Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Orbit (2023), 432 pages
Pages
432
Description
Qven was created to be a Presgr 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 Presgr and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something different isn't "optimal behavior". It's the type of behavior that will have you eliminated. But Qven rebels anyway, determined to find a way to belong on their own terms. As a Conclave of the various species approaches-and the long-standing treaty between the humans and the Presgr is on the line-the paths of all three will collide in a chain of events that will have ripple effects across galaxies.
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2024)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 2023)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2024)
Libby Book Award (Finalist — Science Fiction — 2023)
Dragon Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2023)
NPR: Books We Love (2023)
Locus Recommended Reading (2023)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Science Fiction and Fantasy — 2023)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2023)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Speculative Fiction — 2023)
RUSA CODES Listen List (Listen-Alike — Listen-Alike to "Infinity Gate" — 2024)
Denver Public Library Staff Picks for Adults (Fiction — 2023)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2023-06-06
Physical description
432 p.
ISBN
031628971X / 9780316289719
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User reviews
LibraryThing member Shrike58
To cut to the chase, I have to conclude that this is best science fiction novel I've read that has been published this year, and I see little reason to expect it to drop out of my top five when/if I make my award nominations. Not really a sequel to any proceeding book in the "Imperial Radch" cycle,
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it is akin to Leckie's "Provenance," with its comedy of manners and misfit characters thrust into challenging situations. However, I like this work much better than Book 4, as the plight of some of the characters, even if they have a problematic and threatening nature, touches my sense of sympathy more than some of Leckie's other creations. Once you get past the starting point of the proverbial maiden aunt being sent on a low-key diplomatic mission, there's not really much more than I can say without spoiling the plot, but I will observe that if you've liked Leckie's work to date, you'll certainly like this novel. One thing I would dispute, as compared to some other reviews, I don't think that this book is all that free-standing, and you really need to have read the previous stories to get the most out of it. Show Less
LibraryThing member oceancat
Translation State was exactly the book I wanted. Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy is one of my favorite trilogies of all time, and one aspect I loved and desperately wanted to know more about was the entire concept of the Presgr Translators. This book gives that and they are just as
The book is fast paced and engaging, and even when the different characters have to deal with the bureaucratic elements life in inter-species space requires it never gets bogged down. Qven, the juvenile Translator, is far and away my favorite character, but I loved the other two main characters as well.
I don't think it's necessary to have read the Imperial Radch trilogy before this (though I highly recommend it) as while it does take place in the same universe, it is in a different part of it with different characters. There is a very fun cameo by one of my favorite side characters from the original series, but I won't spoil who.
My only complaint is that I wanted the end to be longer. I feel like that's a sign of how good the book was and how much I loved it more than anything else though. I really have no other complaints.
I definitely recommend this book and I hope Ann Leckie continues to write in this world, I would love to know more about these characters and continue to see into the vast and fascinating universe she's created. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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alien-yet-also-human as I had hoped. The book follows three main characters, one human, one juvenile Translator, and one who grew up human but maybe isn't quite. Their three stories are set on a collision course when the human is given a busy work job that sie ends up taking seriously. This sets off events that could potentially endanger all of humanity.The book is fast paced and engaging, and even when the different characters have to deal with the bureaucratic elements life in inter-species space requires it never gets bogged down. Qven, the juvenile Translator, is far and away my favorite character, but I loved the other two main characters as well.
I don't think it's necessary to have read the Imperial Radch trilogy before this (though I highly recommend it) as while it does take place in the same universe, it is in a different part of it with different characters. There is a very fun cameo by one of my favorite side characters from the original series, but I won't spoil who.
My only complaint is that I wanted the end to be longer. I feel like that's a sign of how good the book was and how much I loved it more than anything else though. I really have no other complaints.
I definitely recommend this book and I hope Ann Leckie continues to write in this world, I would love to know more about these characters and continue to see into the vast and fascinating universe she's created. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member Gwendydd
I am so glad that Leckie continues to write in the Radch universe, because the world-building here is so rich, and there is so much to enjoy!
Like all of the Radch books, you spend the first chapter or two thinking "oh no, this is too complicated, I'm never going to be able to keep track of this
The book at first seems to follow some very disparate characters, but all of their storylines converge into a very satisfying narrative. It's hard to summarize the plot.... one character is sent on a wild goose chase to track down a person who went missing 200 years ago, but decides to deft expectations and actually do a good job. When they do track down a descendant of the missing person, the discovery threatens to break a centuries-old treaty. All of the main characters grapple with big questions about who they are, what family means, and what kind of control they have over their own fates in a society that is trying to keep them in rigid roles. The story is engaging, the relationships feel very real, and it never becomes overly sentimental.
