more stately 4 or 5 in Translation State. Translation State didn't have the glaring plot holes that plagued Provenance, but while we start out with only one of our 3 protagonists being... just absolutely an Ingrid-analog, there's no other way to put it--the *other two characters*, distinct at the beginning, also start drifting toward behaving like Ingrid copies by the end of the book. Ingrid was emo-level mopey and prone to excessive weeping and self-pity alternating with a staggeringly naive, hare-brained pluckiness and recklessness. Ingrid read as being around 12 to 14 in that book (she was ostensibly quite a bit older) and while Enae, one of Translation State's MCs and the primary protagonist, doesn't quite come across as 14, sie does not read even remotely believably as a 56-year-old person, even accounting for hir (using the book's pronouns) having been a wallflower shut-in who's been dominated by hir family hir whole life.
There's hammering points home via restating things over and over instead of either saying something once or letting the reader put things together for themselves (though thankfully this isn't as dramatic as it was in Provenance). One of my least-liked approaches to romances (or, accounting for aliens, things that are a bit like romances but not exactly) is to have the characters involved constantly angsting and wringing their hands over how they have a crush (or whatever) on Other Character but Other Character would *never* like little ol' them. Bonus if it's in the face of plenty of evidence to the contrary. There kept being moments near the end (when all 3 MCs are drifting toward being analogs of that same character I'm not wild about) where I'd be emotionally affected by a scene and connecting to a character... only to have that character veer back into "but they could never love meeeee" territory and the connection would end and I'd be annoyed.
Things that were going to happen were broadcast too clearly (if only by virtue of characters moaning about how X definitely would never, could never, happen)--but nowhere near as frequently or overtly as in Provenance. There's also... a veritable parade of side characters who all happen to take a personal interest in our MCs' personal development and ability to find their way in the world, and so decide to Impart Sage Knowledge upon said MCs via overly-familiar conversations (often using the Socratic method / asking leading questions, so: extra annoying), which has the effect of making either a) all of our adult main characters seem like children (one of them is arguably only a quasi-adult, but this happens to all of them), or b) everyone around them seem oddly patronizing. Exposition-by-dialogue is noticeable but much, much better than it was in Provenance.
I've listed out my gripes here, but I *did* like Translation State--it's easier to articulate what didn't work and why than what did and why, but also as I said at the start, how I read is definitely influenced by how impressed I've been by other works of Leckie's. I raced through it in less than 24 hours and I'm absolutely glad I read it... what the reader learns about the mysterious Presger is *riveting*, and some characters you recognize from other Radch tales make appearances or are referred to--certainly you'll want to read this one if you plan to read more books set in this universe. But with limited shelf space, I'd be more likely to borrow this from a library or get the ebook when it's on sale than buy a deadtree copy.
Thanks to Orbit Books and Netgalley. I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.
Pressure, of course, but also the fact that no one who reviews your work can do so except in light of the looming impression made on them by your first work(s).
I can't help but think I might be more generous if this were the first work by Leckie I had read. (For reader-compatibility gauging purposes, I loved the initial Radch trilogy, really enjoyed Raven Tower, and emphatically did not care for Provenance.)
I devoured this in nearly one sitting, staying up absurdly late the first night before forcing myself to settle on a stopping point. Clearly, I didn't have to fight my way through it by a long shot. So why the 3 stars?
I went in a little cautiously after Provenance and was, I admit, on the lookout for the things that had so thoroughly put me off of that book. Most glaringly for Provenance, I could not stand the main character, Ingrid--she drove me bananas. So good news for Translation State: there are 3 MCs whose stories we follow in alternating chapters! Even if one of them were to end up grating, at least they weren't the only one.
I ended up feeling like Translation State had a cracking good plot (and gosh--finally! learning! about the inscrutable Presger!) but suffered from some of what I found to be the shortcomings of Provenance. But where those shortcomings were turned up to 11 in Provenance, they were a more stately 4 or 5 in Translation State. Translation State didn't have the glaring plot holes that plagued Provenance, but while we start out with only one of our 3 protagonists being... just absolutely an Ingrid-analog, there's no other way to put it--the *other two characters*, distinct at the beginning, also start drifting toward behaving like Ingrid copies by the end of the book. Ingrid was emo-level mopey and prone to excessive weeping and self-pity alternating with a staggeringly naive, hare-brained pluckiness and recklessness. Ingrid read as being around 12 to 14 in that book (she was ostensibly quite a bit older) and while Enae, one of Translation State's MCs and the primary protagonist, doesn't quite come across as 14, sie does not read even remotely believably as a 56-year-old person, even accounting for hir (using the book's pronouns) having been a wallflower shut-in who's been dominated by hir family hir whole life.
There's hammering points home via restating things over and over instead of either saying something once or letting the reader put things together for themselves (though thankfully this isn't as dramatic as it was in Provenance). One of my least-liked approaches to romances (or, accounting for aliens, things that are a bit like romances but not exactly) is to have the characters involved constantly angsting and wringing their hands over how they have a crush (or whatever) on Other Character but Other Character would *never* like little ol' them. Bonus if it's in the face of plenty of evidence to the contrary. There kept being moments near the end (when all 3 MCs are drifting toward being analogs of that same character I'm not wild about) where I'd be emotionally affected by a scene and connecting to a character... only to have that character veer back into "but they could never love meeeee" territory and the connection would end and I'd be annoyed.
Things that were going to happen were broadcast too clearly (if only by virtue of characters moaning about how X definitely would never, could never, happen)--but nowhere near as frequently or overtly as in Provenance. There's also... a veritable parade of side characters who all happen to take a personal interest in our MCs' personal development and ability to find their way in the world, and so decide to Impart Sage Knowledge upon said MCs via overly-familiar conversations (often using the Socratic method / asking leading questions, so: extra annoying), which has the effect of making either a) all of our adult main characters seem like children (one of them is arguably only a quasi-adult, but this happens to all of them), or b) everyone around them seem oddly patronizing. Exposition-by-dialogue is noticeable but much, much better than it was in Provenance.
I've listed out my gripes here, but I *did* like Translation State--it's easier to articulate what didn't work and why than what did and why, but also as I said at the start, how I read is definitely influenced by how impressed I've been by other works of Leckie's. I raced through it in less than 24 hours and I'm absolutely glad I read it... what the reader learns about the mysterious Presger is *riveting*, and some characters you recognize from other Radch tales make appearances or are referred to--certainly you'll want to read this one if you plan to read more books set in this universe. But with limited shelf space, I'd be more likely to borrow this from a library or get the ebook when it's on sale than buy a deadtree copy.
Thanks to Orbit Books and Netgalley. I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.
May 31, 2023
3.5 Stars
This is an enjoyable space opera set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch trilogy. This one is most comparable to Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy. Like those books, this one has a light hearted cozy quality.
I typically prefer darker stories, but Ann Leckie has a talent for writing whimsy into her work that I find quite endearing.
I would recommend this novel to readers looking for lighter space romp that has sharp wit and strong characters.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This is an enjoyable space opera set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch trilogy. This one is most comparable to Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy. Like those books, this one has a light hearted cozy quality.
I typically prefer darker stories, but Ann Leckie has a talent for writing whimsy into her work that I find quite endearing.
I would recommend this novel to readers looking for lighter space romp that has sharp wit and strong characters.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Read
August 7, 2024Leckie is one of my favorite writers. I love her worlds and her characters and how insightful she is about human emotion and relationship while dwelling in such truly alien worlds. She can sometimes veer to cozy and there's an almost domestic quality about her work which usually would not appeal to me, but in her case works because the rest of the story is so interesting. There is a lot to love about this novel, and there were times in the larger mix where I just marveled at how she spun the story. And the pacing and POVs - chef's kiss. I blew through this novel in less than 48 hrs, staying up until 3am to get to the end. But let's talk about that ending. What happened? These three POV characters that had felt so interesting, vibrant, original, and, at least for one of them, wonderfully strange, became silly, repetitive, and slightly twee. Mild spoiler: The ending felt like a comedy when what I wanted was heartfelt drama. I literally rolled my eyes about the fifth time a particular romance trope I dislike anyway repeated itself again. Oof! And listen, the book is good. Parts of it are great. I am still a huge Leckie fan. I still recommend this book. But yeah, the ending tone was just...well, read it for yourself and decide.
