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Redefining Humanity: Ancillary Justice and All Systems Red

31 Jul

Ancillary Justice
by Ann Leckie
We read Ancillary Justice for July’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion Group. The book has an interesting premise that Radch Space Ships have consciousness and as part of them are individual bodies that do work like assisting the officers on and off the ship. Although these bodies can walk around and interact as individual people, they also share the wider consciousness of the ship itself. In the case of this particular ship, Justice of Toren, all of it has been destroyed, but one ancillary, Breq. Breq has only one goal now to get revenge for Justice of Toren no matter what it takes. The story picks up on a remote isolated planet whose cold climate is vividly depicted by the author and gave me flash backs to my time visiting Greenland. The Radch civilization that Justice of Toren was part of did not differentiate by gender and therefor Breq often is confused with how to define those she interacts with and often guess wrong when communicating with them. This adds an interesting perspective to the story and though the ships are given emotion (to better and more quickly make decisions) there is still a disconnect between Breq and the other humans she interacts with. If like our book club, you enjoy Ancillary Justice, there are two additional novels in the Imperial Radch Trilogy, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy.

All Systems Red
by Martha Wells
We read All Systems Red for our April Book Discussion. All Systems Red is a novella so it is quick, but action packed read, which focuses on the self-identified Murderbot, a security unit who has overcome its governor module, but still mostly does its job as usual, though Murderbot secretly spends hours watching its favorite soap opera. It was interesting when reading Ancillary Justice to compare Breq with the Murderbot from the novel we had read earlier in the year. Both are aware of the separateness from humans but in neither case do they pine to be human and instead are content in their cyborg state neither fully machine nor all human. Neither feels the need to define their gender, though there are hints in both cases that they may have a “female” body. I think this moves away from older works where often robots or cyborgs longed for humanity in order to be seen as real. Now that we are more accepting of neurodiversity and more fluid gender identities, these stories seem to be transitioning to being more about acceptance. I really enjoyed the humor found through out the story and also checked out the next two in the series. Besides the standard audio recordings for the series you can also listen to them in graphic audio with a full cast recording. I really love the graphic audio versions they remind me of old fashioned radio dramas for a new generation.

If you would like to join our book club, our next meeting will be on Monday, August 26 at 6 PM at the Main Branch. We will be discussing C.L. Polk’s fantasy, Witchmark. I’ve enjoyed and blogged about Polk’s The Midnight Bargain and Even Though I Knew the End.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Outstanding Stories in Outer Space: The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles and Chilling Effect

7 Feb

Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles
by Malka Older
The second in The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series, Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older comes out February 13. We will be discussing the first book in the series The Mimicking of Known Successes during our February Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion Group. Although both books clock in around novella length they are packed with interesting world building and fun mysteries. Mossa is a detective while Pleiti is a professor who studies the classics, as in the classical way things were done on Earth and that the human’s who are now living in Space hope they may be able to return one day. Platforms built around Jupiter, a Gas Giant, as well as life on IO one of the moon’s is detailed in the story with clever details like a bunker home being referred to as a “Hobbit” style. Although a couple in their younger days, the two women, have only have become reunited after Mossa’s last case and the tentative attempts between them to develop their relationship further add another sweet element to the plot. I hope we will see more adventures starring the couple in the future.

Chilling Effect
by Valerie Valdes
Chilling Effect is the first in the three book trilogy by Valerie Valdes that revolves around a spunky Cuban Captain Eva Innocente and her rag tag crew of La Sirena Negra (the black mermaid). I haven’t read a lot of Space Opera incorporating Latin American influences and it was cool seeing how Valdes incorporated cultural details and Cuban idioms in the novel; my favorite is arroz con mango or mango with rice which Eva uses when she gets in sticky situations (they happen often enough she also uses it as her code word at one point in the story in answer to what her favorite food is). Much of the story revolves around her blood family causing dramatic situations for her found family of crew. In this story she also is being stalked by a creepy space emperor and has a slow burning romance with one of her fellow crew members whose species gives off different scents based on their emotions and thoughts, which Valdes uses to clever effect. There is a great deal of humor and heart in the novel and if you are looking for cozy Space Opera (a colony of space cats lives on board the ship) than check this one out. I look forward to also reading book two, Prime Deception, and book three, Fault Tolerance, in the series.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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