Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)

Questions About Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)

by Ann Leckie (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (35)

Strigan says to Breq, "I've never been able to understand how the Radchaai can keep the ships enslaved" (talking about the ships like Justice of Toren). Breq answers, "If you think about it you'll see you already know the answer to your question". I don't understand? How do the Radchaai keep the ships enslaved?
Fred Baba Looking back a sentence, the exchange goes:

“Doesn’t it bother you,” Strigan continued, “didn’t it ever bother you, that you’re slaves?”
“Who?”
“The ship…moreLooking back a sentence, the exchange goes:

“Doesn’t it bother you,” Strigan continued, “didn’t it ever bother you, that you’re slaves?”
“Who?”
“The ships. The warships. So powerful. Armed. The officers inside are at your mercy every moment. What stops you from killing them all and declaring yourselves free? I’ve never been able to understand how the Radchaai can keep the ships enslaved.”

The question “Doesn’t it bother you... that you’re slaves?” could just as easily be posed by Breq or any ship AI to any of the humans subject to the rule of the Lord of Radch. And thus understanding how the Radchaai compel obedience in humans would also answer the question of how they compel obedience among ships (who are also sentient beings, with feelings and free will, who choose obedience over the alternatives). The main methods are:

1. Appeals to abstract principles: justice, propriety, benefit, and civilization.

2. Threat of physical harm to the ships, humans, and those they care about.

3. Explicit psychological tampering through AI programming, human "re-education", and the creation of ancillaries from dissidents and prisoners of war).(less)
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I just finished my second reading of Ancillary Justice. (First time I have re-read a book within a few months!) Honestly, the book is even better the second time around. Erudite and superbly well-written, every sentence composed and balanced and clear. The pacing is wonderful. More poignant, more powerful. Have any of you read the book again (any so soon after your first read) ?
Kenneth Hindle-May I found the exact same thing. I read Ancillary Justice just before Ancillary Sword came out, so I read one and then the other and then went immediatel…moreI found the exact same thing. I read Ancillary Justice just before Ancillary Sword came out, so I read one and then the other and then went immediately back to the beginning and read both books again. I don't think I've ever done that before. I only finished Ancillary Mercy a couple of weeks ago and I'm already feeling the urge to go back and read the whole trilogy all over again, and I very rarely re-read books at all.

Part of the reason is the compelling characters and rich story, but for me it's probably how dense the books are with issues. One of my favourites is raised in the second book: wherever Breq goes she heads straight for the bottom of the heap and starts agitating. Her desire is to improve the lot of the downtrodden, but does the upheaval she ultimately causes actually achieve that? Are those people ultimately better off? It's a similar argument to the more common one of, is it better for a man to be free and destitute, or a well-looked after slave? It's an issue that should give those of us on the progressive side of the political fence pause for thought, and that's just one issue in these books (one that doesn't get much time on the page at all, either).(less)
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I love the book but still don't understand the identity rankings. and it can refer both to AI ancillaries and to human non-AI soldiers. Can someone clear this up for me?
Rachel Example: The Justice of Toren is the ship and the AI and its ancillaries. She has 1 Captain. She had 16 decks, 10 of those were decade decks. Each dec…moreExample: The Justice of Toren is the ship and the AI and its ancillaries. She has 1 Captain. She had 16 decks, 10 of those were decade decks. Each decade has a name, ex Var, Esk, Amaat, Toren, Bo, etc. Each decade/ Esk decade has 20 human lieutenants (Awn being the top ranking one). It has 2 Ancillary “units”, One Esk and Two Esk. Each of these “units” is made up of 20 ancillary segments, ex One Esk Nineteen. When Esk lieutenant Awn is on the planet Shis’Urna, she is there with all 20 One Esk ancillaries. So the remaining 19 Esk lieutenants and all Two Esk ancillaries were on the ship taking care of things on esk decade. When they returned from the planet, all Two Esks went back into hybernation and all One Esk took their positions back. The 1/20 segment of One Esk that died on the planet, was replaced with a new body segment from hibernation. So, each decade has 20 humans, and 40 AI ancillaries that use the decade name.(less)
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I didn't quite understand the genders of characters in this book. Everyone is referred to as a female, but that might be because the ship cannot tell the difference? Seems odd since the ship can tell almost everything else about a person's mood.
Cassandra Breq's first language does not specify gender in any way. She refers to everyone in a feminine form because the language (English) it's "translated" i…moreBreq's first language does not specify gender in any way. She refers to everyone in a feminine form because the language (English) it's "translated" into doesn't have a widely recognized gender neutral pronoun and so she picks one and uses it for everyone. All Radchaii speakers have this problem when trying to speak other languages because it's not something they typically have to think about.

When Breq was Justice of Toren, she most probably could tell the gender of everyone on board considering she had access to their hormone levels. Cut off from that, she has no way of knowing. The things that societies use to mark gender vary widely from place to place and time to time. Not to mention that their are those who challenge them either intentionally to make a political statement or simply because they like something that is marked as a different gender than themselves. (Think of men who wear earrings, women with sort hair, cross dressers, what you assume about a baby in pink, etc)

And you are correct that she can't often tell the difference and when she knows doesn't seem to care unless she's speaking aloud to someone else. Sevairden Vendaii (sp? that's from memory, I don't have the book on hand) is male. Breq refers to him as she the entire time except when she is speaking with the doctor Strigan in Nilt. Most everyone else is left up to you to figure out if you wish, but we can reasonably assume that not everyone in the book is female.(less)
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One thing that almost always turns me off any sci fi, or fantasy, is silly (IMHO) apostrophes in names of things, or people, or places - and it started in this book around page 8. This is a "trope" that I REALLY REALLY hate in Sci Fi and Fantasy... Shis'urna? What is being abbreviated? What vowel is being omitted? Why not just "Shisurna" or "Shis Urna"? This bugs me so much I don't think I can get past it.
Julia It sounds like you're assuming that the only reason for an apostrophe to exist, even in a made-up science fiction universe, is to align with English s…moreIt sounds like you're assuming that the only reason for an apostrophe to exist, even in a made-up science fiction universe, is to align with English spelling and grammar rules.

Linguistically, and across various languages, apostrophes have other functions as well. For example, consider the official spelling of Hawai'i, in which the apostrophe indicates a glottal stop in the pronunciation of the word. Who is to say what other pronunciation rules exist in Leckie's universe?(less)
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