August 21, 2023
This was the August read over at SFF Hot from the Printers and at Beyond Reality, a goodreads group double whammy! I’m hoping both discussions pick up a little as the month ends, because there is so much here I want to talk about!
Translation State has the best aliens I've read in a while. Truly alien aliens, with a variety of more-and-less human translators to help the reader make sense of them. Granted, not all of the human characters were as well-rounded. Not that I didn’t believe in them, but I wanted a little more from them. Still, the three points-of-view locked together nicely as the plot spun forward, and the more I want would probably have bogged things down. The ending was a bit rushed, a few threads tied up a little neatly for my taste, but so be it. I can have my fill of artfully-unresolved endings over in lit fic, anyway!
Leckie doesn’t exactly wear her themes lightly. But everyone in the world, in fact, wants to belong. No need to pretend otherwise. We’re social beings, we humans. For something so fundamental, we sure make things difficult for ourselves, don’t we?
I haven’t read the Imperial Radch trilogy, so perhaps Leckie goes more in depth on norms around gender and sexuality there, but I finished the book not really understanding what gender meant in this future, like at all. The truth is—I liked that about the book. Genderfuckery is just that, after all, fuckery. I don’t even really know to what extent the characters understand how gender works in this world, or if it’s just me! What’s intuitive and what isn’t? Nothing and everything? That’s how it feels here on Earth, sometimes. But I prefer my gender with a side helping of confusion, in life and in literature!
Translation State has the best aliens I've read in a while. Truly alien aliens, with a variety of more-and-less human translators to help the reader make sense of them. Granted, not all of the human characters were as well-rounded. Not that I didn’t believe in them, but I wanted a little more from them. Still, the three points-of-view locked together nicely as the plot spun forward, and the more I want would probably have bogged things down. The ending was a bit rushed, a few threads tied up a little neatly for my taste, but so be it. I can have my fill of artfully-unresolved endings over in lit fic, anyway!
Leckie doesn’t exactly wear her themes lightly. But everyone in the world, in fact, wants to belong. No need to pretend otherwise. We’re social beings, we humans. For something so fundamental, we sure make things difficult for ourselves, don’t we?
I haven’t read the Imperial Radch trilogy, so perhaps Leckie goes more in depth on norms around gender and sexuality there, but I finished the book not really understanding what gender meant in this future, like at all. The truth is—I liked that about the book. Genderfuckery is just that, after all, fuckery. I don’t even really know to what extent the characters understand how gender works in this world, or if it’s just me! What’s intuitive and what isn’t? Nothing and everything? That’s how it feels here on Earth, sometimes. But I prefer my gender with a side helping of confusion, in life and in literature!
December 29, 2023
Smart and fun science fiction, focused on identity, belonging and nature versus nurture
Remember that what one cannot acknowledge is that what one cannot properly control
We follow three characters in a journey of self discovery in a fractured universe, where what it means to be human is being reinterpreted, under threat of an alien threat.
We have Enae, a glorified servant to an oppressive grandmother, just deceased. Enae is thrust into the world and starts discovering the politics of human/alien relations.
Reet meanwhile is a cleaner on a station who has a good taste in men but longs for community. He is a foster child who is offered a shot at a community, being the professed descendant of a gene modding clan.
His story line is interesting, with racial tensions and conspiracy theories about aliens not being real.
He ends up at risk of being figurehead for a rally against the leading faction in the system.
Qven, the third narrator, is an alien trained in human ways, who starts uncovering secrets held by the tutors. This storyline reminded me a bit of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and the Somni-451 story in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
Coincide brings these three together in a explosive cocktail, involving a conclave of humans and aliens that determine the contract governing the relationship between themselves.
Nature versus nurture also plays an important role in the book, questioning what makes us human and what determines one’s destiny.
The last 1/3 of the book was a bit confusing and less propulsive, but enjoyed reading this! Ann Leckie is an interesting and intelligent author, I should definitely continue on with the Ancillary trilogy.
Quotes:
Remember that what one cannot acknowledge is that what one cannot properly control
We are doing the best we can, even if it isn’t always enough
I am not very averse to killing
Conspiracy theories on aliens not existing
Not really but yes
Just like always the thing he wanted would hurt someone else
If they were going to cut your throat in the middle of the committee chamber I would sharpen the knife myself
Remember that what one cannot acknowledge is that what one cannot properly control
We follow three characters in a journey of self discovery in a fractured universe, where what it means to be human is being reinterpreted, under threat of an alien threat.
We have Enae, a glorified servant to an oppressive grandmother, just deceased. Enae is thrust into the world and starts discovering the politics of human/alien relations.
Reet meanwhile is a cleaner on a station who has a good taste in men but longs for community. He is a foster child who is offered a shot at a community, being the professed descendant of a gene modding clan.
His story line is interesting, with racial tensions and conspiracy theories about aliens not being real.
He ends up at risk of being figurehead for a rally against the leading faction in the system.
Qven, the third narrator, is an alien trained in human ways, who starts uncovering secrets held by the tutors. This storyline reminded me a bit of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and the Somni-451 story in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
Coincide brings these three together in a explosive cocktail, involving a conclave of humans and aliens that determine the contract governing the relationship between themselves.
Nature versus nurture also plays an important role in the book, questioning what makes us human and what determines one’s destiny.
The last 1/3 of the book was a bit confusing and less propulsive, but enjoyed reading this! Ann Leckie is an interesting and intelligent author, I should definitely continue on with the Ancillary trilogy.
Quotes:
Remember that what one cannot acknowledge is that what one cannot properly control
We are doing the best we can, even if it isn’t always enough
I am not very averse to killing
Conspiracy theories on aliens not existing
Not really but yes
Just like always the thing he wanted would hurt someone else
If they were going to cut your throat in the middle of the committee chamber I would sharpen the knife myself
May 9, 2023
The first thing I need to say is that this is a somewhat standalone book taking place after the Imperial Radch trilogy. The second thing that I need to say is that I loved this SO MUCH MORE than the original trilogy.
This is the story of an alien who got lost, and the ramifications of it on people hundreds of years later. We follow a woman tasked with investigating this cold-case disappearance, and a human & an alien that get mixed up in the politics of the investigation. The aliens in question are everyone's favorite Presger Translators!
I loved this more than the first trilogy because it was such a well-contained tale. Every protagonist got a nice arc wrapped up by the end. The plot made sense and had a wonderful high-stakes conclusion. Every step of the story felt very deliberate and fun.
Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
This is the story of an alien who got lost, and the ramifications of it on people hundreds of years later. We follow a woman tasked with investigating this cold-case disappearance, and a human & an alien that get mixed up in the politics of the investigation. The aliens in question are everyone's favorite Presger Translators!
I loved this more than the first trilogy because it was such a well-contained tale. Every protagonist got a nice arc wrapped up by the end. The plot made sense and had a wonderful high-stakes conclusion. Every step of the story felt very deliberate and fun.
Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
June 4, 2024
Ann Leckie at the top of her powers? But telling a relatively simple, personal sf story? My third Ann Leckie book and so far my favorite (Ancillary Justice had more bang for the buck in ideas and ambition though!). The writing, the sf details, the perspective is just fantastic.
And as with her other books, it's all deeply thought about gender identification (and how it relates to language), and like in Provenance, even species identification.
This is the 5th book she writes in her sf universe, I read 2 of the previous ones (Ancillary Justice and Provenance) and I did not know how standalone-ish this would be. And it works, mostly - many references to characters and events in past books, some I did not know about (I do not get the interest of Sphene, but hey, maybe it depends on context I do not have), but basically I think it would work as a first book. But my friend Urwa is reading it as first Leckie book , and she will have a better perspective on that.
And I had lots of fun spotting some classic, cheesy sf tropes which were reworked so deeply and thoughtfully one does not spot they are actually tropes, and I mean of course things like orphan of mysterious special parentage, missing royal heirs (were the Schan themselves also descendants from another escaped Translator? The cannibalism mentions, so very tempting), biological imperative for mating (kind of), arranged mating (kind of) turning into a love match. Found family. But all done with a proper interesting twist.
Self contained enough, though I wish she would write more about that mysterious Schan family, maybe in short fiction.
