Radiant Star

Imperial Radch

by Ann Leckie

Ann Leckie returns to the world of the Imperial Radch in this standalone.

The Temporal Location of the Radiant Star has always been a source of both conflict and hope for the people of Ooioiaa. However, the imperial Radch see it only as an inconvenience, an antiquated religious site soon to be absorbed into their own, superior culture. But local politics is complicated, and the Radch have made one last concession: One last man will be allowed to join the mummified bodies in the temporal location to become a "living saint".

But this one decision will ripple out to affect every part of the city. Amidst a slowly worsening food shortage, riots, and a communication blackout from the rest of the Radch Empire, a religious savant will entertain visions of his own sainthood, a socialite will discover zer comfortable life upended, and a young man sold into servitude will find unlikely escape.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Speculative Fiction, Queer, Science Fiction Fantasy, LGBT

360 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication May 12, 2026

Reviews

[Bente]

A NEW ANN LECKIE BOOK AND IT IS SET IN THE UNIVERSE OF THE IMPERIAL RADCH????? MAY 2026 CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH

[Caroline Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ann Leckie is SO back! This is by far my favorite extended Radch-verse novel outside of the main Ancillary ___ trilogy. 4.5

An ensemble cast gives you a look into a city in crisis at the fringes of the dissolving Radchaai empire. Seemingly small-scale household dramas, political machinations, religious disputes, and urban planning are somehow are somehow all woven together in a way that somehow make a compelling story. Although the decentralized plot and larger cast of characters took a while to get going, the second half of the book made me stay up until 12:30 am to finish.

So glad I got to read this ARC and definitely recommend to others once it’s published!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d never read Ann Leckie before and I’ve always wanted to. Radiant Star is a standalone set in the same universe as her Radch series. I enjoyed the read but I suspect I would have gotten more out of it if I’d read the series first.

I loved Radiant Star and kept finding myself reading late just to race through it! The bureaucracy of colonizing a conquered planet is a constant presence throughout the book. I know this sounds impossible but it wasn’t boring!!!! I found myself crazy invested in the systems of religion & local government. I wanted every detail about the water treatment plant, the food shipped in from off world and how the military was utilized to control the local population.

Leckie is clearly highly intelligent. There’s so much to think about it could take a masters thesis to pull it all apart. It felt like it was all background to the story. The details contributed directly to understanding our characters, none of it felt unnecessary. I wish I’d read it with a book club and could spend an hour talking through it!

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am delighted to read a standalone Radch book that I unequivocally enjoyed with no caveats! I loved the initial Radch trilogy, did not care for Provenance, and really enjoyed Translation State with a couple of sizeable "buts." Outside the Radch universe, I really enjoyed Raven Tower and Leckie's short fiction collection, Lake of Souls.

This book takes place during the events of the first trilogy but on a sunless ice planet far from the Radch civil war. Leckie does an excellent job of pacing the rising tension of the book--and there's a surprising amount, given that the book isn't particularly action-heavy. Themes of the relativity of cultural norms and practices will be familiar to anyone who has read Leckie before, but this book also does some nice deep dives into the personal, and how the shifting slipperiness of the stories we tell ourselves allows us to reckon (or avoid reckoning altogether) with things we have done.

Jonr and his charge were my favorite human characters in the book--I would be so happy to read more stories about them--and Justice of Albis was a total delight.

This book has politics without wandering into the weeds or getting mired in intrigue, characters it's easy to care about but that left me wanting to know more (in a good way), and high stakes for a planet without losing sight of the personal stories that made the outcomes matter. The macro and the micro were well-balanced and the pacing was excellent. Honestly, no notes.

This is a smaller, quieter story than the Radch trilogy*--the struggles and dramas are on a smaller scale--but it is very good and I'm so glad I got to read it. Netgalley and Orbit Books provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review, and I'm too fussy about books to give any other kind.



*It couldn't very well be otherwise, being so far from the center of the action... and honestly, not every story can have a supreme ruler of a systems-spanning empire going to war with iterations of themselves.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest book in the Imperial Radch series is an intriguing, thought provoking, and, at times, cheeky stand alone entry in this long standing series. This book is set just after the original trilogy (Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword & Ancillary Mercy) in the timeline, but focuses on the politics and religions of a small, isolated world that is almost entirely cut off from the rest of the Radch universe and, therefore, the plots of all the other books in this series. Despite this fact, however, this is a book best read after you’ve enjoyed the rest of the series.

As with all Ann Leckie novels, this book follows the stories of multiple characters through a series of politically heavy events. The characters grow throughout the tale and their stories eventually weave together through the narrative, even if some characters never meet. I find Ann Leckie’s books almost impossible to describe except to say that if you like your SciFi on the thinking side, you’re sure to enjoy her complex world building and examination of unique alien and planetary premises. No two books are alike and Ann Leckie is truly a master of creating alien beings and cultures that somehow are never alienating to the reader. These are the books to read when you want to see and feel the commonality and humanness even in the other. Radiant Star is no exception and any fan of Ann Leckie or thought provoking SciFi is sure to love both this series and this newest entry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ann Leckie for an ARC of this book.

[AndaReadsTooMuch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize this was part of a larger series. As a standalone yes, but I was so very lost. I think if I’d read the series this book is attached to, I would have been fine. This is a very certain type of sci fi. The beginning grabbed my attention, however after a 30-year time hop, it was deep into political drama and lots and lots of details. It’s incredibly written, don’t get me wrong, but I think this is “a right time and right place” kind of read. Neither of which I was in. I think I want to go read the foundational series and come back to this one.

Radiant Star hits shelves May 12.

Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the eARc and opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions are my own.

[Chloe Frizzle]

The writing style is impersonal. There's many characters, and I never felt close to any of them. The narration always keeps you at a maximum distance.

It always felt like this book was expecting me to laugh at the satire of bureaucracy before me, but I didn't find it funny. I found it boring.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leckie knocked this one out of the park.

This is in her Imperial Radch universe, about a smallish but significant city/planet that becomes a Radch territory just as the Radch empire is falling apart from the events in the original Ancillary trilogy. This planet is home of the Temporal Location of the Radiant Star, a site of saints and pilgrims.

There are a couple of really interesting characters you follow in this story, and their paths wind together. Also the usual Leckie stuff with species having different genders and pronouns. Plus there is an unnamed narrator in the midst of this who is has an amusing viewpoint.

Perfect for fans of Leckie but it also might be a good entry point into her writing.

[Venneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that Leckie is coming back to the world of Imperial Radch but is willing to do one shots on the periphery. Also, ngl, I love that this novel's speaking voice is essentially similar to the narrators in a Victorian novel, except for a culture we don't know, and is willing to razz the reader a bit for not knowing "civilization". We get a fascinating comedy of manners that also overlaps with a pending Imperial annexation, and all the fascinating things that can happen when social rules are in flux, or the place where you live is in a liminal position of not knowing if it's going to be annexed or not. Incredible character and narrative voice work here, the plot's great, and I love that we get more ancillaries as characters while we're at it. Comes out in May, preorder it now.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, it is such a delight to get to read a novel from Ann Leckie. I adore the Imperial Radch world so much and every book in it is a must read.

This one’s builds so quietly and slowly, in such an obvious way that can’t be changed. It was so much fun to read. Jonr and Keemat were both such standout characters for me. I loved how their stories (and every character’s story) all connected at the end. The Justice of Albis was delightful, I love the ancillaries.

Fantastic read. It’s made me want to go back and reread all the books in this world.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

[J. L. R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series was one of the first major series in the contemporary “space opera about empire and gender” SF movement of the past decade, and while those books featured giant warships and lasers and Imperial politicking, it was clear that Leckie’s heart was more interested in the quieter moments, quirks of character and the cascade of small decisions. Since that initial trilogy, Leckie has returned to her galactic setting three times, each for standalone books focused primarily on other locations interacting with the Radch. Radiant Star is the third and latest of this endeavor, and it’s a bit of an odd one.

Radiant Star is entirely set on the planet Ooioiaa, an ossifying, isolated world whose inhabitants live beneath its frozen outer shell, ruled by three squabbling sects of a faith focused on the prophesied return of the eponymous Radiant Star, a star that supposed once warmed the planet but has since left on its interstellar journey. Near the beginning of the book, the planet is conquered by the Radch, who have little tolerance for their strange faith, chiefly targeting their tradition of turning a celebrated few into “living” saints, kept perpetually in a near-death catatonic state and sealed in a tomb to wake the return of the Star. A series of self-serving political machinations lead to a pillar of the community being selected to become a Saint - the last one tolerated by their new Radch overlords. This small concession sets into motion a chaotic series of power grabs, honest mistakes, and embarrassing overreaches that threatens to destroy Ooioiaa.

That summary might lead you to believe that this is a novel filled with dramatic betrayals, action setpieces, and melodramatic scheming, but Radiant Star doesn’t feel like that at all. The book features an anonymous narrator describing the events of this tense moment with something of a jovial, mid-century British comedic voice. It’s not like Fire and Blood, the in-universe historic text of the A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones world. But it does keep something of a remove from its characters, despite telling us their anxieties and plans.

The strongest part of the book is the carefully orchestrated series of events, each one stemming from some small decision or personal foible, each one fairly innocuous in the moment, but together, catastrophic. Leckie is fascinated with the ways societies and systems fail, the way each individual piece thinks they’re making rational, self-interested decisions while failing to see what fresh horrors await them.

But personally, there’s something lacking here. The Imperial Radch series’ contribution to the recent SF gender discussion was the empire’s lack of gender and universal use of she/her pronouns for everyone. In these subsequent standalone books, the narrative focus is on other planets and cultures, all of which have used some form of neopronouns. I’m supportive of this idea - more science fiction and fantasy should explore alternative genders and ways of being - but their use here feels perfunctory. Leckie rarely describes the physical appearances of her characters; perhaps this is to further alienate readers from assigning our gender roles to them, but combined with the liberal use of neopronouns without any meaningful cultural distinctions, they don’t signify anything at all. I’m a very visual reader, and need to have some image in my head to really connect with fiction. Without any physical or gendered markers at all to the characters, coupled with Leckie’s sparse and distant voice, it’s hard to connect emotionally with any of the characters, and with the story at large. Without going into spoilers, the way the story wraps up also feels quite anticlimactic, and left me wondering what was the point of the whole endeavor.

All that being said, Leckie is clearly one of the preeminent voices in contemporary SF right now, and the Rube Goldberg machinery of Radiant Star’s plot was always compelling, even if I was held at a remove.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Review of advance copy received from NetGalley**

3.5 stars—maybe 3.75?

After thoroughly enjoying Provenance, unfortunately I found this standalone somewhat disappointing. As excited as I was for a new Radch Empire novel (post AI-Ancillary upheaval), Radiant Star, while technically proficient, feels a bit on the wry/dry side. Perhaps the author intended a departure to explore a different tone/style? Could be that Leckie’s choice of “third person narrator” to describe events and character motivations made it feel inaccessible, and furthermore, somewhat frustratingly, their identity is never revealed (Justice of Albis?) so there’s no context provided. Thus, the story seems more like a detailed recounting, its “characters” largely unrelatable. The liberal use of unfamiliar gender pronouns adds another layer of impenetrability, complicated further by the overlay of Radchaai language (which has no other pronoun than “she” to refer to others.)

