book: Ancillary Justice
Nov. 27th, 2013 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraI expect Ancillary Justice to win the 2013 Hugo.
I am torn, myself, as to whether I would vote for it or for Stranger in Olondria - Ancillary is a much more obvious choice, classic science fiction, fascinating world-building, military action, space opera. Stranger is smaller and quieter although also "higher" in the literary sense, explicitly about Art and such; it would be neat to see something like that get recognized. I will certainly nominate both. However, I have no idea whether Stranger will even have a shot at the ballot, whereas judging by the buzz around Ancillary, I'm sure it will.
Hugos aside - I highly recommend this book. If you like the Vorkosigan books, if you liked the McCaffrey Ship Who Sang books but wished there was less overt romance, if you like the Borg, if you like... um. I'm tip-of-the-tonguing on the comparison I want to make, possibly because it's almost 1 am, I'll come back and revise this later. Vinge, there we go, if you like Fire and Deepness this is one for you. There's neat stuff with gender. There's neat stuff with identity. There's some really vivid cinematic action. Leckie did a great job (to my privileged eye) with issues of race and class and colonialism and empire, I mean, this book is about some really real stuff, as well as awesome fun sci-fi stuff. Must go to bed before this review gets any more gushing and incoherent.
PS I seem to have never reviewed Thor 2. It was fun, I liked it a lot, more than the first one! Space elves and nifty fight scene choreography, good stuff.
I am torn, myself, as to whether I would vote for it or for Stranger in Olondria - Ancillary is a much more obvious choice, classic science fiction, fascinating world-building, military action, space opera. Stranger is smaller and quieter although also "higher" in the literary sense, explicitly about Art and such; it would be neat to see something like that get recognized. I will certainly nominate both. However, I have no idea whether Stranger will even have a shot at the ballot, whereas judging by the buzz around Ancillary, I'm sure it will.
Hugos aside - I highly recommend this book. If you like the Vorkosigan books, if you liked the McCaffrey Ship Who Sang books but wished there was less overt romance, if you like the Borg, if you like... um. I'm tip-of-the-tonguing on the comparison I want to make, possibly because it's almost 1 am, I'll come back and revise this later. Vinge, there we go, if you like Fire and Deepness this is one for you. There's neat stuff with gender. There's neat stuff with identity. There's some really vivid cinematic action. Leckie did a great job (to my privileged eye) with issues of race and class and colonialism and empire, I mean, this book is about some really real stuff, as well as awesome fun sci-fi stuff. Must go to bed before this review gets any more gushing and incoherent.
PS I seem to have never reviewed Thor 2. It was fun, I liked it a lot, more than the first one! Space elves and nifty fight scene choreography, good stuff.
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Date: 2013-11-27 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-27 05:45 pm (UTC)My bet would be that Ancillary Justice wins the Tiptree and maybe the Nebula but misses out on the Hugo, though: Hugo votes seem to go to author rather than specific book a good chunk of the time. (For that reason, my money would be on Charles Stross winning the Hugo, though I'm not sure which books are eligible this year.)
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Date: 2013-11-28 04:45 pm (UTC)