In all, rating 4.5 I guess, not as deep or revolutionary as Ancillary Justice but it also feels more polished and the ending makes more sense (she throws action endings. which do not actually seem necessary for me nor I particularly enjoy...).
I now read 5 of the 6 Hugo finalists in the novel category (The Saint of Bright Doors still to read), this is my favorite so far.
And as with her other books, it's all deeply thought about gender identification (and how it relates to language), and like in Provenance, even species identification.
This is the 5th book she writes in her sf universe, I read 2 of the previous ones (Ancillary Justice and Provenance) and I did not know how standalone-ish this would be. And it works, mostly - many references to characters and events in past books, some I did not know about (I do not get the interest of Sphene, but hey, maybe it depends on context I do not have), but basically I think it would work as a first book. But my friend Urwa is reading it as first Leckie book , and she will have a better perspective on that.
And I had lots of fun spotting some classic, cheesy sf tropes which were reworked so deeply and thoughtfully one does not spot they are actually tropes, and I mean of course things like orphan of mysterious special parentage, missing royal heirs (were the Schan themselves also descendants from another escaped Translator? The cannibalism mentions, so very tempting), biological imperative for mating (kind of), arranged mating (kind of) turning into a love match. Found family. But all done with a proper interesting twist.
Self contained enough, though I wish she would write more about that mysterious Schan family, maybe in short fiction.
In all, rating 4.5 I guess, not as deep or revolutionary as Ancillary Justice but it also feels more polished and the ending makes more sense (she throws action endings. which do not actually seem necessary for me nor I particularly enjoy...).
I now read 5 of the 6 Hugo finalists in the novel category (The Saint of Bright Doors still to read), this is my favorite so far.
November 27, 2023
Translation State is a 400+ page novel. I think it would have worked better as a novella or short novel. It's still pretty good, but the book felt padded to me. It was obvious from the get-go that Qven and Reet would eventually merge. The long dancing-around that got tiresome. The twisted-space stuff goes on and on and on . . .
But it was great to see Translator Dlar get his comeuppance. A real asshole, as the youngsters note. And the Pirate Exiles of the Death Moons stuff was fun. This is Ann Leckie SF, and there's some great stuff here. The amazing variety of civilizations around Imperial Radch! But diluted with filler, to my eye. I think she needed a Stern Editor.
Not a keeper, for me. But do note, I'm at the low end of the average rating here. You should definitely try it for yourself.
But it was great to see Translator Dlar get his comeuppance. A real asshole, as the youngsters note. And the Pirate Exiles of the Death Moons stuff was fun. This is Ann Leckie SF, and there's some great stuff here. The amazing variety of civilizations around Imperial Radch! But diluted with filler, to my eye. I think she needed a Stern Editor.
Not a keeper, for me. But do note, I'm at the low end of the average rating here. You should definitely try it for yourself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2023
This is set in the same world as the author's marvelous Ancillary trilogy, which I loved. I loved the first half of this book too, and was 100% sure it was destined for 5 stars and my Best of 2023 shelf. But the second half was merely adequate, with an odd change in tone, some plot decisions I couldn't make sense of, and . Now I'm craving an Ancillary reread.
June 6, 2023
I came into this without having read the Imperial Radch trilogy. In fact, I was probably a third of the way through the book before I even noticed (by chance, poking around Goodreads for other purposes) that this was part of the Imperial Radch universe at all.
Good news, everyone! This works perfectly well as a standalone. Luckily.
There are three POV characters in this, each receiving about equal weight: Enae, left unmoored by the death of her grandmother, given a bit of make-work looking for a translator the alien Presgr lost track of two centuries before; Qven, a juvenile translator nearing adulthood; and Reet, an orphan with no knowledge of his past who has never quite fit in with everyone around him. No one expected Enae to succeed in her assignment, or even really try, but they gave it a sincere effort and found the missing translator’s offspring (Reet, of course - Leckie doesn’t try to hold the reader in suspense here). The Presgr translators want Reet back, but Reet (and his adoptive parents and friends) consider him human, thus triggering a diplomatic conflict.
Journeys of self discovery. High stakes negotiations. Cloak-and-dagger intrigues. Eshcer-esque landscapes. Cannibalism. This book has a lot going on, and I’m kind of amazed at how well it all managed to fit together. It’s both a very personal story and mind-bending science fiction.
As I said at the beginning here, this works as a standalone, no problem. But, that being said, I have the distinct feeling this would have had more *weight* if I’d read the Imperial Radch trilogy. I feel quite certain that there are crossover characters whom I would have recognized, and things like the Presgr and the Radch aren’t really given the introduction that I think they deserve - some degree of familiarity is assumed. So I give it four stars, but I feel like I might bump it up to five once I read the Imperial Radch trilogy. Which will be a high priority given how good this was.
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Good news, everyone! This works perfectly well as a standalone. Luckily.
There are three POV characters in this, each receiving about equal weight: Enae, left unmoored by the death of her grandmother, given a bit of make-work looking for a translator the alien Presgr lost track of two centuries before; Qven, a juvenile translator nearing adulthood; and Reet, an orphan with no knowledge of his past who has never quite fit in with everyone around him. No one expected Enae to succeed in her assignment, or even really try, but they gave it a sincere effort and found the missing translator’s offspring (Reet, of course - Leckie doesn’t try to hold the reader in suspense here). The Presgr translators want Reet back, but Reet (and his adoptive parents and friends) consider him human, thus triggering a diplomatic conflict.
Journeys of self discovery. High stakes negotiations. Cloak-and-dagger intrigues. Eshcer-esque landscapes. Cannibalism. This book has a lot going on, and I’m kind of amazed at how well it all managed to fit together. It’s both a very personal story and mind-bending science fiction.
As I said at the beginning here, this works as a standalone, no problem. But, that being said, I have the distinct feeling this would have had more *weight* if I’d read the Imperial Radch trilogy. I feel quite certain that there are crossover characters whom I would have recognized, and things like the Presgr and the Radch aren’t really given the introduction that I think they deserve - some degree of familiarity is assumed. So I give it four stars, but I feel like I might bump it up to five once I read the Imperial Radch trilogy. Which will be a high priority given how good this was.
My blog
July 13, 2023
4.5 stars. I finished this yesterday and am still thinking about it.
It is a very entertaining read, written in Leckie’s usual easy to read style. Switching POV characters and going back and forth between 1st person (Qven) and 3rd Person omniscient (Reet and Enae). I enjoyed it very much. The Presger Translators get some more screen time and not just for comic relief as in the Imperial Radch trilogy. We learn a little more, but they are very mysterious.
There is a discussion throughout regarding self-determination from a few different angles (body, sexuality - although never explicit - and life path), which is pertinent to our current times and which I appreciated. Leckie goes beyond the Radch predilection for using the she pronouns for all people and uses a variety of pronouns for all sorts of people. Generally, they just use them, but at a certain point Qven decides e is em. Not “they” as all Presger Translators are. And this determination is spun out a little.
At any rate, the story centers around this self-determination with a bit of calamity to make matters pressing. There was an extended section in the latter quarter, which was very interesting from a space reality standpoint but for me, just served to raise more questions about the Presger than answer them.
Thank you to Netgalley, Ann Leckie and Orbit for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry it's a bit late.
It is a very entertaining read, written in Leckie’s usual easy to read style. Switching POV characters and going back and forth between 1st person (Qven) and 3rd Person omniscient (Reet and Enae). I enjoyed it very much. The Presger Translators get some more screen time and not just for comic relief as in the Imperial Radch trilogy. We learn a little more, but they are very mysterious.
There is a discussion throughout regarding self-determination from a few different angles (body, sexuality - although never explicit - and life path), which is pertinent to our current times and which I appreciated. Leckie goes beyond the Radch predilection for using the she pronouns for all people and uses a variety of pronouns for all sorts of people. Generally, they just use them, but at a certain point Qven decides e is em. Not “they” as all Presger Translators are. And this determination is spun out a little.
At any rate, the story centers around this self-determination with a bit of calamity to make matters pressing. There was an extended section in the latter quarter, which was very interesting from a space reality standpoint but for me, just served to raise more questions about the Presger than answer them.
Thank you to Netgalley, Ann Leckie and Orbit for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry it's a bit late.