Set on the insignificant planet of Ooioiaa off the interstellar path, events center on its fractious politico-religious hierarchy and grasping factions jockeying for power. In the midst of this, the Radchaai arrive and take control of the government. Perhaps intended to illustrate the inevitable repercussions of larger events (“described elsewhere if the reader is interested” as the narrator often coyly reminds us), in this respect, the novel works as intended. A fragile détente, simply awaiting the right conditions to unravel. Cut off completely from the outside world, the tenuous supports of society and economy quickly break down. (I also spent some time wondering whether I was supposed to remember Jonr’s consoror as a significant character from the other Radch novels.) The novel has its breakthrough moments, when characters act with altruism and emotion, but largely most are unable to think beyond themselves.

Ultimately, events come to an appropriate resolution, and despite drawbacks, the novel represents a significant expansion of Leckie’s post-Radch Empire world. I just found myself wishing for something more engaging.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the main trilogy of Imperial Radch books, with Ancillary Justice being the standout, so I was excited to review Leckie’s new entry in the series.

Radiant Star is another standalone novel in the Imperial Radch series, taking place during the events of the mainline series, but on a remote and relevantly unimportant planet. The planet Ooioiaa is occupied by the Radchaai, with a provisional governor, a Justice ship and its ancillaries stationed there. The story follows the perspectives of the Rachaai, local civic leaders, influential religious leaders, and everyday citizens as communication and transportation with the Radchaai Empire breaks down.

I liked the multiple POVs, the worldbuilding of the civic bureaucracy of this planet, and the connection to the main line Imperial Radch story. The POV characters all felt like real people making real decisions in a crisis, and ranged from very unlikeable to loveable. To me, Radiant Star works as a standalone in the universe, but it suffers from a similar pacing and plot issue as Translation State, where the main conflict wraps up in record time at the very end of the book (although Radiant Star isn’t quite as egregious as in Translation State, where the main event the entire book is building to happens off screen). Overall, I found it to be an engaging read and I enjoyed Leckie’s consistently excellent world-building, but found the ending to be unsatisfying.

Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for this eARC.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing and original as usual

[Jessica Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Justice of Albis forever!

I really enjoyed this snapshot into a different part of the Radch universe. People looking for the same level of action as the original Imperial Radch trilogy may be disappointed, but I enjoyed the framing of the book as a piece of the historical puzzle of this world.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

So happy to get an early copy of this book! I am a bookfluencer now.
When justice of albis started showing its personality i remembered why I love Ann leckie. It’s weird to love so many book AI but hate the sycophant robots of the real world.

[Saif Shaikh | Distorted Visions · Rating 3 out of 5]

Advanced Review Copy provided in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley.

Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The review aims to be as Spoiler-free as possible.

Ann Leckie’s sprawling space opera juggernaut Imperial Radch continues with another standalone story, Radiant Star. A winding tale of religious fanaticism, opportunism, and the perils of faith set against the backdrop of a divided Imperium.

Like everyone else, I was a massive fan of Leckie’s original Imperial Radch trilogy. A sprawling space opera of interstellar hegemony, with stinging commentary on cultural invasion, artificial intelligence, and the iron hand of imperium. A few years later, I was glad to hear that the author was continuing to write standalone novels set in the world of the original trilogy, telling smaller scale stories tied into the main themes of the trilogy. I mostly enjoyed Translation State but missed the grand scale of the Ancillary trilogy. Radiant Star follows in the same vein, telling an original story set during the crucial events in the mainline trilogy, albeit to explore its far-reaching effects at the very edge of the Radch.

As the title suggests, this standalone revolves around the titular Radiant Star, a religious icon on the underground city-planet of Ooioiaa, a tiny spec at the edge of everything important. The residents of this city, subject to their own religious fervor, and politicking that goes along with it, continue to wrestle for power; both metaphysical and mundanely capitalistic. When the Radchaai inevitably arrives and adds the planet to the Radch empire, the governor realizes this will not be a regular assignment. The governor has to deal with balancing the cultural status quo among the native people while still maintaining the imperial hold of the Radch, all while interceding with local power struggles, among the various religious sects and business interests.

We are introduced to several POV characters in Radiant Star setting up the board in Oiioiaa, a newly elected religious heirach, a fanatical oligarch determined to enter sainthood leaving his estate in a tumultuous inheritance power struggle, a religious zealot with his own internal (and external conflict) of faith, and a lonely boy, cast aside from society and fate, merely finding a way to exist in this strange place.

I have always deemed the Imperial Radch series as a grimmer and darker version of Iain M. Bank’s Culture universe. While the Culture is a post-scarity utopian empire, the Radch is your standard fare of wartime dystopia. However, many themes of cultural diversity across various social issues are usually the focus of these books, and Radiant Star is no different. Leckie continues to spearhead her efforts of inclusivity as a central tenet of her books, giving our present world its own star to follow in these matters. Her strict adherence to using various genders and representation, down to a range of pronouns and identities as a commonplace aspect of both her narrative and narration makes these aspects feel normal, a clear indicator of a more broadly liberated society.

Unfortunately, the story of Radiant Star is a largely predictable one, and explores themes not entirely unkown to fans of these kinds of far-future stories. An exploration of the cultural clash between an advanced technological society like the Radch and smaller culturally rooted societies is a notable trope in the genre, though Leckie does a good job to bring out the human nuance through various character motivations, altruistic, nefarious, opportunistic, and plain old survivalistic. There are nods to the greater Imperial Radch series, as this novel is set during the events of the mainline trilogy, and keen readers will spot the references easily.

Overall, like Translation State, I mostly enjoyed my time with Radiant Star, and I hope Ann Leckie continues to tell more stories in this universe, making the Imperial Radch series as sprawling as the empire itself.

Read this review and more on my Medium page: Distorted Visions

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[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advance copy of this science fiction novel about a planet, its people and their beliefs, and how a simple matter of a person wanting to be more than just a business leader and more of a holy person, opens up a whole can of worms for many including members of a vast interstellar empire who are occupying the planet.

My love of science fiction came from television and movies, and maybe comics. Star Wars and Star Trek were big things for me. The movie blew my mind, the show kept me entertained. I remember reading the novelization of Star Wars, bought at my Scholastic book fair, and reading the Star Trek Logbooks, story form versions of the television show, found at a book sale at about the same time. The showy Star Wars gave me a love for aliens, battles, and well more battles. I liked Star Trek for the battles, but the deeper storylines escaped me. As I got older these two space battles, and better tomorrows began to merge, as the ideas of science fiction, the worlds being created, the futures being formed and of course the people began to mean more to me. Ideas that this author use to create such amazing stories, stories that while exciting and interesting, make one think and wonder. Radiant Star by Ann Leckie is a stand alone novel set in the Imperial Radch series, about a planet occupied by the Radch, going through a series of upheavals, both culturally and spiritually, all while the Empire that occupies them, begins to break-down in many different ways.

Ooioiaa is a city, the largest and only city, on an impossible world. A world without a sun, one covered in ice and ground, deep inside the planet. The people don't know why the colony even exists, being so hard to get to, and to set up. This means that space is at a premium, and that those who build can make vast amounts of money. In this city are a variety of people. One wealthy woman grew bored of life in Ooioiaa and left for a time traveling the universe and returning not only with a lot of wealth but pregnant with a child. This child did not know that it was different, but felt it in the way that it was treated. When the child came of age, it was told that it was promised to be a servant on a far distant world. This did not sit well, so the child took off into the vast tunnels under the city. As this was happening, a rich man decided that death was too much, and that sainthood in The Temporal Location of the Radiant Star would be quite nice, a decision that not only effected his son, but cause dissent in a world already short of room and resources. All this while the Radch occupiers find themselves out of communication with their vast empire, and alone on a frozen world, that seems to be getting very hot with tribulations.

A big sprawling book, loaded with ideas, not only science, but cultural, spiritual and geological. Leckie has created a small world, with a lot of problems, and made it even worse with the appearance of Radch. This book takes place during Leckie Ancillary series, something the characters have no idea is going on. The writing is of course very good, with lots of well-developed characters. The ideas are really the best part, the idea of the religion, the way servants are chosen, and even little things that add not only realism, but make the reader want to know more. As with most Leckie books one has to find the mindset to get into the books, so familiarity helps. However it is not necessary to have read any previous books, though it helps, and why deny oneself some very good stories.

The book moves well, and once the characters and setting are set into play, the narrative flow carries the reader along. For a big book, one has a hard time putting it down. I continue to be amazed at the ideas that Leckie comes up with, and make so real. Another book for fans, and though it might take a few pages, a good one for new readers.

[Emma Cathryne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ann Leckie's extended Radch universe gains another expansion with this latest addition to her literary universe. While nothing will ever eclipse the brilliance and magic of the original trilogy, this probably hits an even tie with Translation State for my favorite of the Radchverse standalones. In both of her prior Radch installments, Leckie opted to focus on the culture and politics of alien races--the Geck/Rrrr and the Presgr, respectively.

Meanwhile, Radiant Star centers a very human story rife with very human drama: caustic interpersonal relationships, religious turmoil, and political unrest. Of the three original Radch novels, this is probably most similar in tone and content to Ancillary Sword. Like Sword, Radiant Star is smaller and more self-contained than Leckie's other work, in this case zeroing in a group of social, religious, and political elite living in small but isolated city. Like Sword, Star is also masterful exercise in the braided narrative, gradually seeding various conflicts and points of tension that untimely converge in a bombastic and satisfying third act. In fact, much of the initial story is incredibly domestic, reminding me more of 19th century novel of manners than a space opera. Despite the introduction of the Raddchai--an occupying military force--and the inclusion of weighty commentary about the complex nature of religion (as a method of control, succor, identity, and/or corruption, depending on how you look at it), the story never really loses this Austinien edge. A large part of this is the narrative POV, a third-person omniscient voice telling the story in the style of a society columnist (space opera's Lady Whistledown, if you will).

The only thing holding me back from a 5-star rating is some minor frustration with how the central plot resolves. The denouement & subsequent falling action of the novel seem to implicate human fallibility and the imperfection of all those involved as the driving forces behind the cascading series of events that occur in the city. I wish Leckie had done a better job of learning into the ground truth that characterizes her original trilogy - that the imperial ambitions of the Radch are ultimately to blame for the chaos and confusion that befalls the characters. The Radchaai colonizers are depicted as the calm, civilized narrative foil to the confusing, frustrating, and often self-serving actions of the native Ooians. I don't doubt that this was intentional on Leckie's part, and meant to to balance against the unspoken notion that their influence - no matter how "helpful" or "civilizing" - was ultimately to blame for the unraveling of the systems and cultural touchstones maintained by the native people for generations. Leckie subtly references this idea in regards to the Radchaai distaste for Ooian religious practice. Despite the Radchaii- and possibly the reader's--revulsion towards the Ooian practice of religious self-sacrifice (e.g. suicide), the book poses an interesting moral question: What grounds do a colonizing occupation force have to determine what is "just" or "moral" behavior, especially for people they intended to subjugate and ultimately assimilate?

These themes are excellent and reflect exactly the anti-colonial praxis I'm always hoping to find in Leckie's novels. Still, Radiant Star's discussion of them was surprisingly indirect, often left as under-text rather than explicitly reflected by the plot or engaged with by the characters. Ultimately, I think Leckie's devotion to curating a specific narrative voice was at odds with the power and poignancy of the themes she was aiming to convey. While this doesn't neutralize them, it does perhaps make their impact less profound.

[KP · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things I respect the most about Leckie's work is how she focuses very closely on very specific groups of people who may be impacted by the larger events of the world around them, but aren't the people necessarily directly involved in those events. She deftly explores how these larger forces can shape the very local, very personal events that people experience. This is another such book, where the impacts of the events from the Imperial Radch trilogy are very much driving some of the conflict - but are by no means the focus of the book itself, or even most of the protagonists. It makes the world she's created feel very real.

Looking at several individuals in a particular city on a planet, this book explores how an occupying force end up interacting with a major religion, leading to a religious crisis that spins further out of control by a burgeoning famine. There are several characters that we end up spending time with, each of whom ends up representing a different faction - different religious factions, different social and political factions, different areas of the society. They're all well drawn and interesting, and while I can't say I necessarily was rooting for a majority of them, I still found them fascinating and there wasn't a chapter where I was disappointed to be back with a particular character again.

Another thing that I really appreciate about this book is that it does a phenomenal job of showing how, when watching things happen from a more omnipotent view (or, in a real life case, in retrospect with all the facts before you), it is very easy to judge people for contributing to a situation that is snowballing out of control. But then when you follow individuals closely, as we did in this book, you realize how they don't have all the facts that they need to make better decisions that would stop a crisis from unfolding. The characters aren't TRYING to make things worse - they just don't have all the relevant information. This puts the reader in a really unique place of feeling the growing tension of a disaster unfolding, while the characters remain ignorant and unaware. It was very well-done.

However, these strengths in some ways contributed to the book's weaknesses as well. It's very slow moving, and it doesn't feel like a lot is happening for a good fifty percent of the book. The narrative is getting everything in place, to build the background of the upcoming disaster, but it can get a bit sloggy in places. I also, upon finishing the book, sat there for a while going "okay, and the point of this was?" And of course I think the point is to show how disasters can be entirely predictable but not by the people enmeshed in it, but it took me a bit to get there because it didn't feel like a lot really happened in the book. Which is untrue - a LOT happened - but I never felt fully connected or drawn into it. Part of that is probably due to the narrative style. There is an omniscient narrator, and they talk "to" you, with little asides and jokes and explanations, and it's very enjoyable to read - but it also keeps you at a remove from the characters, so I felt less emotional connection to them, and therefore felt less drawn into the story itself.

Nonetheless, a very enjoyable book and I'm grateful that we continue to get bits and pieces of the Imperial Radch universe. I will always happily pick these up and return to the worlds that Leckie creates.

My thanks to NetGalley for an eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Anyway I just wanted to thank you, and to say goodbye." Sie found, then, that sie had nothing else to say, even though a few minutes ago sie had been filled with the need to say so very much more.

That's kind of where I'm at after reading Radiant Star. But here are a few bullet points, mostly for myself so I don't end up frustrated to come back to this review and find next to nothing there.

Beyond the ***, there are likely to be some spoilers regarding plot points or themes. Tread with caution.

***

- This is my favorite of Leckie's since Ancillary Justice. There are some reasons for that that I'd rather not get into here, but what I can say is that voice, theme, and plots all came together better for me than her other novels that I've read since AJ.

- I really enjoyed the narrative voice, a 19th-century-like omniscient that has a wry distance from the proceedings (no matter how awful), and a wry sense of humor, but also has a clear view of the inner feelings of all the characters, down to the ways in which they're deceiving themselves.

- This feels like a post-COVID novel, but there are events here that make it also feel more universal than that. The ways that society and ecology have their strengths, perhaps, but also have flaws that under specific pressures can make them crumble into chaos, famine, and extinction. Speaking of the sense of humor, occasionally there's an absurdity where you'd least expect it, that caused me to bark in laughter despite what was going on.

- Often I think that SFF doesn't approach religion with enough depth and/or nuance to convince me, but I had no issues with it here. I especially liked the visions some of the characters had, and how the reader can decide for themselves whether to view them with trust or skepticism.

- Radiant Star, like all the Radchaai novels I've read so far (Translation State is still pending), has an approach to gender that was initially confusing to this cishet person, but eventually flowed naturally as I grew more immersed in the story.

- A minor complaint is one I've had with some of Leckie's other novels: a sort of "I'm right and I've seen all of your objections before you voice them" cadence that crops up occasionally. It's associated with the narrator here, but I can't help but think....

- I didn't like many of the characters to begin with, aside from the beleaguered Jonr who starts off our story. But quite a few of them came into their own as the aforementioned pressures come to bear on them, and the fractures in their relationships with each other also come under stress. Justice of Albis and its collection of Ooioiaan things, Keemat the would-be saint, Shtel and hir consort Iono. Jonr's consoror, whose actual name I think was mentioned maybe once and which I forgot.

- I figured out what the chapter titles were about just before it was revealed in the book. Fun.

- Nothing to do with the story: I hate the current versions of this series' covers. I'm sure they took more than five minutes to design, but they don't look it. Awful.

[Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an odd thing to suggest that a book that has as many things happen in it as Radiant Star does isn't plot driven, but more than anything this novel felt like a portrait of a city and a religion and an exploration of some of the themes that have defined the Imperial Radch books. Through a handful of interleaved perspectives, Leckie paints a nuanced picture of how personal ambition intersects with faith and family and how people deal with it when those things are at loggerheads. All of this dances around a fabulous setting that has been built with the sort of care characteristic of Leckie's work.

Ann Leckie's books are really good at showing characters that are limited in their ability to act for internal reasons. I really appreciate that the flaws and limitations characters have are fundamentally believable, and this has always made those characters feel really three-dimensional and fleshed out. Radiant Star stands apart from Leckie's other novels in the way that those character limitations are described: the narration here is arch and wry, offering details of characters' psyches and frank assessments of their limitations, and not infrequently addressing them directly to the reader. It's an omniscient third person narration that seems like it has been written hundreds of years after the events of the book, which makes for a very different voice to the first person narration of the original Imperial Radch trilogy or the first- and limited-third-person narration of the other sequels in the series. While I really like it, I also tend to prefer when I know who the narrator is, either because they're a character or because we eventually find out, and I missed that here.

I've also always appreciated the way Leckie portrays different relations to religion, from pragmatism to genuine devotion, without judgement or sense that one is inherently superior. It's an interesting and humane view, and the matter-of-fact tone that describes both divine visions and internal politics gives space for the characters to be worldly, self-motivated individuals while also being genuine devoted worshipers. The Radch Empire and it's agents are also given that treatment, and I was reminded of the recent A Drop of Corruption in the way the book talked about empires and how the political structures they replace aren't necessarily worth valorising.

The Imperial Radch books continue to be a heck of a lot of fun, and I continue to hope that the exploration of the aftermath of the original trilogy means that someday we'll get another entry returning to those characters. Wherever Ann Leckie takes me, I will go.

[Kate Kulig · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delight from Ann Leckie with some great humorous aspects, but still many themes to think about.

Aaa is a backwater planet with no sunlight to speak of, and despite what seems to be a permanent ice age, they have managed a fascinating civilization under the ground, with most of the book's action taking place in the city of Ooioiaa. It's a complex society and functions almost as a character.

The story opens with a person flouting convention, though the consequences aren't felt for a while as the culmination of that particular plan wasn't to happen for eighteen years. Meanwhile, The Imperial Radch arrived. You don't need to read the original Imperial Radch triology, but the background is helpfull

The ensemble cast includes a Radch governor, who borders on the trope of wanting to "civilize" the locals, but Leckie masterfully weaves the story so I ended up wanting them to succeed in some areas.

One area of this is religion. A strategy common to colonizers is to leave the local religions alone, at first. Then slowly show where there are parallels with the invaders' and start slowly taking over. The governor, however isn't good at the long game. To be fair, the Radch was suddenly out of reach and there were many problems to solve like people starting to starve.

The religious aspects of Ooioiaa are those you might find anywhere in any galaxy. Divisive sects compete with each other, even getting to fisticuffs at a couple of points. Any religion needs money to support itself and Leckie gives the reader insight to two members who may be strong in their faith, but have their own ambitions. A key plot point is a high-ranking member of society wanting to be enshrined as a living saint and the ripple effects this has throughout the church and the city.

Other POV characters include a young man (Jonr) who was born for a particular purpose, but because of the Radch's arrival, his life gets turned upside, but he gets a fresh start, sort of, improvising a life he never would have had otherwise.

Two other characters, a spoiled son of the impending saint and his long-suffering wife have their own set of social and familial machinations in and around power and money. They are a shining example of how people are people everywhere. There is less character development with these two (one could argue there was none at all with the husband).

The writing style pokes fun at everything with some snarky asides, which gave me several laughs even as my heart ached for Jonr and I wanted to throttle more than one other character. Still, I was left thinking about the impact of imperialism, the business of religion, strict stratification of classes, and social destiny vs individual ambitious. It was a delight to read and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the opportunity to review this ARC.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the jump, let it be known that the original Imperial Radch trilogy are among my favorite books of all time. Getting an approval to read the ARC of an all time favorite author is beyond one of the biggest privileges I've ever experienced, and I quite earnestly shouted when I received the notification of it waiting on my shelf.

One of Leckie's major strengths in her storytelling is the narrative voice given for each new one. While this novel may be set in the Radch universe, you can read it entirely on its own without previous knowledge of her other books (although I highly recommend reading them all the same.) The setting is the same, but the voice is one all on its own, Leckie shaping the prose around the experience of learning about the long off rogue planet of Aaa, its people, and its structures. Ever present, no matter the story, is a dry humor that by no means removes the impact of the stories and connections, but definitely helps the reader remain engaged and experiencing a wide array of emotions. In Radiant Star, Leckie employes the use of a narrator who likes to make various asides directly to the reader, making you feel as if you are being given a lecture at an educational institute or even told the dramatic story over a shared meal. (These asides often had me quite literally laughing out loud, my particular favorite line being a simple "Reader, have you ever been eighteen?" as a way to explain the logic of a particular character.)

Like most of her novels, this one features a large cast of characters, a consistent rotation of viewpoints laying out the outlines that slowly fill themselves in for a bigger picture. Some of my favorite books are about unbearable people, which the vast majority of said characters are; motivations are realistic, selfish, and perpetually groan worthy. Also ever present is one of my favorite things about Leckie: the way she plays around with the concepts of society and gender. It is not on the nose or preached on, but simply is, and I adore the privilege of experiencing the creations of this author.

This is a story of feuding religious sects, political intrigue, class injustices, the effects of empire, bureaucracy, and a question of what makes a person a person. I cannot recommend it enough, and I would say the best way to jump in is with as little information as possible. Don't worry, Leckie gives you the story in rich strokes and thorough worldbuilding, you will never find yourself lost, confused, or without the proper information to experience the story. Let it be known that it is a slower paced book, especially in the front half, but the careful laying of dominos is so worth the payoff.

I want to thank the publisher and Netgalley for the opoortunity to review in exchange of an ARC!

[nikki]

I was given a copy of Radiant Star in exchange for my honest review through NetGalley.

Set in the same universe as Leckie’s award-winning Imperial Radch series, Radiant Star leaves the imperial core for a more distant planet, cut off from Radch space, and the events that unfold there in the same time period. While it is quite different from Ancillary Justice and its sequels, it still showcases Leckie’s excellent prose, fantastic sense of both human understanding and alien society, while examining themes both familiar and new.

I am particular about the writing in books, so much so that it trumps plot in my estimation of the quality of a book. I have enjoyed all of the other entries in the Imperial Radch space opera universe, but Radiant Star has a specific quality in its writing that sets it apart from the rest. I won’t say it is better, because I do think that it is necessary to view it in relation to Ancillary Justice et al, but there is something special about the writing in this one. The book follows many characters as the story unfolds, as told by an admittedly non-omniscient narrator, but a narrator who knows much, and who often interjects with bits of history, opinions, and to address the reader directly. While I understand why more books are not written this way, it was extremely enjoyable and I do hope to see more of it. It makes the experience of reading like talking with a friend, and when the story is delightful as well? Well, it’s magnificent. That alone would give this book five stars.

On the remote and icy planet of Ooiaiaa, the people live underground, are prone to visions, and have been recently annexed by the Radch. They bristle against the new imperial forces in their singular city. The rule of the Radch clashes with the existing culture of Ooiaiaa, in ways of gender, religion, and most unfortunately, food. As the planet becomes cut off from the rest of Radch space, communication stops and starvation looms. Despite the grimness it contains, the book manages to be lighthearted and sincere, perhaps because of this loving narrator, checking in on the reader.

As always, Leckie manages to have something to say about the construction of gender in her books with the Radch. The commentary is not as present as it is in some earlier installments, but Radiant Star has the widest variety of pronouns in a novel that I have seen— which in itself, is a comment, isn’t it?

Overall, it is a fantastic read for fans of new and unique space operas. I believe Ann Leckie follows in the tradition of LeGuin’s Hainish Cycle, and it is always a delight to see where she will next take us.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I was so excited to hear that Ann Leckie was returning to the world of Imperial Radch, and this novel did not disappoint at all. We still have our Radchaai, with their obsession with tea and conquering with their ancillaries to bring civilization to far-flung planets, but this time, we get to see some of the consequences of the Radch Civil War play out in the microsm of the frozen planet of Aaaa. Here, Leckie shines as usual by outlining out the minutia of all the internal politics at play with the religion, family ties, shared cultural norms, and personalities of the power players of the city. Centering it all though, is the humanity and paradoxes of all the characters.

I loved first POV character we are introduced to, Jonr. He's 18 and very much lost, understandably so, and trying to find his place in a city that is coming under increasing strain with the space gates closing. He finds solace and kinship taking care of the Radch governor's cousin, and my heart was extremely warmed by the way these two broken people managed to both save and care for each other. My favorite though, is always going to be yet another ship, this time one Justice of Albis who likes to pilfer things for its eclectic collections. And my absolutely favorite moment from this book is when Justice of Albis laughs and reveals what Breq has done in the previous books to declare that while it is helping the governor, it will never take orders again

The plot itself is complex, with many characters driving it and coming into conflict with one another, but Leckie's writing shines here, because she gets into the heads of even the most despicable of characters, and makes you at least nod in realizing that this sort of person exists everywhere. The characters all carry paradoxical impulses that they themselves cannot decipher, none more than Keemat, who desires both fame and hermitage, and ultimately delivers on both. I loved all the little details of the religion of the Radiant Star and all its various schools of thoughts and clans and how they fight so hard against each other and how the Radchaai ultimately use it to calm the inflamed situation of the famine. It's an alien world, but you'll feel right at home at the end.

Yet another amazing read from Ann Leckie, and a fine addition to the Imperial Radch series!

[Pujashree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen, I'm a mere mortal in sci-fi-verse, and when Ann Leckie drops a book, especially in her Raadch universe, I go "Yes thank you ma'am". The Ancillary series was groundbreaking in so many ways, and one I go back to frequently when introspecting on empire, identity, personhood, gender, and language. Leckie's narrative style is so deeply profound yet not pretentious, and always a shot in the arm in considering human experiences and civilization in deeply visceral yet compassionate ways. This book takes place on the fringes of the world and time period of the original series. The far-flung rogue ice planet of Aaa and the city of Ooioia are as intentionally written as every detail of the Raadch empire, down to the very inscrutable Flora and fauna of the odd planet plays a significant role in the events of this story. Unlike the original series, this has a seemingly dizzying number of POVs and it could have easily been a scattered narrative, but in Leckie's seasoned hands, they all serve to tell a very specific story: what happens to fringe colonies of an empire as the empire itself crumbles from within. The Ooioia society is a deeply religious one with a very rigid structure of power around the various interpretations of the faith about the Radiant Star, the mythical one that the planet once revolved around and the devotees believe will return one day. The different sects do NOT get along, have priests and priestesses that get visions from the Radiant Star, and the occupying Raadchai government is having a heck of a time controlling the city by leveraging all hostile factions. Throw in a Raadchai civil war induced supply chain issue and famine, politicking around inheritance wars amongst the infrastructure family empire, and all the small folk who are just trying to do good and survive, including the ancillaries of the Raadchai ship occupying the planet, and you have a moving tale of a city state that is simultaneously too insignificant for an empire's notice and fiercely resilient in the face of invasion, starvation and revolution.
Leckie's narrative voice is so engrossing and gentle in guiding your attention to all the important details of an elaborate chess game of events and a thrilling ride through a time and place that is both fascinating and familiar. May she forever be up to good genderfuckery and anti-colonial trouble!