I listened to the audiobook, and Adjoa Andoh delivers an absolutely virtuoso performance, rapidly switching between a variety of voices and accents. You know from the first word which character is speaking, despite a proliferation of characters. Absolutely astonishing voice acting.
Like all of the Radch books, you spend the first chapter or two thinking "oh no, this is too complicated, I'm never going to be able to keep track of this
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storyline," but then the characters all feel so real that it actually turns out to be very easy to follow the story, even at times when you don't really have enough information to totally understand what is going on (but don't worry, you'll get all the information later and it will all make sense... more or less).The book at first seems to follow some very disparate characters, but all of their storylines converge into a very satisfying narrative. It's hard to summarize the plot.... one character is sent on a wild goose chase to track down a person who went missing 200 years ago, but decides to deft expectations and actually do a good job. When they do track down a descendant of the missing person, the discovery threatens to break a centuries-old treaty. All of the main characters grapple with big questions about who they are, what family means, and what kind of control they have over their own fates in a society that is trying to keep them in rigid roles. The story is engaging, the relationships feel very real, and it never becomes overly sentimental.
I listened to the audiobook, and Adjoa Andoh delivers an absolutely virtuoso performance, rapidly switching between a variety of voices and accents. You know from the first word which character is speaking, despite a proliferation of characters. Absolutely astonishing voice acting.
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LibraryThing member bibliovermis
This was unlike any book in the series preceding it, though clearly built from the same mind and of the same core elements: a detailed, thought-experiment exploration of cultures and beings that, while still of a human basis, are imaginatively alien. It was wildly, violently, viscerally gross, and
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I couldn't put it down. A must-read for Ann Leckie fans! Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
Enae, left with the equivalence of a generous remittance, is pressured on a hopeless search for a Presger translator missing 200 years so as to be out of the way of the person who has purchased the old and illustrious family name. Enae takes a different approach than past searchers and finds
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someone quite unexpected. This is space adventure in a richly imagined milieu with believable personal and political stakes. Also deep weirdness. It is very absorbing and hard to put down. Show Less
LibraryThing member lavaturtle
I enjoyed the very different perspectives of the three protagonists as they try to figure out their place in the world. And it's cool to see glimpses of the very different cultures -- even among humans -- that make the setting feel like a very big place. I was glad that Qven and Reet got a good
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ending. And the theme about what you can do when you only have small choices available to you was really great. Show Less
LibraryThing member nmele
Like her trilogy set in the same universe, this is a capacious and generous novel in every way. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the seemingly convoluted plot threads all come together in a suspenseful and mostly happy ending. Well worth reading!
LibraryThing member santhony
This is a continuation of the Imperial Radch series of books penned by the author, so effectively in the “Ancillary” trilogy of books, and so disappointingly in the follow up novel, Provenance.
Set in the same landscape as the previous four novels, this can be more easily read as “stand
And while this work began somewhat promisingly, it ultimately devolved into a relatively boring slog. There is relatively little action or story advancement beyond the first half of the book. The final 150 pages are an exercise in navel gazing. The author diverts into a genre that I have labeled anthropologic science fiction, focusing primarily upon the cultural and behavioral aspects of different species. Ursula LeGuin is known for this type of science fiction, and she does it far better than the author here.
At the end of the day, I can heartily recommend the first three installments of the Imperial Radsch series. After that, best to look elsewhere.
Set in the same landscape as the previous four novels, this can be more easily read as “stand
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alone”, though the first three books in the series were so good, that I would read them both as background to this novel as well as for the enjoyment they provide. You can, and should, skip the fourth novel, Provenance. It has no relation to this story and is a disappointment.And while this work began somewhat promisingly, it ultimately devolved into a relatively boring slog. There is relatively little action or story advancement beyond the first half of the book. The final 150 pages are an exercise in navel gazing. The author diverts into a genre that I have labeled anthropologic science fiction, focusing primarily upon the cultural and behavioral aspects of different species. Ursula LeGuin is known for this type of science fiction, and she does it far better than the author here.
At the end of the day, I can heartily recommend the first three installments of the Imperial Radsch series. After that, best to look elsewhere.
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LibraryThing member rivkat
A whole bunch of other cultures exist besides the Radchhai, including the descended-from-altered-humans Presger Translators. This book—which really feels influenced both by Murderbot and by The Goblin Emperor—focuses on three people (ish): a middle-aged person who gets sent on a seemingly
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impossible mission to find a Translator who escaped to human space 200 years ago; a young man who’s always felt out of place with his adopted family, but not sure how to handle the people who insists he’s actually descended from the rulers of a destroyed space station; and a Translator juvenile who, after an attack, doesn’t want the role reserved for them. Bad things happen, but there’s also a lot of kindness. I enjoyed it a lot. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kellswitch
I loved this book. So far I have loved all of Ann Leckie's Radch Empire books.
