I would like to take this opportunity to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book before its publication date. Ann Leckie’s Translation State is an engrossing, thought-provoking addition to her acclaimed Imperial Radch universe. As always, Leckie weaves a story rich in complex characters, intricate political dynamics, and thought-provoking themes, making this a must-read for fans of her work and science fiction enthusiasts alike.

A Unique and Expansive Narrative
Translation State centers on Qven, Enae, and Reet, three protagonists whose journeys intertwine in unexpected ways across a universe governed by the mysterious and formidable Presger Translators. Each character’s arc is unique and compelling, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the blurred boundaries between human and alien. Leckie’s ability to balance deeply personal narratives with the larger sociopolitical context of her universe is masterful.

Exploring Identity and Communication
At the heart of the story is a fascinating exploration of language and communication, fittingly framed around the enigmatic Presger Translators. Leckie uses this framework to delve into what it means to be human—or not—as her characters grapple with their place in a world that often defies their understanding. The book’s nuanced portrayal of identity, particularly nonbinary and alien perspectives, is both groundbreaking and deeply empathetic.

Rich World-Building and Intrigue
Leckie’s world-building is as detailed and immersive as ever. While Translation State is set in the same universe as her Imperial Radch series, it introduces fresh perspectives and expands on existing lore. The story balances political intrigue, philosophical questions, and moments of humor, ensuring that the narrative is as entertaining as it is intellectually stimulating.

A Story with Depth and Heart
What sets Translation State apart is Leckie’s ability to infuse her science fiction with genuine emotional depth. The relationships between characters, their struggles, and their triumphs feel grounded and real, even in a universe as alien and vast as the one she creates. The book challenges readers to think while never losing sight of its characters’ humanity.

Final Thoughts
Translation State is a brilliant, multifaceted novel that showcases Ann Leckie’s unparalleled talent for blending the personal with the cosmic. Fans of her previous works will appreciate the expansion of her universe, while newcomers can enjoy this as a standalone exploration of identity, communication, and belonging.

Translation State by Ann Leckie was a novel I hoped to feel similarly about. This latest standalone-ish instalment in Leckie's Imperial Radch universe is a solid, thought provoking piece of SF (Clara has some excellent provoked thoughts here) but it hasn't withstood the test of time as a standout novel for me, Don't get me wrong, I love the Presger translators, and I highly appreciated the way Leckie gives us crumbs of further context without really making anything clearer about the setting's most mysterious alien race. Less attractive on reflection is the treatment of alien biological urges as fundamentally irresistible in a way that would simply not make sense if the author were talking about humans. Protagonists Reet and Qven are, for different reasons, terrified of the urges of their alien heritage, but all Presger translators simply have to go through "puberty" in the way their creators designed, so oh well, suck it up kids, they'll be fine once it's done.
I understand the narrative is setting up questions about personhood in general, not creating any deliberate queer parallels, but gender is so integral to the setting as a whole, and aliens so often used as a stand-in for human queerness (and neurodivergence) that it's hard not to think about Qven and Reet's lack of choice through that lens. It would be nice to see stories that think more about how alien queerness would manifest, from the starting assumption that of course it would manifest in any sentient species, but I'll keep searching for those books elsewhere. In the meantime, any Imperial Radch is good Imperial Radch, but this one didn't hit "great" for me.

Ann Leckie never disappoints. Loved it, laughed, gasped out loud, couldn't stop reading. Then I went and bought a physical copy, and I will re-read this book in years to come.

I am new to Ann Leckie's writing and didn't know that this book has a prequel series. But it was a great read! Leckie's conceptualization of science fiction is amazing. Looking forward to her book and time to read her other published novels.

This was my first venture into the works of Ann Leckie, an author I've been meaning to get into for a while, and I quite enjoyed it. The canvas spreads quite far with lots of different characters and cultures weaved together to create a story that is compelling for the most part. I was confused by some of the directions it took towards its climax and some story elements didn't add up to much, but I had a great time with it. This is set in the same universe as Leckie's other novels, so perhaps that might have helped. It bears a lot in common with China Miéville's 'Embassytown', particularly in its idea of two separate people/personalities coming together to form a new person for the purposes of acting as an intermediary between alien races who otherwise wouldn't be able to communicate. Though Miéville has greater access with the idea, the relationship between Qven and Reet as they come to terms with who they are and what they must do is one of strongest elements of 'Translation State'. I'd intrigued enough to dive further into this universe!

