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zgreyz's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Sexual assault
Moderate: Cannibalism
sadpear's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Leckie is my favorite contemporary SF author for writing about the alien experience and providing a more interesting far future embracing the complexity of life and personhood. A beautiful story that could take on so many interpretations, it gives you characters to root for and love in a dangerous adventure.
spiffyname's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Fun adventure! A multi-POV story that explores more of the imperial radch universe.
tsunni's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I really like Ann Leckie’s take on identity and how our views naturally have to evolve to accept aliens and the wide range of what humanity could be. The ancillary series was suffused with it but this takes it way further, and the simple acceptance by (almost) everyone of just respecting each others identities is so refreshing.
Each of the three mains were interesting in their own way. The whole book cycles through all three viewpoints in order up til the end. Two of them are creepy and alien and it takes a while before things start making sense, but I found a reason to like all three pov characters by the end. Leckie does alien viewpoint really well, in a cerebral way that’s sometimes hard to wrap my head around; it got a little too much sometimes.
I recommend reading the Ancillary series first as this one takes place in the same universe. I did like those more, but this was a satisfactory read.
Each of the three mains were interesting in their own way. The whole book cycles through all three viewpoints in order up til the end. Two of them are creepy and alien and it takes a while before things start making sense, but I found a reason to like all three pov characters by the end. Leckie does alien viewpoint really well, in a cerebral way that’s sometimes hard to wrap my head around; it got a little too much sometimes.
I recommend reading the Ancillary series first as this one takes place in the same universe. I did like those more, but this was a satisfactory read.
booksthatburn's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- 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
TRANSLATION STATE is best read after the Imperial Radch trilogy and PROVENANCE, as some of the worldbuilding details reveal conclusions to situations encountered in those books. That being said, TRANSLATION STATE is a self-contained story which delves into the Presger in a manner beyond the scope of the previous stories. The series as a whole focuses on questions of personhood and community, different ways people can be connected, and ways that identity can be complicated by, or unrelated to, one’s physical form.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
catinaflatcap's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation, Confinement, and Gore
Moderate: Sexual violence and Violence
Minor: Police brutality
schwahawk's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
macthekat's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Now that was a wonderful ride and it really sucks me in.
I really liked how the story took the univers forward and let you gang on as well as you could with the world building, without holding your hand or overwhelming you.
It's a very character focused story with a gripping pace, that made me read into the night.
Great space opera
Tense and hopeful
I really liked how the story took the univers forward and let you gang on as well as you could with the world building, without holding your hand or overwhelming you.
It's a very character focused story with a gripping pace, that made me read into the night.
Great space opera
Tense and hopeful
timinbc's review against another edition
4.0
An ambitious novel, but flawed. I mostly enjoyed it anyway.
SPOILER WARNING - stop here if your device doesn't see the spoiler tags.
And c'mon, we knew. That became tedious too. Their relationship development took too many words, and was repetitive. And the games/food thing was tedious - not to mention making me think I was reading Murderbot.
There's some interesting exploration of adoption, AI rights, personhood, what happens if you get a new body, etc. and that's the fourth star.
I'm OK with pronouns etc., but this one verged on having too many. And can't we have a few races that don't use pronouns as we do so it just isn't an issue?
The spiral/doors thing was just weird, and sometimes felt like, I dunno, The Phantom Tollbooth or something, with no explanation of how.why it was created and a solution to it that was basically "oh, look, I can do magic" - although to be fair Leckie did build us up to it earlier. It's still magic.
And can you really just leave us with ? You've really got some serious logistical issues to resolve there!
SPOILER WARNING - stop here if your device doesn't see the spoiler tags.
And c'mon, we knew
Spoiler
they were going to merge after some fakeoutsThere's some interesting exploration of adoption, AI rights, personhood, what happens if you get a new body, etc. and that's the fourth star.
I'm OK with pronouns etc., but this one verged on having too many. And can't we have a few races that don't use pronouns as we do so it just isn't an issue?
The spiral/doors thing was just weird, and sometimes felt like, I dunno, The Phantom Tollbooth or something, with no explanation of how.why it was created and a solution to it that was basically "oh, look, I can do magic" - although to be fair Leckie did build us up to it earlier. It's still magic.
And can you really just leave us with
Spoiler
"and there they were, one mind with two bodies!"amanda_la's review against another edition
Switched to audiobook to listen to in car