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bulwark's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Racism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I continue to be impressed with the worldbuilding in this series. This explains thing things about the Presger Translators which are completely consistent with events in previous books, making it clear that much of the underlying situation had been thought out well in advance. I love it when an author clearly has already figured out their world at a level of detail that I usually don’t have to worry about as a reader. The internal consistency is so nice.
Enae was eir grandmaman's caretaker, but grandmaman is dead, and Enae is sent to find a Presger Translator who has been missing for 200 years. No one expects e to find them, but e wants to do a good job anyway.
Qven is meant to mate and become a Preger Translator; all of their development has been aimed at this goal. An incident leaves them altered in a way that the adults do not find acceptable, and their life is in jeopardy. If they cannot be useful, then they will never mate and they will die. One of the translators hopes to salvage the situation by making Qven merge with a newly discovered juvenile who grew up among humans.
Reet is adopted, just like his many siblings, but he’s always seemed odd to other people. His thoughts are filled with entrails and viscera, he desires to pull and tear to see the gorey insides of those around him. As part of some attempt at belonging, Reet ends up assigned to escort Enae around when they visit following the centuries old trail of the missing translator.
I like the three main characters, they comprise a great trio of perspectives. Even though their initial proximity is forced, I like the way Qven and Reet interact. They fit well with each other, and I hope to get more of them in future books.
While not a direct sequel, this provides a lot of information about the Presger Translators, details which explain several things from the previous books. The main storyline is entirely new, introducing and resolving the assorted troubles of the three main characters. There are various background details in this book, and the previous ones which will likely require several more stories to fully resolve, so I would be very surprised if this is intended to be the final book. Someone could quite easily start here and have a very satisfying reading experience: the kinds of things which are explained in detail are no better or worse of an entry point to the series, other than that they canonically happened after the previous four books. I can’t think of anything important that was explained enough detail to feel like a spoiler for someone who begins here and then later goes back for the other books.
Things I love, in no particular order: Qven's descriptions of growing up; the way the Presger Translators seem to have conflated being human with being Radchai – particularly the way that understanding shapes which humans ceremonies they practice.
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Racism, Grief, Xenophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Gore, and Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, War, Sexual assault, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
eleanora's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Body horror, Xenophobia, and Murder
Minor: Death and Police brutality
scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Bullying, Medical content, Grief, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, and Death
Minor: Colonisation and Classism
keya_caivalur's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Blood, Confinement, Deportation, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Body horror, Death, Dysphoria, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Classism, Gaslighting, Rape, and Abandonment
Minor: Trafficking, Transphobia, and War
evrunira's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Body horror, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault
bkwrm1317's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Another installment in the Radch universe that has kept SF fans happy for the last number of years, Translation State brings the reader together with three seemingly incredibly disparate characters: Enae, Qven, and Reet.
Qven, sweet but complicated and mildly terrifying Qven, created to become a Presger Translator, and whose future is forever changed by the behavior of one of their peers from another clade.
Reet, adopted by loving parents, and without direction in life nor knowledge of where they come from gets some answers they were seeking, but he's unsure he likes the answers.
And Enae, thrust into the world of diplomacy after the death of hir grandmaman, and on the hunt for a fugitive who disappeared two centuries previous.
Across the stars, and the course of this novel, the reader becomes enmeshed in their lives, and gets to see how and why they intersect. Some of our previous friends show up as well, in the form of other species and people with their own interests in the future of the Treaty as a Conclave approaches. This novel asks us what is family? How do we determine and define where we belong? Are we our genes or are we something greater if we choose? How do we fight back against those who would push us towards decisions that serve only themselves, and not us?
As usual, Leckie had me turning pages late into the night, through the afternoon, and devouring another Imperial Radch universe novel in this gripping and delightful standalone.
CWs in no particular order but from most to least severe: gore, colonization, emotional manipulation/abuse, death, dismemberment, cannibalism, blood.
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Blood and Cannibalism
caryndi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
On the one hand, there was rather more vivisection than I was expecting. On the other, I'm more likely to not care about romance subplots than to get into them, but Leckie wrote one I came to adore. And, like any book in this universe, it was fun to see the mentions of characters we'd come to know and love in previous installments, even if they were only side players to the main plot.
If you're a fan of Ann Leckie's existing work in the Imperial Radch extended universe, definitely read this book. If you're not familiar, I think Provenance is still my recommended starting point for the universe.
Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Gore, Confinement, Cannibalism, and Blood
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Kidnapping
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Blood, Bullying, and Rape
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Death, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Xenophobia, Cursing, Body horror, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Sexual content and Child death
milliemudd's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Cannibalism, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence