I was originally going to rage, but I wrote this review a couple of times to ensure that it came out level-headed and objective.

Okay, so everybody is a she, that’s cool and refreshing… not.

I don’t even know how I managed to finish this without tearing at my hair in frustration. Talks of a bearded she was what got to me first: I had to stop right there and discover that I’ve been reading this the wrong way from the start, that that I had to make special consideration while reading this book. Then the characters got mixed up and I had to start over. Only this time, paying special attention to details as to whom belongs to what gender, and for the love of god I didn’t succeed. I just gave up and read it as a ‘she’ every time a new name came up.

I still don’t know what Lieutenant Awn’s true gender is. Spoilers below.

This book was painful to read. The fact that this won multiple awards — read: Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction, Locus and Arthur C. Clarke Awards — is just puzzling and misleading. This wins my award for confusing.

The plot is cool, but the lack of any kind of science, what so ever, was a bit of a put off. I normally like my science fiction to have some science in it, even if pseudo-science. This leads to me having seen no faulty logic to rage at for once.

The flashbacks only add to the confusion, but you have two sub-plots, and both are somewhat interesting.

The imperial house system had a George R.R. Martin feel to it, but only to a certain extent, it was… different. You have many warring houses, competing and consuming each other. Some minor, and some major. People wear insignia to signify their heritage and whom is 1-upping who. You have a junkie character who is displaced out of time due to a freak accident, and an emperor/freak who consists of a set of linked clones and suffers from true dissociative personality disorder, and is plotting against herself.

The concept of religion in the book is interesting as well. An all-encompassing religion that assimilates other gods just as easily you consume doughnuts is an interesting concept. A language that doesn’t differentiate based on gender is another matter, as I was forced to find out.

I also found the character of Anaander Mianaais to be both complex and interesting. A person trying to assassinate their alter egos is always interesting in a way, and a character both fallible and immortal makes for an entertaining story.

I won’t say “I can’t wait for the sequel,” but I will say that I’m looking forward to reading it. I want to see where this goes.

Bring lots of aspirin if you decide to read this.

Title: Ancillary Justice
Series: Imperial Radch
Author: Ann Leckie
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: October 1, 2013
Pages: 416

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance. Buy at Amazon