I love how character driven the story is, but there is still a strong sense of plot and of danger, but you always know in the end everything will end up right.
Ann Leckie's world building in this universe is amazing and
The lead characters are endearing and I really enjoyed getting to know them, and the characters we are supposed to hate are appropriately slimy without being cartoony. I especially enjoyed Enae and I really hope we see hir again soon.
This book feels like it could be read as a stand alone, you don't really need to have read all of the other books to be able to follow here, it helps if you have, there are details that flesh out the plot and the world if you have, but you can follow along just fine without know everything from before.
It helps make the series feel a bit more accessible.
I love how character driven the story is, but there is still a strong sense of plot and of danger, but you always know in the end everything will end up right.
Ann Leckie's world building in this universe is amazing and
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in each book I feel as though I am still in that universe even as I am introduced to someplace new. Everything seems to fit.The lead characters are endearing and I really enjoyed getting to know them, and the characters we are supposed to hate are appropriately slimy without being cartoony. I especially enjoyed Enae and I really hope we see hir again soon.
This book feels like it could be read as a stand alone, you don't really need to have read all of the other books to be able to follow here, it helps if you have, there are details that flesh out the plot and the world if you have, but you can follow along just fine without know everything from before.
It helps make the series feel a bit more accessible.
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LibraryThing member zeborah
A delightful peek inside the alien mindset of the translators who are merely the bridge between humans and the real aliens. I do love reading a really alien point of view and this delivered in spades.
LibraryThing member therem
An intriguing expansion of the universe established in earlier books, this focuses on the mysterious Presger Translators, whose psychology and biology are in an uncanny valley of human/alien that humans find rather horrifying. The character of Qven is soon revealed to be a young potential
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Translator (if things go well), and some of these early scenes have a serial killer and body horror creepiness to them that I found intriguing. This drops away as the book progresses, but an emotional story about finding acceptance and a place in the world takes its place in a rewarding way. If there is one criticism I would make, it's that a certain "cozy" vibe eventually takes hold that lowers the dramatic stakes, but I really enjoyed this book and its focus on freedom and self-determination. And it was great to see some fun characters from previous books reappear. I love Sphene! Show Less
LibraryThing member caedocyon
I didn't like this as much as Leckie's other books, but that's too high a bar because those include some of my favorite books of all time. I was extremely interested and invested and I had a great time reading this and learning more about Presger Translators. Really Alien Aliens for the win, as
I think Leckie has read Murderbot, lol.
The ethics of armed resistance and the [mal]adaptive ways of embracing your ethnic identity stuff is never not relevant, but hoooooeee that gave me a lot of feelings as a human living on Earth and reading this novel in November-December 2023.
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always, especially when the Really Alien Aliens are based on human genetic code and then more or less raised by wolves.I think Leckie has read Murderbot, lol.
The ethics of armed resistance and the [mal]adaptive ways of embracing your ethnic identity stuff is never not relevant, but hoooooeee that gave me a lot of feelings as a human living on Earth and reading this novel in November-December 2023.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Another intriguing work from Leckie. This is a standalone set in the Radach universe a little bit after the conclusion to the sword trilogy.
As is common with her work, pronouns are somewhat optional and can be confusing. By default the Radach refer to everyone as she, whereas the other political
It is weird, and in places weirder than Ancillary Sword. The AI do feature, as do the other aliens. It is also slightly gruesome as the Preseger have a very odd way of replicating and interacting with other species. Well worth reading though.
As is common with her work, pronouns are somewhat optional and can be confusing. By default the Radach refer to everyone as she, whereas the other political
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factions have other conventions which are not fully explained - but it was generally very clear who was being referred to. We follow two humans and one of the Preseger's 'Translators' who are intermediaries between the alien and humankind. Enae is the grand-daughter of a prestigious family, but when they fall on hard times she is sent off on a 'errand' into local space. Being of dedicated personality she takes it more seriously than expected and soon meets Reet. He is an orphan adopted into a loving family of an oppressed underclass and have never quite felt he has fitted into any of the social circles he moves in. Interspersed with these two stories, we have the very weird Qven, who is growing up and learning the boundaries of 'acceptable' behaviour which doesn't include eating anyone. Somewhere half-way through the plot Reet is deemed to be potentially Preseger, and abruptly rushed to the Radach Central facility. Enae and his family pursue with lawyers in tow, and Reet meets Qven. It is weird, and in places weirder than Ancillary Sword. The AI do feature, as do the other aliens. It is also slightly gruesome as the Preseger have a very odd way of replicating and interacting with other species. Well worth reading though.