June 10, 2023
Enae has spent hir adult life caring for hir controlling and emotionally abusive grandparent. When hir grandparent dies, Enae leaves the only home sie's ever known on a mission that no-one expects hir to succeed at, to find a 200-years missing Presger translator. To the shock of every one, sie sort of succeeds and precipitates a major political situation concerning the upcoming Presger Treaty negotiations caused by the events of the Imperial Radch trilogy.
Most of the action centers on the other two main characters, a juvenile Presger translator named Qven and Reet, a young human who's an adopted child of minority ethnic group who's also at the center of his own political problems.
Ever since they appeared in Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy, the Presger Translators have been a fascinating and weird concept, so a book where we learn much more about them is a wonderful addition to the series. They're nowhere near as funny as in the trilogy, but they're every bit as weird here, if not more so. The biology of the Presger Translators makes for a useful substrate for a story about identity, biological imperatives, choice and the responsibility of individuals to the societies to which they're born. There's also a strong theme of politics framing choices of individuals as inevitable.
I think there's a strong allegory in the central drama of this novel to the current state of US and UK politics around transgender issues, where one side of politics want to see individuals forced (through inaction) to undergo biological changes that they don't want, and for politically expedient reasons. The way that the last quarter of the book unfolds works well into this reading I think, with circumstances establishing a sense of urgency to Reet and Qven's decisions. What they do, and what they eventually decide, is essential to the themes of the book.
Most of the action centers on the other two main characters, a juvenile Presger translator named Qven and Reet, a young human who's an adopted child of minority ethnic group who's also at the center of his own political problems.
Ever since they appeared in Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy, the Presger Translators have been a fascinating and weird concept, so a book where we learn much more about them is a wonderful addition to the series. They're nowhere near as funny as in the trilogy, but they're every bit as weird here, if not more so. The biology of the Presger Translators makes for a useful substrate for a story about identity, biological imperatives, choice and the responsibility of individuals to the societies to which they're born. There's also a strong theme of politics framing choices of individuals as inevitable.
I think there's a strong allegory in the central drama of this novel to the current state of US and UK politics around transgender issues, where one side of politics want to see individuals forced (through inaction) to undergo biological changes that they don't want, and for politically expedient reasons. The way that the last quarter of the book unfolds works well into this reading I think, with circumstances establishing a sense of urgency to Reet and Qven's decisions. What they do, and what they eventually decide, is essential to the themes of the book.
August 4, 2023
This is very much an Ann Leckie book, with all that implies. There are investigations into how people could live, explorations of politics and lives and genders and bodies, and the very familiar (lines during traveling, oppressed groups despising other oppressed groups, humans who believe things that are palpably untrue) mixed with the extremely weird, all using science fiction more as scaffolding than anything else. The worldbuilding, as always with Leckie, is A+, and the plot is kind of -- secondary to character and worldbuilding, which honestly I very much appreciate.
If I had to name this book's genre, it would be body horror political intrigue romance, and that combination of words pretty much tells you everything you need to know. You're going on a wild ride! There will definitely be weird cannibalism! There will also be politics and arranged marriages and romance, and since this is Leckie, there will also be SO MANY cups of tea and coffee. (I love the panhumanity focus on beverages. I also love that the Presger Translators have picked up on this and decided hot drinks are the key to communicating with the fully human.)
If I had to write a plot summary of this book, it would be "three different characters come of age." Because of who these specific characters are, that is entertaining and unusual, and also explains a lot about the world they live in while somewhat altering the world they live in.
I'm only not giving this five stars because the ending -- doesn't quite stick, honestly. One of the characters has a sudden solution to their life that doesn't feel quite natural, and the resolution for the other two happens a bit off the page. But I almost didn't care about that. This is a book that's definitely about the journey, and the journey is as weird and wonderful as I expect from Leckie. I'm happy.
If I had to name this book's genre, it would be body horror political intrigue romance, and that combination of words pretty much tells you everything you need to know. You're going on a wild ride! There will definitely be weird cannibalism! There will also be politics and arranged marriages and romance, and since this is Leckie, there will also be SO MANY cups of tea and coffee. (I love the panhumanity focus on beverages. I also love that the Presger Translators have picked up on this and decided hot drinks are the key to communicating with the fully human.)
If I had to write a plot summary of this book, it would be "three different characters come of age." Because of who these specific characters are, that is entertaining and unusual, and also explains a lot about the world they live in while somewhat altering the world they live in.
I'm only not giving this five stars because the ending -- doesn't quite stick, honestly. One of the characters has a sudden solution to their life that doesn't feel quite natural, and the resolution for the other two happens a bit off the page. But I almost didn't care about that. This is a book that's definitely about the journey, and the journey is as weird and wonderful as I expect from Leckie. I'm happy.
June 7, 2023
Ahoy there me mateys! First of all let me start with saying that this book is not the place to start the series. It has spoilers for the other four books. When I read the other books, I wanted to know more about the translators. Now that I have answers, I am not sure I like them. This may be me and not the book judging by the number of five star ratings.
Basically this book has three POVs that come together. Enae is a middle age human whose not-so-nice grandmother died. She is sent off-world on a task to be out of the way. No one expects her to be part of an inadvertent political disaster. Qven is a Presger Translator in training. I did love how the training works. It is super weird and fun. Reet is an adopted refugee that just wants a sense of his unknown ancestors and where he came from. I loved the set-up for this book but once the narratives combine was where I had problems.
The major problem I had with the book is where Reet and Qven's stories converge and how they resolve. It was too filled with angst. I didn't like the backstory or mystery of Reet at all. I didn't want relationship drama. I wanted more of Enae and more of inter-galactic politics. The (limited) politics, relationships, and mystery elements all seemed resolved too quickly and easily. I enjoyed the legal questions of the novel but it branches off in the last part of the book into an exploration of Presger abilities that I didn't really care for. The ending in particular was unsatisfying.
Given how fully I love the other four books of the series, this novel did not live up to them. The elements that I do love are there but overall this one did not come together for me. That said, I would read more set in this world. Arrrr!
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.
Basically this book has three POVs that come together. Enae is a middle age human whose not-so-nice grandmother died. She is sent off-world on a task to be out of the way. No one expects her to be part of an inadvertent political disaster. Qven is a Presger Translator in training. I did love how the training works. It is super weird and fun. Reet is an adopted refugee that just wants a sense of his unknown ancestors and where he came from. I loved the set-up for this book but once the narratives combine was where I had problems.
The major problem I had with the book is where Reet and Qven's stories converge and how they resolve. It was too filled with angst. I didn't like the backstory or mystery of Reet at all. I didn't want relationship drama. I wanted more of Enae and more of inter-galactic politics. The (limited) politics, relationships, and mystery elements all seemed resolved too quickly and easily. I enjoyed the legal questions of the novel but it branches off in the last part of the book into an exploration of Presger abilities that I didn't really care for. The ending in particular was unsatisfying.
Given how fully I love the other four books of the series, this novel did not live up to them. The elements that I do love are there but overall this one did not come together for me. That said, I would read more set in this world. Arrrr!
I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.
March 8, 2024
This was such a good choice for my 1st book of 2024!
I had a lot of fun with this. Honestly, it did take some time getting used to the world and connecting with the characters, but I was enjoying myself so much by the end!
This book explores so many themes (like gender, identity, consent, and belonging), and while there was quite a bit of action, everything felt kind of low-key. Not enough for it to be deemed "cozy", but enough to give me the warm and fuzzy feelings I got when reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. By the end, I loved the characters and their relationships - Leckie especially sold the bond between Reet and Qven.
This book can most certainly be read as a standalone, but I will definitely be diving into the Imperial Radch series soon!
I had a lot of fun with this. Honestly, it did take some time getting used to the world and connecting with the characters, but I was enjoying myself so much by the end!
This book explores so many themes (like gender, identity, consent, and belonging), and while there was quite a bit of action, everything felt kind of low-key. Not enough for it to be deemed "cozy", but enough to give me the warm and fuzzy feelings I got when reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. By the end, I loved the characters and their relationships - Leckie especially sold the bond between Reet and Qven.
This book can most certainly be read as a standalone, but I will definitely be diving into the Imperial Radch series soon!
