Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is a wonderful examination of responsibility, revenge, justice and sense of self in a science fiction universe (arguably the safest place to talk about things political).  Ann Leckie’s use of gender pronouns (always female unless the character is obviously male) makes for a head-slapping read in one sense; the assumption that everyone in human space is female is pretty strange.  When read by Celeste Chula the ambivalence is even sharper…and it seems as if the genders of the characters only matter a little bit, probably because the main character is, um, not entirely human.

I won’t spoil that for you.  When the protagonist is forced to act against her character, it causes her to snap and behave in a very selfish and yet selfless manner—which is our story, of course.

I recommend Ancillary Justice very highly, and especially the audiobook version.

As it is the winner of the Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction, Locus and Arthur C. Clarke Awards, I gather I am not the only one who recommends it.