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LibraryThing member capewood
2024 book #22. 2023. Searching for an alien which disappeared 200 years ago, Enae finds that alien's grown child, living as a human. An interstellar incident kicks off. Part of Leckie's "Imperial Radch" series. Not being familiar with the series, this was a bit of a hard read.
LibraryThing member bragan
This novel is set in the same world as Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy (Ancillary Justice and sequels). While I suppose it theoretically can stand on its own, I would recommend reading the trilogy first, partly because some things may make a bit more sense that way, but also because it's
Anyway, this one involves a Presger Translator (humans modified by the incomprehensibly alien Presger to be their go-betweens with the rest of the galaxy) who ran off and disappeared into human space somewhere two hundred years go. It features three main characters: one who has been sent off to investigate this very old mystery (but is not really expected to do so, or even to work too hard at it); one who, it quickly becomes apparent, is a descendant of the original runaway; and an almost-but-not-quite adult Presger translator hoping to follow in that runaway's footsteps.
I enjoyed this well enough, really, so I feel a little bit bad that most of what I have to say about it sounds so negative. Maybe it's a bit unfair to compare it to the much more sweeping trilogy, but be that as it may, it's hard not to notice that I didn't find it nearly as engrossing. And, while the characters are likable enough, they don't feel terribly well-drawn, with the possible exception of Qven the juvenile translator (who is strangely charming despite the, uh, cannibalistic tendencies). And while the plot setup is interesting, it relies on a massive set of coincidences to get everyone related to this two-hundred-year-old cold case in the same place at the same time... and then resolves a little too quickly at the end, with everyone getting out of a difficult situation they've been in for many chapters so suddenly I'm genuinely not sure what they actually did to manage it.
There is a lot of interesting stuff in the middle, though! Leckie is really good at creating a big, complex universe, and that definitely is in evidence here. There's politicking, factions, dangerous extremists with an understandable cause, conspiracy theories, old resentments, and plenty of other things that all feel very gratifyingly realistic. It was also interesting to get more of a look into the Presger translators, where they come from and how they think.
On the other hand... One of the really cool things Leckie does in the Radch trilogy is linguistic. The narrator there comes from a culture with no concept of gender, and in supposedly translating the narrative for a culture and language that does, she arbitrarily picks a pronoun and just calls everyone "she." Discarding gender entirely, not being told the sex of anyone in the story, and being given a female pronoun as the default creates a really fascinating shift of perspective in the reader, in a way that's eye-opening and memorable and clever. Well, in this one, she's also playing around with pronouns a bit. We have cultures with one gender and other cultures that have three, and there are different choices of third pronoun for each culture, and all of that sounds theoretically interesting, but in practice the whole thing just ends up being used in a very familiar early-21st-century "please respect my pronouns!" kind of way. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing; reflecting the present is a big part of what SF does, and in this case it fits well with some of the novel's themes about personal choice and identity. The problem, in my opinion, is that it does so in a way that exposes a glaringly obvious gap in the worldbuilding. Because we don't actually get any idea whatsoever what those identifications actually mean. Gender identification, surely, is about your relationship to your body and/or to your culture. You don't have a relationship to a syllable unless that syllable actually means something. What are the traits, expectations, social roles, standards of appearance that your society applies to the genders it recognizes, and which of them fits you? Right? But there's no indication of any of that at all here, in any of the three-gender cultures. Indeed, there's not much of anything bringing these cultures to life outside of their interstellar politics and a couple of food choices. Previously, we learned lots of stuff about the Radchaai, not just their ideas about gender, but their attitudes, their taboos, their notions of what's polite and what's rude, their clothing, etc. But there really isn't any of that here, outside of the exploration we get of life among the Translators' young.
Again, all that having been said, it's not that I didn't enjoy the story. I did! It was interesting, the world-building stuff that Leckie did do was cool, and I liked the not-actually-a-romance thing that develops between two of the characters. But it does just feel like it's missing some things I would have liked to be there.
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great.Anyway, this one involves a Presger Translator (humans modified by the incomprehensibly alien Presger to be their go-betweens with the rest of the galaxy) who ran off and disappeared into human space somewhere two hundred years go. It features three main characters: one who has been sent off to investigate this very old mystery (but is not really expected to do so, or even to work too hard at it); one who, it quickly becomes apparent, is a descendant of the original runaway; and an almost-but-not-quite adult Presger translator hoping to follow in that runaway's footsteps.
