I put off starting this series because I was under the impression that it was military science fiction. I am not all that partial to very militaristic storylines, probably because I enjoy characters over plots. I was wrong. While there is no use kicking myself for not having started the series earlier, I can at least be happy that I did not wait any longer. 

 

Firstly, this series has both plot and excellent character building. The main character is an artificial intelligence, or a fraction of an artificial intelligence, housed in a human body. It is an excellent narrator perspective. 

 

The world is very militaristic, but the plot is more political. It has the feel of being both extremely simplistic and incredibly complicated at the same time. Yet, it works out well. Probably, because the characters pull it off. 

 

I love how gender is talked about in this novel. It is truly dependent upon the language that we have to talk about it. Leckie uses language dialects to address this. The main character’s own culture does not have a separate concept of gender and is often confused by its use in other cultures. 

 

I did question the use of female pronouns rather than gender-neutral pronouns. It is possible that Leckie was unaware of gender-neutral pronouns. However, thinking about it, I believe it was more of a push back on the male dominance in science fiction. It may just be because the author herself uses she pronouns. Yes - I looked around, and no I did not find an in-depth answer. Ultimately it does not matter, the conversation would have been the same. 

 

This book is amazing and I cannot wait to read the rest in the series. It is hard to imagine that this was Leckie’s debut novel.