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for the ebook ARC.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really loved the original Imperial Radch trilogy as well as the sequel so I was thrilled to see this coming out this year! This one is billed as a standalone that can be read without having read the original trilogy, so let's start with "Is that true?" Yes. I do think you can go into this without having read the rest of the trilogy. The physical scope of the story is quite small, and the setting, plot, and characters are entirely separate from anything that we encountered in the other books. The worldbuilding is a bit "figure it out as you go," but I think most of Leckie's worldbuilding tends to be in that vein, coming together as it goes along, and Radiant Star in particular does have a rather voice-y narrator (who is not a character that takes part in the plot) that fills in some blanks as well. References to the original trilogy are made throughout but in a very "if this interests you, you can read more, but it's not required" sort of way.

I do think the pacing was a BIT slow to start. There's quite a bit of setup before things really get going. This is a very political story, so if you want something with a lot of action, this is not the book for you. But complicated factions, scheming individuals, and a new ship AI who likes to hoard things end up being a great deal of fun. And if you HAVE read the other Imperial Radch books, I think this is an interesting look at how the Radch actually took over and governed other worlds, which we never actually really dealt with in the original trilogy.

I DO think that this is a book that undershoots the horrors of famine and starvation. There are a few passing references, but the politics are really the focus. A Mouthful of Dust was an incredible novella from last year that really nailed the FEEL of a famine and I would direct readers there if you're looking for a famine story. But if the famine works as basic background to political scheming, I guess this one does it fine.

Overall I enjoyed this a lot. A bit slow to start--slow enough that I did almost bounce off it--but I think once the setup and characters are well-enough established it goes on very well, and I liked seeing this completely different aspect of the Imperial Radch world.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

3rd person but narrator occasionally addresses the readers/multiple made-up pronouns/no or little swearing

Ann Leckie's newest book in the Radch series is a bit of a departure from her previous books in that most of the POV characters are not Radch people and none of them are ancillaries. The writing style seemed to have a sort of quirky charm about it, sometimes it seems to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. I mean the name of the planet where all the action takes place is Aaa. Yes that's it, just "Aaa". And the name of the city on that planet is Ooioiaa. I mean, are we expected to take this seriously? How do you even pronounce those words?! And occasionally the reader is addressed by the narrator, breaking down the fourth wall. At those times it really feels like you're sitting around the fireplace listening to someone tell you a fantastical story.

At the start of the book the Radch are no where in sight. Later the Radch invade and take over the governing of the planet, leaving the native religions to themselves...for now at least. The religion on Aaa revolves around the Radiant Star and the "Temporal Location" of it that the people believe to be on their planet. You see, their planet does not revolve around a sun like ours does but instead is a rogue planet traveling on it's own course. Why the people believe that the location of their star is on their planet is beyond me. There are two factions, actually three but there are two that butt heads about certain theological issues.

Now. On to characters. The first character we meet is a member of the third religious faction, actually more of a clan. All the children are boys and all the adults women (I guess they have a way to change their gender because some of the boys are chosen to join the group and become women). One woman is, well let's say a wild child, a free spirit who does whatever she wants. She leaves the planet like the prodigal son, going off to have a good time, and comes back pregnant, which is something that is not done in that group. She has a plan. After she gives birth and the boy is raised he will be sent to another planet to someone who made a contract with the mother to pay for the boy. Yeah, she's definitely not mother-of-the-year. That boy becomes one of the POV characters and important to the story.

Another POV character is in one of the religions and is very pious. He wants to become a saint, which are not likes the saints we have but interred while they are still barely alive into the temporal space of the Radiant Star to meditate and pray. But he is too young to qualify yet. There's another religious POV character who mostly bickers with someone from the rival religious order.

The Radch governor is another POV character.

There are at least two characters who have made-up pronouns (sie, per, and others). I found it difficult to read when those characters were referred to because I had to stop and try to parse what a sie is and it became annoying. So +1 to Leckie for being on the right side of history but -1 for the effect that has on the reader. I mean, what exactly is a sie or a per? I know what she and he are but a per? And how does one know when talking about someone that they are a sie instead of a she or a per instead of a he? I had trouble reading those sections because I could not imagine the person they were talking about. Now maybe that's just my limitation and other readers will have no problem reading about sie and per.

When I was reading along I thought this would end up being a 4 star book, especially because of the pronouns, but by the end it was wow, this book is good and so I changed my mind and despite my pronoun troubles I rate it a 5.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have read all of Ann Leckie's novels so far and was very excited to be approved to read her newest work.

Like most of Leckie's work, this story focuses more on the politics of how various diverse cultures interact when they are all sharing a planet together. The story begins with the Radch Empire taking over a backwater (from the Radch's standpoint) planet and dealing with the social, political and religious fallout that ensues. It's a bloodless takeover - the planet cannot possibly defend itself from occupation and doesn't try. The many religions of the planet vie for power and importance in the upheaval, and the story follows major players in different sects, as a well as ordinary locals and Radch caught up in the situation.

As time passes and those who had read Leckie's other books are aware, the Radch Civil War breaks out. Though the actual fighting is far away from the planet, the repercussions and supply chain problems ripple out to affect even this remote planet as well, and the story morphs into one of people trying to avert supply and food shortages in creative ways.

If all this seems boring - it's not. Leckie is fascinatingly good at delving into cultural complexity and moral conflicts. There are so many gray areas for the characters to deal with, and if you are someone who likes reading about alien cultural and social politics this book is absolutely for you. I am one of those people. It did move a bit slow in places compared to some of her other works, but is still an excellent read. However, if you haven't read her other Radch books, I'm not sure this is the best place to start. Knowing the extent of the Civil War would probably be helpful for context, though I think you definitely could read this as a standalone without confusion. I just think you'll get more out of it if you've read the Ancillary Trilogy beforehand.

At any rate, I haven't changed my opinion that I'll read anything Leckie wants to write because it's all good, and this is no exception. Recommended for anyone who likes socio-political Sci-Fi.