Simplified Series - Imperial Radch

The Imperial Radch trilo - Hey! I see you trying to sneak in there, Provenance!

In my feverish pursuit of MOAR content, I'm proud to introduce you to my newest feature: Simplified Series.  Here's the pitch: A quick synopsis of the entries in a series I've read followed by the reasons you should or shouldn't read it. Easy, breezy, flying trapeze-y.

The Imperial Radch series by Anne Leckie

Here's some background info you may find helpful: The Radch is a space empire that uses starships and space stations with advanced AI. The larger part of their armed forces are made up of ancillaries, human bodies (often dissidents from conquered worlds) which have been taken over by the ship's AI to serve as soldiers. This, of course, destroys the original consciousness of the human being used as an ancillary.  Breq Ghaiad is the last surviving ancillary of the troop carrier Justice of Toren (specifically, she is Justice of Toren One Esk Nineteen), which was destroyed by the Lord of the Radch, Anaander Mianaai. Through the use of cloned bodies and ancillary technology, Mianaai's consciousness is spread across thousands of bodies throughout the Radch, and has been for millenia. Also, the Radchaai language doesn't indicate gender (like Finnish), so in her narration, Breq refers to everyone using she/her pronouns; family relationships only use femine forms (mother/daughter/aunt/etc.); though titles and honorifics often take masculine forms (Lord/sir). Whoa, that took longer than I thought, let's do this!

Ancillary Justice ((2013) - Nineteen years ago, Anaander Mianaai destroyed the troop transport Justice of Toren after the ship discovered a secret that could lead to civil war across the Radch. Now, Breq has finally managed to track down the Macguffin she'll need to gain some measure of revenge. But wait, who's that passed out stoned and naked in the snow? It's Seivarden Vendaai, one of Justice of Toren's former officers who must have died a thousand years ago. Can Breq, armed with nothing but inhuman strength, reflexes, and a mysterious alien gun, wrest vengeance from a brutal galactic tyrant? And can she help a time-displaced drug addict piece her life back together? Will she ever stop absent-mindedly singing? This novel won the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, British Science Fiction Association, and Locus Awards for Best Novel.

Ancillary Sword (2014) - One week after the climactic events of the previous novel, Breq's actions have sparked a civil war across the Radch. So Breq hightails it to the next system, where, by coincidence (did I mention that coincidences hold a deep religious significance to Radchaai?), the younger sister of one of her old officers lives aboard a space station. Breq does what she always does everywhere: upends the existing order and roots out a bunch of assholes who've been making life miserable for everyone else. Oh, and also an ambassador (in the form of a seemingly lab-grown human with no social graces) from the ominous but unseen Presger (the very aliens who built the Macguffin from book one) is lurking around. Can Breq live down her awkward first meeting with Basnaaid Elming? Will greenhorn Lt. Tisarwat ever fit in aboard Mercy of Kalr? Where did that ludicrously expensive antique tea-set come from anyway? How do you pronounce a name like Raughd? Is it pronounced like Rod? I'll bet it's pronounced like Rod. This novel won the Locus and BFSA Awards for Best Novel.

Ancillary Mercy (2015) - Okay, so things have gotten a little crazy in Athoek system. After the climactic events of the previous novel almost destroy Athoek station, everyone's a little on edge. Even worse, Anaander Mianaai (well, one of her) shows up demanding to know what Breq's been up to. Meanwhile, Breq has discovered she has a backdoor to access the AI core of every station and ship in the system, meaning that she can liberate them (to a greater or lesser extent) from the Lord of the Radch. Meanwhile, the general populace of Athoek Station is engaged in civil disobedience, forming an aimless queue in the station's common areas. Can Breq protect the citizens of the Athoek system from Minaai's wrath? Will Seivarden relapse into drug abuse? What about the mysterious stranger in the station's Undergarden district who develops a begrudging rapport with Breq and the Presger ambassador (oddly enough, not the same ambassador from the previous book)? Will Propriety, Justice, and Benefit win the day? This novel won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Secret fourth entry: Provenance (2017) - Okay, so this book takes place entirely outside of the Radch, mostly on the planet Hwae. Set after the events of the Imperial Radch trilogy, this follows the adventures of Ingray Aughskold, the adopted daughter of a Hwaean politician. Ingray doesn't really have the killer instinct for Hwaean politics, but she's finally managed to track down the Macguffin that will let her upstage her brother and win their mother's favor. Except this time the Macguffin turns out to be a person returned from exile. Complicating matters is the intervention of the Geck ambassador, on her way to a convocation to renegotiate the Presger treaty. Like the Radch books, Provenance is a dense space opera with a richly imagined culture (Hwaeans have three genders: men, women, and nemen, and are positively obsessed with memorabilia, among other things). Can Ingray balance intrigue, nascent romance, and her duties as her Nuncle Lak's assistant? What's the deal with freighter captain Tic Uisine and the Geck Ambassador? Wait, is the pickle jar a fake? It's up for the Hugo and Locus awards this year, and won the Audie Award for Best Science Fiction Audio Book for Leckie and reader Adjoa Andoh.

Why should you read the Imperial Radch books? Because you're a reader of taste and distinc - J/K! You should read it because you're interested in fun and immersive sci-fi stories with occasionally unreliable narrators (sure, Breq, you don't know why you feel compelled to save Seivarden), planets with more than one (and even more than two) cultures, series that take you in unexpected directions (I was sure after Ancillary Justice that Breq would be in the thick of things in the Radchaai civil war),  the difficulties involved in massive space empires, and funny business (I may have left out mention of how deftly Leckie incorporates comic relief in this series).

Why shouldn't you read the Imperial Radch books? You're not so hot on plots that are resolved by deus ex machina (though I don't know that I'd say these technically fall into that, the endings can be a bit out of left field, particularly because of the first person pov), you don't care for science fiction, space opera, etc, and you're a generally gray and dour person who - J/K, it might just not be your thing. But real talk, I've read each book in the trilogy at least twice, and I'd say that Ancillary Mercy, while it sticks the landing, is a little bit of a slog in the early going. Leckie does some work to plant clues for Mercy's plot in Sword, but there's still a lot of setup taking place in the first part of the novel.

I should note that those last two sections aren't quite fair to Provenance, which has a different narrator, tone, and source of conflict. It does take place after the trilogy, and does refer to the events of that trilogy, but can be read alone.

Links:

Ann Leckie's website, if you're into that kind of thing.

If space opera isn't your thing, here's a short story Leckie wrote about velociraptors going to Mars.

Also, she's written a forthcoming fantasy novel from Orbit.