July 9, 2023
Very disappointing. This is juvenile, tedious, a little gross, and far more worried about what pronouns people use than with any other characterization. The plot largely consists of political turmoil about whether or not a couple of characters are legally human because they have declared themselves to be, plus some personal turmoil about whether or not these same characters will undergo a disturbing mating ritual or not. By the end I didn't care what they were or whether or not they ate each other.
I very much enjoyed the Ancillary Justice trilogy. I was less impressed with the first followup book, Provenance, but it has some nice elements. For this book, I didn't even enjoy the setting or the tea parties.
I very much enjoyed the Ancillary Justice trilogy. I was less impressed with the first followup book, Provenance, but it has some nice elements. For this book, I didn't even enjoy the setting or the tea parties.
July 6, 2024
Ann Leckie’s science fiction is pitch-perfect – an incredible world, a strong set of lead characters, and a complicated, interesting plot are rounded out by a fascinating study of the complexity of relation between entirely different groups, with entirely different systems of power, and a study of the complexity of desire in a race where to desire means to make oneself a duplicate of their lover. And it’s also just quite fun. This made me remember what I love about scifi, even without having lost my love for it in the first place.
Qven is a Presger Translator – the only set of members of the cannibalistic race of aliens that can communicate with the human Radch empire. Enae is a reluctant diplomat hunting a two hundred year old fugitive on the request of the powerful Radchaai empire – either Raadchai diplomatic staff with dangerous information, or a Presger Translator. Reet is an adopted mechanic living in Zoeson who operates wrong – and according to a consultant, he may be descended from the Schan, the Hikipi rulers of Lovehate station before their rebellion against the Phen failed.
In the background of all this, the Radchai empire’s treaty with the Presger is in true danger after a thousand years, as the imperial system – using space ships controlled by AIs, who control human bodies ("ancillaries") to use as soldiers – is breaking down into war. Other species are interested in their own ends.
There’s a quote from All Things Too Small, which I read recently, that I think applies well to the Phen route of merging — “That was cannot be one another, that we cannot be what we consume, that we cannot be what we cannot be the whole world and can never ascend high enough to see all of it at once— all this is a source of disappointment, even torment, to anyone ravenous for living.” Or, in more poetic voice: “They are trying to become one creature / and something will not have it”. I think this blending of creature to creature is fascinating – and I really liked the exploration of both its perils and benefits.
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Qven is a Presger Translator – the only set of members of the cannibalistic race of aliens that can communicate with the human Radch empire. Enae is a reluctant diplomat hunting a two hundred year old fugitive on the request of the powerful Radchaai empire – either Raadchai diplomatic staff with dangerous information, or a Presger Translator. Reet is an adopted mechanic living in Zoeson who operates wrong – and according to a consultant, he may be descended from the Schan, the Hikipi rulers of Lovehate station before their rebellion against the Phen failed.
In the background of all this, the Radchai empire’s treaty with the Presger is in true danger after a thousand years, as the imperial system – using space ships controlled by AIs, who control human bodies ("ancillaries") to use as soldiers – is breaking down into war. Other species are interested in their own ends.
There’s a quote from All Things Too Small, which I read recently, that I think applies well to the Phen route of merging — “That was cannot be one another, that we cannot be what we consume, that we cannot be what we cannot be the whole world and can never ascend high enough to see all of it at once— all this is a source of disappointment, even torment, to anyone ravenous for living.” Or, in more poetic voice: “They are trying to become one creature / and something will not have it”. I think this blending of creature to creature is fascinating – and I really liked the exploration of both its perils and benefits.
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November 13, 2023
Although there is very limited overlap in characters and none in settings that I detected, Translation State is in some senses a sequel to the Imperial Radch trilogy. It certainly deals with some implications of how that trilogy ended, which I found extremely pleasing. None of the main characters are Radchaai, but the destabilised empire has an important influence upon events. There are three protagonists: one searching for a fugitive, one searching for information about their biological origins, and one searching for a way to survive. These searches turn out to be significantly intertwined.
The most detailed and compelling element of world-building concerns Presger Translators, who had a memorable yet minor presence in the prior trilogy. Here they are central to the narrative. The utterly alien Presger cannot communicate with humans directly, so grow a whole race of human-ish beings to translate for them. The experience of growing up as a Presger translator is conveyed in a suitably unsettling fashion. The most fascinating part of the book for me concerned the arguments that erupt when a juvenile Presger translator makes a legal claim that they are human. The subsequent conversations between different human empires and alien ambassadors are brilliantly written. As ever, Leckie’s dialogue and characterisation are wonderful. I loved the detail of nationalist separatists (well, the space equivalent) not believing that the Presger exist! This makes a neat analogy with covid denial. The separatists have valid points about oppressive behaviour by ruling empires, then extrapolate that the Presger were invented as a pretext for this. In fiction as in reality, elaborate pretexts and conspiracies are rarely required for oppression.
In the final hundred pages of the book, the main characters are thrown into a dangerous and disorientating situation. I found that this didn’t play to Leckie’s strengths quite as well as the rest of the book, although it was still tense. I might have been comparing it with a similarly strange situation in Robot by Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg, which I found better paced. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed Translation State and found it a brilliant expansion of the universe established in the Imperial Radch trilogy. The new characters were compelling and the exploration of Presger Translators original and striking. I hope Leckie continues to write in this universe.
The most detailed and compelling element of world-building concerns Presger Translators, who had a memorable yet minor presence in the prior trilogy. Here they are central to the narrative. The utterly alien Presger cannot communicate with humans directly, so grow a whole race of human-ish beings to translate for them. The experience of growing up as a Presger translator is conveyed in a suitably unsettling fashion. The most fascinating part of the book for me concerned the arguments that erupt when a juvenile Presger translator makes a legal claim that they are human. The subsequent conversations between different human empires and alien ambassadors are brilliantly written. As ever, Leckie’s dialogue and characterisation are wonderful. I loved the detail of nationalist separatists (well, the space equivalent) not believing that the Presger exist! This makes a neat analogy with covid denial. The separatists have valid points about oppressive behaviour by ruling empires, then extrapolate that the Presger were invented as a pretext for this. In fiction as in reality, elaborate pretexts and conspiracies are rarely required for oppression.
In the final hundred pages of the book, the main characters are thrown into a dangerous and disorientating situation. I found that this didn’t play to Leckie’s strengths quite as well as the rest of the book, although it was still tense. I might have been comparing it with a similarly strange situation in Robot by Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg, which I found better paced. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed Translation State and found it a brilliant expansion of the universe established in the Imperial Radch trilogy. The new characters were compelling and the exploration of Presger Translators original and striking. I hope Leckie continues to write in this universe.
April 22, 2024
CW: misgendering, gore, cannibalism (?), blood, violence
I grovel at the feet of Ann Leckie's genius. I wish I could eat this book and absorb its contents into my bloodstream.
I am no better than Qven.
I dare any book I read in 2024 to beat this one.
I grovel at the feet of Ann Leckie's genius. I wish I could eat this book and absorb its contents into my bloodstream.
I am no better than Qven.
I dare any book I read in 2024 to beat this one.
September 10, 2024
This book is like a warm cozy blanket with a surprise dismembered arm and a patch of weirdly slimy perspiration. And I looooooooved it.
I almost think Ann Leckie wrote it specifically for me, with its intricate world-building, great characters (all three POVs had me hooked), weird biology, disrupted space/time, mysterious aliens, and a theme that really resonated (who/what decides who you are?).
It almost makes me want to try Ancillary Justice again, which I somehow could not get into at all.
I almost think Ann Leckie wrote it specifically for me, with its intricate world-building, great characters (all three POVs had me hooked), weird biology, disrupted space/time, mysterious aliens, and a theme that really resonated (who/what decides who you are?).
It almost makes me want to try Ancillary Justice again, which I somehow could not get into at all.
December 22, 2023
This was a five star book that I am declaring REVIEW AMNESTY upon, but I promise when I re-read I will actually review it. PEACE.
July 13, 2023
Leckie’s Ancillary series is down in my reading history as one of my all-time faves, but it seems – at least for me, as a reader – she peaked too early. Raven Tower was one of the most boring books I’ve ever read, and Translation State shares some of its main flaws. To wit: unengaging characters; the bizarre decision to give the MCs no real emotional arcs or connection with others; an underdeveloped environmental concept; and a first-draft writing style that is so very far from the first trilogy that I can only assume she needed those ‘first book years’ to polish and hone and she’s not getting remotely enough time these days.