I enjoyed this well enough, really, so I feel a little bit bad that most of what I have to say about it sounds so negative. Maybe it's a bit unfair to compare it to the much more sweeping trilogy, but be that as it may, it's hard not to notice that I didn't find it nearly as engrossing. And, while the characters are likable enough, they don't feel terribly well-drawn, with the possible exception of Qven the juvenile translator (who is strangely charming despite the, uh, cannibalistic tendencies). And while the plot setup is interesting, it relies on a massive set of coincidences to get everyone related to this two-hundred-year-old cold case in the same place at the same time... and then resolves a little too quickly at the end, with everyone getting out of a difficult situation they've been in for many chapters so suddenly I'm genuinely not sure what they actually did to manage it.
There is a lot of interesting stuff in the middle, though! Leckie is really good at creating a big, complex universe, and that definitely is in evidence here. There's politicking, factions, dangerous extremists with an understandable cause, conspiracy theories, old resentments, and plenty of other things that all feel very gratifyingly realistic. It was also interesting to get more of a look into the Presger translators, where they come from and how they think.
On the other hand... One of the really cool things Leckie does in the Radch trilogy is linguistic. The narrator there comes from a culture with no concept of gender, and in supposedly translating the narrative for a culture and language that does, she arbitrarily picks a pronoun and just calls everyone "she." Discarding gender entirely, not being told the sex of anyone in the story, and being given a female pronoun as the default creates a really fascinating shift of perspective in the reader, in a way that's eye-opening and memorable and clever. Well, in this one, she's also playing around with pronouns a bit. We have cultures with one gender and other cultures that have three, and there are different choices of third pronoun for each culture, and all of that sounds theoretically interesting, but in practice the whole thing just ends up being used in a very familiar early-21st-century "please respect my pronouns!" kind of way. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing; reflecting the present is a big part of what SF does, and in this case it fits well with some of the novel's themes about personal choice and identity. The problem, in my opinion, is that it does so in a way that exposes a glaringly obvious gap in the worldbuilding. Because we don't actually get any idea whatsoever what those identifications actually mean. Gender identification, surely, is about your relationship to your body and/or to your culture. You don't have a relationship to a syllable unless that syllable actually means something. What are the traits, expectations, social roles, standards of appearance that your society applies to the genders it recognizes, and which of them fits you? Right? But there's no indication of any of that at all here, in any of the three-gender cultures. Indeed, there's not much of anything bringing these cultures to life outside of their interstellar politics and a couple of food choices. Previously, we learned lots of stuff about the Radchaai, not just their ideas about gender, but their attitudes, their taboos, their notions of what's polite and what's rude, their clothing, etc. But there really isn't any of that here, outside of the exploration we get of life among the Translators' young.
Again, all that having been said, it's not that I didn't enjoy the story. I did! It was interesting, the world-building stuff that Leckie did do was cool, and I liked the not-actually-a-romance thing that develops between two of the characters. But it does just feel like it's missing some things I would have liked to be there.
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
I saw that there was a new book by Ann Leckie and I thought -- man, her universe is so complicated, will I be able to remember enough to enjoy it? Dear reader, I devoured it, and I love that Leckie is the type of writer that can bring readers so quickly back into her worlds without synopsizing
Advanced Reader's Copy Provided by Edelweiss.
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previous work. I also adore that this is something like an Ace love story and that she continues to play with pronouns -- to embrace them, to ignore them, to give her characters the agency to fully embrace whoever they are on the terms that make the best sense to them. It's also a little bit of political drama and a little bit of mind bending space physics and a whole lot of things to think about in a tasty, interesting story. Advanced Reader's Copy Provided by Edelweiss.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Set in the Imperial Radch world this is a story of Qven, created to be a Presger Translator who is going to make a match some day and become an intermediary between the Presger and humanity. It's an upbringing that is strange and very alien there's a veneer of humanity pressed into it. Chance
I didn't realise when I reserved this that it was in fact part of the Imperial Radch universe which I have only read the first book of the series. It did make me want to read some of the other titles in the series.
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brings them into contact with Enae, a diplomat who is sent on a mission she isn't expected to solve, to find someone who went missing over two hundred years ago, it's a job to reward her for putting up with Greatmaman for a long time. Meant as a sinecure, it's an opportunity to travel the universe and have some enjoyable experiences. Only she finds Reet, an adopted mechanic who has always felt out of place in his world what happens to the three of them will change things forever. I didn't realise when I reserved this that it was in fact part of the Imperial Radch universe which I have only read the first book of the series. It did make me want to read some of the other titles in the series.
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