Check it out:
‘Either way, they’ll fix it and come get us.” Maybe. Sie hoped. But there was no point in thinking about that, in wondering what would happen if no one came looking for them, if no one could. If that happened, they would find out soon enough, no need to speculate. “We just have to be patient.”’
I was impressed – perhaps easily so – by the gender conceit in the Ancillary series, wherein everyone is viewed as default female. There’s at least five genders at play in this book, nominated by ‘hir’, ‘them’, and ‘e’. I guess people with skin in the game in this matter will find this more interesting than I did. I’m all for neopronouns because I find the narrative use of singular ‘they’ headache-inducing, but in fact, the other pronouns also jerked me out of the reading process just as much, which I didn’t expect. I’m also not sure what the value-add was. In the case of Enae, I saw one typo that read ‘her’, and this plus the long hair in a braid and the caretaking ‘spinster’ role sie occupied inevitably lead me to read hir as female. I didn’t feel there was much substance to this world-building because the genders are so established that there’s zero obvious friction with their identification, but there’s also no gender roles issue, so it’s like … how did we get there from here? Even a passing reference to ‘in the past’ could have helped. The argument in queer fiction is that it doesn’t have to be about The Struggle all the time, but even straight romance has to deal with heteronormative dynamics on some level. I dunno. I would have found a dissection of this more interesting than the actual plot, is the problem.
The plot starts with the disinheritance of Enae after the death of hir grandmother, and subsquently sie’s given a makey-upey diplomatic role. Similar to all the action in this book, Enae’s mission flip-flops between ‘this isn’t a big deal’ and ‘this is the biggest deal of all actually because otherwise there's no story’. It's like Leckie couldn't decide where she wanted her stakes to land and went for 'high AND low'.
Enae gets involved with a complicated yet boring scenario in which a Presger Translator escapes their (I guess) breeding ground and two hundred years later (what) this results in the birth of Reet, who is raised human in a classic hidden hero trope. Reet meets Qven, another Presger Translator who is, going by context and actions, about sixteen years old. Qven is also a cannibal who’s vivisected and eaten thirty-seven people. There’s some scenes early on that belong way more to the horror genre, and let me tell you I am NOT here for unflagged crossovers like that.
What’s most astonishing is how little effort goes into trying to humanise Qven in terms of making them an object of sympathy. I’m clearly SUPPOSED to sympathise, and root for Qven and Reet to overcome their very sixteen-year-old scruples about how the other one doesn't return their FEEEEEELINGS, but I don’t. Qven. CANNIBAL. 37 VICTIMS. You GOTTA try harder than that.
‘“After tea and cakes we talk about weather, and then I tend to the plants. Would you like to see my plants? I have radishes and potatoes. And we could maybe get some others.” He looked at me blankly. “I am not a potato,” I warned him.’
I take it back – Qven is more like a five-year-old. They and Reet also have insta-love, in case you’re interested.
The ‘matching’ between Qven and potential partners is possibly a metaphor for rape or something, given how Qven ends up feeling about it, but mostly it’s giving big 20teens YA fantasy worldbuilding vibes. O NOES, I’M A PICK ME IN THIS DYSTOPIA! The fact that the other two alien species are, respectively, big hairy things and metal spiders, further speaks to the lack of imagination deployed in the worldbuilding. Should have just stuck to the sentient spaceships.
Check it out:
‘Either way, they’ll fix it and come get us.” Maybe. Sie hoped. But there was no point in thinking about that, in wondering what would happen if no one came looking for them, if no one could. If that happened, they would find out soon enough, no need to speculate. “We just have to be patient.”’
I was impressed – perhaps easily so – by the gender conceit in the Ancillary series, wherein everyone is viewed as default female. There’s at least five genders at play in this book, nominated by ‘hir’, ‘them’, and ‘e’. I guess people with skin in the game in this matter will find this more interesting than I did. I’m all for neopronouns because I find the narrative use of singular ‘they’ headache-inducing, but in fact, the other pronouns also jerked me out of the reading process just as much, which I didn’t expect. I’m also not sure what the value-add was. In the case of Enae, I saw one typo that read ‘her’, and this plus the long hair in a braid and the caretaking ‘spinster’ role sie occupied inevitably lead me to read hir as female. I didn’t feel there was much substance to this world-building because the genders are so established that there’s zero obvious friction with their identification, but there’s also no gender roles issue, so it’s like … how did we get there from here? Even a passing reference to ‘in the past’ could have helped. The argument in queer fiction is that it doesn’t have to be about The Struggle all the time, but even straight romance has to deal with heteronormative dynamics on some level. I dunno. I would have found a dissection of this more interesting than the actual plot, is the problem.
The plot starts with the disinheritance of Enae after the death of hir grandmother, and subsquently sie’s given a makey-upey diplomatic role. Similar to all the action in this book, Enae’s mission flip-flops between ‘this isn’t a big deal’ and ‘this is the biggest deal of all actually because otherwise there's no story’. It's like Leckie couldn't decide where she wanted her stakes to land and went for 'high AND low'.
Enae gets involved with a complicated yet boring scenario in which a Presger Translator escapes their (I guess) breeding ground and two hundred years later (what) this results in the birth of Reet, who is raised human in a classic hidden hero trope. Reet meets Qven, another Presger Translator who is, going by context and actions, about sixteen years old. Qven is also a cannibal who’s vivisected and eaten thirty-seven people. There’s some scenes early on that belong way more to the horror genre, and let me tell you I am NOT here for unflagged crossovers like that.
What’s most astonishing is how little effort goes into trying to humanise Qven in terms of making them an object of sympathy. I’m clearly SUPPOSED to sympathise, and root for Qven and Reet to overcome their very sixteen-year-old scruples about how the other one doesn't return their FEEEEEELINGS, but I don’t. Qven. CANNIBAL. 37 VICTIMS. You GOTTA try harder than that.
‘“After tea and cakes we talk about weather, and then I tend to the plants. Would you like to see my plants? I have radishes and potatoes. And we could maybe get some others.” He looked at me blankly. “I am not a potato,” I warned him.’
I take it back – Qven is more like a five-year-old. They and Reet also have insta-love, in case you’re interested.
The ‘matching’ between Qven and potential partners is possibly a metaphor for rape or something, given how Qven ends up feeling about it, but mostly it’s giving big 20teens YA fantasy worldbuilding vibes. O NOES, I’M A PICK ME IN THIS DYSTOPIA! The fact that the other two alien species are, respectively, big hairy things and metal spiders, further speaks to the lack of imagination deployed in the worldbuilding. Should have just stuck to the sentient spaceships.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2023
Science fiction and fantasy can be astonishing – or simply strange. Likewise for coming of age stories, where the protagonists are either hypermature (which reads well for adults) or silly.
For ¾ of Translation State Ann Leckie had the makings for simply strange – she had aliens, reanimated beings, biomech, AI, and at least five genders – but Translation State held together and was believable. Leckie has interesting characters and asked engaging questions about choosing gender and species identification, about acceptance and nurturance, about family.
The last ¼, though, was too much. What happens during a book's climax and resolution can make or break a story for me. It may not work because these sections were paced too rapidly or too slowly or because the ending feels too scripted. Perhaps the characters stepped too far outside their regular behaviors. In this case, some characters rose to the occasion (e.g., Enae and Sphene), others remained unrecognizable and despicable (e.g., Translator Dlar), and others responded well in some ways but not others (e.g., Qven). In fact, Qven was interesting initially, but then became silly and insecure. (Ever want to slap some sense into a character?)
I adore Ann Leckie's books and have given four of her previous five books I've read five stars, with the fifth four. Maybe it's me, but this one didn't hit me as well.
For ¾ of Translation State Ann Leckie had the makings for simply strange – she had aliens, reanimated beings, biomech, AI, and at least five genders – but Translation State held together and was believable. Leckie has interesting characters and asked engaging questions about choosing gender and species identification, about acceptance and nurturance, about family.
The last ¼, though, was too much. What happens during a book's climax and resolution can make or break a story for me. It may not work because these sections were paced too rapidly or too slowly or because the ending feels too scripted. Perhaps the characters stepped too far outside their regular behaviors. In this case, some characters rose to the occasion (e.g., Enae and Sphene), others remained unrecognizable and despicable (e.g., Translator Dlar), and others responded well in some ways but not others (e.g., Qven). In fact, Qven was interesting initially, but then became silly and insecure. (Ever want to slap some sense into a character?)
I adore Ann Leckie's books and have given four of her previous five books I've read five stars, with the fifth four. Maybe it's me, but this one didn't hit me as well.
June 5, 2023
Ann Leckie is back in the extended Radch universe, and she's in top form. We absolutely adored this book exploring identity, humanity, belonging, consent, and family: this time with more absurdist fun from the Presger Translators.
Translation State is written from three perspectives: Enae, Reet, and Qven. Enae has spent hir life caring for hir aging grandmother out of duty, and both surprised and yet utterly resigned to discover that sie has inherited the only bequest in hir biological family: a promise from the new heir to the family name that Enae will be supported for the rest of hir life. The new heir provides Enae with a job investigating the centuries-old disappearance of ... someone. Reet is a human making his living on a space station. After a difficult start to life (he was found abandoned in a space shuttle and has no living relatives), he was raised in a loving adoptive family. He still feels alone, and is searching for a place to belong. As the book starts, he thinks he might have found that place with a group of ethnic minorities, the Hikipi. Finally Qven, whose chapters are written in the first person, is a Presger Translator. The reader gets to experience life as a juvenile Translator growing up in an alien environment. When Qven begins to rebel against their intended destiny, their fate will become intertwined with Enae's and Reet's in ways no one could have foretold.
Although new characters are front and center here, we get starring supporting roles from characters we never knew would become our favorites. Sphene, the Geck ambassador, Tibanvori, and Dlique all appear. We're not sure we would have recognized them without a recent reread, so we're inclined to believe that this would work as a standalone, although a familiarity with the universe certainly helped us acclimate to the new environment more quickly!
In addition to loving SFF, we're also big romance readers. It was especially fun to read Leckie's take on the Translators' "matching" practices. She deftly utilizes romance tropes in new ways - as the Translators explain, matching is not sex or romance, even though humans sometimes talk about romantic entanglements the way Translators talk about matching. Here, there are elements of a marriage of convenience, "ruination" for a good match, and above all, an emphasis on consent in relationships.
Translation State is funny, poignant, and (as always with Leckie's work) makes the reader think. Absolutely recommended!
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
Translation State is written from three perspectives: Enae, Reet, and Qven. Enae has spent hir life caring for hir aging grandmother out of duty, and both surprised and yet utterly resigned to discover that sie has inherited the only bequest in hir biological family: a promise from the new heir to the family name that Enae will be supported for the rest of hir life. The new heir provides Enae with a job investigating the centuries-old disappearance of ... someone. Reet is a human making his living on a space station. After a difficult start to life (he was found abandoned in a space shuttle and has no living relatives), he was raised in a loving adoptive family. He still feels alone, and is searching for a place to belong. As the book starts, he thinks he might have found that place with a group of ethnic minorities, the Hikipi. Finally Qven, whose chapters are written in the first person, is a Presger Translator. The reader gets to experience life as a juvenile Translator growing up in an alien environment. When Qven begins to rebel against their intended destiny, their fate will become intertwined with Enae's and Reet's in ways no one could have foretold.
Although new characters are front and center here, we get starring supporting roles from characters we never knew would become our favorites. Sphene, the Geck ambassador, Tibanvori, and Dlique all appear. We're not sure we would have recognized them without a recent reread, so we're inclined to believe that this would work as a standalone, although a familiarity with the universe certainly helped us acclimate to the new environment more quickly!
In addition to loving SFF, we're also big romance readers. It was especially fun to read Leckie's take on the Translators' "matching" practices. She deftly utilizes romance tropes in new ways - as the Translators explain, matching is not sex or romance, even though humans sometimes talk about romantic entanglements the way Translators talk about matching. Here, there are elements of a marriage of convenience, "ruination" for a good match, and above all, an emphasis on consent in relationships.
Translation State is funny, poignant, and (as always with Leckie's work) makes the reader think. Absolutely recommended!
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
January 9, 2024
No one is doing it like Ann Leckie! This sci-fi novel uses six different pronoun sets (actually kind of seven, except one is the same set just used culturally very differently by different groups of people). It’s fantastic. We’ve got they/them, e/em/eir, sie/hir, it/its, he/him, she/her, and she/her again except used as a universal pronoun regardless of gender (which works great inside the Radch Empire and badly outside of it). I'm on the fence about whether this book can be read as a stand alone, or if it would only really make sense after having read at the Imperial Radch trilogy and Providence. I suppose it depends on what level of baffling alien customs and politics you are willing to tolerate. This book opens with Enae attending hir grandmaman's funeral, only to learn that the seemingly wealthy old woman had sold her entire estate to a stranger before her death. For the first time in her life, Enae leaves home with a Foreign Affairs job: to see out a fugitive who left Presger space some 200 years prior. Enae isn't expecting to succeed, but sie gives it hir best shot- and in doing so completely upends the lives of a widening circle of bystanders including Reet, a man of unknown parentage, and Qven, a juvenile Presger. This book finally begins to explain this inhuman and terrifying species, and the reason why the Presger-Radachii Treaty defines the rules of so much of this universe. I deeply enjoyed this installment; it makes me want to go back and re-read the original trilogy.
August 3, 2023
Uh, um, ah, well... It was fine.
Some interesting bits, some bloody gross biological bits some mildly intesting inter planetary politic stuff. Some vaguely interesting characters. All in all, just a bit meh. Can't say it was a total waste of time but i didn't get much out of it. Which I think is mostly how I feel about Ms Leckie's work. The Reich trilogy was a lot more enthralling and entertaining.
I did like the alienness of the Presgr translator though. It's rare to read anyhting particularly new and alien, and I think she did a pretty good job of it. She also writes good personalities for her characters. Infuriating as so many of them are.
Some interesting bits, some bloody gross biological bits some mildly intesting inter planetary politic stuff. Some vaguely interesting characters. All in all, just a bit meh. Can't say it was a total waste of time but i didn't get much out of it. Which I think is mostly how I feel about Ms Leckie's work. The Reich trilogy was a lot more enthralling and entertaining.
I did like the alienness of the Presgr translator though. It's rare to read anyhting particularly new and alien, and I think she did a pretty good job of it. She also writes good personalities for her characters. Infuriating as so many of them are.
December 10, 2024
On reflection, I think this is somewhere in the 3.75-star ballpark for me. Leckie is a talented writer-- I just admire elements of this one more than I enjoyed the whole result.
First, the good: I think that Leckie has a real eye for alien perspectives that feel alien. Qven's perspective never feels like just a weird human, and . The human cultures also have great variety, and I think that the interplay of human and alien ways of thinking about things like gender and personhood is richly articulated. Thematically, there's some great work here about societal categories and people's freedom to choose their own identities.
The downside for me is that I admired and often liked this book, but I rarely loved it. There are some great elements, particularly in the early chapters about Enae finding new purpose after years of emotional mistreatment and Qven's morbidly fascinating childhood, with all its non-human moments about casual vivisection and cannibalism, but the story slowed down a bit for me after that. It often felt like I was waiting for the next thing to happen rather than anticipating it or feeling any real tension, especially in the second half where .
The characters mostly tend to read as younger than their years, which didn't quite land for me. Reet is a convincing adult, just something of a longr, but he's the outlier. Enae's sheltered and belittled background makes sense, but it was hard to believe that this character was so far into middle age. Qven is in an interesting spot-- e (gender-neutral pronoun in this setting) is reaching adulthood by local standards, but the emotional processing just reads very young (with moments like relating to "a princex in disguise" from an adventure show and bringing that up in a court setting). It's an intriguing situation, but
In the end, I'm left wanting to try more Leckie (and wishing there had been a bit more actual translation in this book to give us a break from the endless rounds of tea and discussions starting around the midway point). I suspect that this is a richer story if you've been following all the related works in this universe, and I've been meaning to go back and try the Imperial Radch books for years-- this one was just not a perfect entry point for me.
//First impressions: I'm done with my last read for the Hugo season, and I have mixed feelings on this one. There's a lot to enjoy, particularly in the first third, but for me, the tension was draining even during exciting scenes in the back half. (And with the caveat that I am a *huge* tea fan with an overflowing cupboard, the constant tea mentions became too much even for me.) I think this is a story I admired more than I enjoyed.
Overall, this has left me most interested in exploring the original Imperial Radch books, since the Radch and ship-human ancillary were the most compelling bits. RTC.
Other recommendations:
- If you're most interested in the human/alien gender discussion, try A Half-Built Garden, a first-contact novel that deals with aliens drawing human differences of opinion to the surface.
First, the good: I think that Leckie has a real eye for alien perspectives that feel alien. Qven's perspective never feels like just a weird human, and . The human cultures also have great variety, and I think that the interplay of human and alien ways of thinking about things like gender and personhood is richly articulated. Thematically, there's some great work here about societal categories and people's freedom to choose their own identities.
The downside for me is that I admired and often liked this book, but I rarely loved it. There are some great elements, particularly in the early chapters about Enae finding new purpose after years of emotional mistreatment and Qven's morbidly fascinating childhood, with all its non-human moments about casual vivisection and cannibalism, but the story slowed down a bit for me after that. It often felt like I was waiting for the next thing to happen rather than anticipating it or feeling any real tension, especially in the second half where .
The characters mostly tend to read as younger than their years, which didn't quite land for me. Reet is a convincing adult, just something of a longr, but he's the outlier. Enae's sheltered and belittled background makes sense, but it was hard to believe that this character was so far into middle age. Qven is in an interesting spot-- e (gender-neutral pronoun in this setting) is reaching adulthood by local standards, but the emotional processing just reads very young (with moments like relating to "a princex in disguise" from an adventure show and bringing that up in a court setting). It's an intriguing situation, but
In the end, I'm left wanting to try more Leckie (and wishing there had been a bit more actual translation in this book to give us a break from the endless rounds of tea and discussions starting around the midway point). I suspect that this is a richer story if you've been following all the related works in this universe, and I've been meaning to go back and try the Imperial Radch books for years-- this one was just not a perfect entry point for me.
//First impressions: I'm done with my last read for the Hugo season, and I have mixed feelings on this one. There's a lot to enjoy, particularly in the first third, but for me, the tension was draining even during exciting scenes in the back half. (And with the caveat that I am a *huge* tea fan with an overflowing cupboard, the constant tea mentions became too much even for me.) I think this is a story I admired more than I enjoyed.
Overall, this has left me most interested in exploring the original Imperial Radch books, since the Radch and ship-human ancillary were the most compelling bits. RTC.
Other recommendations:
- If you're most interested in the human/alien gender discussion, try A Half-Built Garden, a first-contact novel that deals with aliens drawing human differences of opinion to the surface.
July 11, 2023
Though outside of Radch-controlled space, the characters in Ann Leckie's latest are aware of the personhood discussion rumblings far from them. Enae has smaller concerns, but no less important. Her fractious grandmother has died, and all the greedy relatives have descended on the house, looking to win big when their grandmother's will is read. Enae has been taking care of the old woman for years, ignoring her own desires, and she's resentful and upset by all the naked greed, then outrage, displayed by the relatives, whose financial gains end up being thwarted.
Enae herself is left without money directly, but the new head of the house sends Enae on a diplomatic mission to find a missing Presger individual. The trail is 200 years cold, but Enae gamely sets out, as she finally gets a chance to have a paid adventure.
Meanwhile, we meet two other individuals:
-a young Presger translator-in training, Qven, is learning how to behave like a human, while also dealing with her frightening growing pains, and
-a young man, Reet, whose adopted parents love him, no matter that he used to have a tendency to bite, is also is undergoing strange pains.
It's inevitable that these three persons' lives will become entangled, but the fun is watching it happen. Then the troubles that ensue once they do.
Though this is a standalone story, its loose tie to the Imperial Radch trilogy becomes much more solid when a certain sarcastic character from that trilogy appears. That they're there for Radch reasons goes without saying, but they're also interested in the events here because of a somewhat similar situation developing with Reet. Reet's origin is of political interest to certain parties in this space; his humanity is under debate, and once he and Qven meet, the desired trajectories of their lives become the source of frustration for them, considering their lack of power and the multiple political powers vying for control over them.
Leckie continues use her Radch novels to pose questions about what is a person, how does one's origin play into one's place in the world, and what are one's choices when one has no power. She uses compelling characters, whose behaviour and intentions are under contention by others, and who are struggling to define their own identities, irrespective of others.
Leckie also deals with the intersection of biological need versus politically-driven arranged marriages, and how this can affect the mental health of the parties being matched. And though there is development of a romance over the course of the book, the emphasis is on consent, despite the wrangling of others.
(As an aside, being a tea lover, I was so happy that tea had such a big presence in the lives of all the characters.)
I liked this book a lot, and am always happy returning to Leckie's complex Radch stories, and all that they say and provoke.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Enae herself is left without money directly, but the new head of the house sends Enae on a diplomatic mission to find a missing Presger individual. The trail is 200 years cold, but Enae gamely sets out, as she finally gets a chance to have a paid adventure.
Meanwhile, we meet two other individuals:
-a young Presger translator-in training, Qven, is learning how to behave like a human, while also dealing with her frightening growing pains, and
-a young man, Reet, whose adopted parents love him, no matter that he used to have a tendency to bite, is also is undergoing strange pains.
It's inevitable that these three persons' lives will become entangled, but the fun is watching it happen. Then the troubles that ensue once they do.
Though this is a standalone story, its loose tie to the Imperial Radch trilogy becomes much more solid when a certain sarcastic character from that trilogy appears. That they're there for Radch reasons goes without saying, but they're also interested in the events here because of a somewhat similar situation developing with Reet. Reet's origin is of political interest to certain parties in this space; his humanity is under debate, and once he and Qven meet, the desired trajectories of their lives become the source of frustration for them, considering their lack of power and the multiple political powers vying for control over them.
Leckie continues use her Radch novels to pose questions about what is a person, how does one's origin play into one's place in the world, and what are one's choices when one has no power. She uses compelling characters, whose behaviour and intentions are under contention by others, and who are struggling to define their own identities, irrespective of others.
Leckie also deals with the intersection of biological need versus politically-driven arranged marriages, and how this can affect the mental health of the parties being matched. And though there is development of a romance over the course of the book, the emphasis is on consent, despite the wrangling of others.
(As an aside, being a tea lover, I was so happy that tea had such a big presence in the lives of all the characters.)
I liked this book a lot, and am always happy returning to Leckie's complex Radch stories, and all that they say and provoke.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
June 28, 2023
This is all i'll be talking about from now until its release. Ann Leckie AND translation?! PLEASE
READ 6/28/23
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Absolutely spectacular. I expected nothing less from Ann Leckie, and she did not disappoint. I knew this was going to be a five-star read from the very first page. Enae, the first character we meet, really captured my attention and remained my favorite character throughout the entire novel. Ann Leckie is a master worldbuilder; she really knows how to create believable and fascinating alien cultures. I was a little worried about this book having three POVs before I read it, but Ann Leckie balanced them all incredibly well and weaved their stories together masterfully. They all had very different voices and I looked forward to reading every single chapter, because all of them had backstories we could sympathize with and goals to root for. The nonbinary representation, including the use of neo-pronouns, was great as well. I am so happy to be back in the Radch world and I hope that Leckie will continue writing in this universe!
READ 6/28/23
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Absolutely spectacular. I expected nothing less from Ann Leckie, and she did not disappoint. I knew this was going to be a five-star read from the very first page. Enae, the first character we meet, really captured my attention and remained my favorite character throughout the entire novel. Ann Leckie is a master worldbuilder; she really knows how to create believable and fascinating alien cultures. I was a little worried about this book having three POVs before I read it, but Ann Leckie balanced them all incredibly well and weaved their stories together masterfully. They all had very different voices and I looked forward to reading every single chapter, because all of them had backstories we could sympathize with and goals to root for. The nonbinary representation, including the use of neo-pronouns, was great as well. I am so happy to be back in the Radch world and I hope that Leckie will continue writing in this universe!
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