Many tales in fantasy and science fiction asks the main character the question who are you? A future leader, warrior, war-ender, villain or powerful mage. In many ways the reader too gets to think about their own identity – who are they morally? What would they do in certain situations? Working out who we are is something we come back to not just growing up but throughout our lives. That question of Identity is a central theme in Ann Leckie’s elegant and thoughtful Translation State which returns to the Imperial Radch universe of the excellent Ancillary Justice trilogy with a powerful intimate tale of characters deciding who they wish to be.

There has been a treaty between the major powers of the galaxy for a thousand years which actually seems to be working well. Even the most alien of aliens the mysterious Presger obey it though no one really knows as they operate though seemingly human but very much not Translators. In a busy universe filled with the odd war, space battle and crises that two hundred years ago no one noticed that a Presger Translator appeared to have gone rogue and no one knows where they ended up.

A couple of centuries later the often put upon Enae buries hir Grandmaman and is the next day told her family is being taken over by a wealthy new relative who promptly sends hir on a mission to find the translator. Its Enae’s first real experience of life outside the family home but many skills dealings with difficult people and households end up being very useful. Reet has been a maintenance engineer and at 31 is surprised when suddenly this orphaned human who turned up in the middle of a war is being told he is actually the long-lost heir to a small empire known as Lovehate station and is asked to visit a planet to know more of his supposed Hikipu heritage. Reet finally gets the feeling of knowing who he is but finds himself more ambivalent as to whether this is really him.

Qven is a very young would be future Preger translator. They live within a Clade cut-off from everyone. They have survived the standard eating of other young ones by parts of their class and now the mysterious Teachers teach them the strange ways of being around humans. The future if going though a strange process known as Matching but what Qven sees of this process terrifies them. A fellow student offers a way out but then Qven finds themselves discovered and in disgrace. These three characters are going to cross paths and set about a conflict that brings in ambassadors, protests and even a ship’s AI together to decide what the future holds and ideally save the Treaty from collapsing.

This is a beautiful intricate and intimate science fiction story where Leckie blends truly alien groups together and yet brings the reader along the journey and it all serves as a study in what does identify mean and how people react to saying this is who I am. With Enae we have a character who fits the more classic science fiction narrative of someone finding their place in the universe and yet rather than traditional young rascal we have a middle-aged character very much an introvert suddenly thrust into the role of galactic investigator. Enae gets freedom after a rather controlling grandmaman dominated their lives – the act of buying an expensive scarf is the first time they’ve been allowed to act themselves. With Enae everyone doubts the case can be solved but Enae doesn’t give p and indeed finds Reet’s tale so strange that they trigger unexpectedly this entire next mini-conflict between all the major powers. Enae though takes ownership and tries to fix things because that is the right thing to do and no Ambassador, government or legal system is getting in their way. Enae’s tale is the gentle blossoming of someone finding their place at last.

With Reet we have someone with no idea of who they are being presented finally with an explanation, a culture and a history. Being the adopted human within a space station of aliens he has often felt lost. His only comfort watching episodes of a long-running science fiction drama (and who relates to that??). Here it’s the question initially does finding out where you’re from make you happy. Its more dangerous for Reet as he finds the Hikipu people have been suppressed in their sector of the galaxy by the majority government for many years and tensions on both sides are now running high and prone to violence. Here Leckie explore identity when your culture is viewed as the enemy and the way someone can lose rights, be treated as merely a pest to be controlled echoes many experiences of our own world. But Leckie has a splendid change in Reet’s tale which brings the same issues to the centre on a bigger scale – what is it to be human?

With the most alien of the character’s Qven they tell us their own perspective. How they grow us is powerfully alien. A school setting where eating students and Teachers is not unknown is a first and yet Leckie makes us see Qven as a person not a thing. We feel their hopes, fears and at times terror. Qven is someone for whom their identity has been planned for for a very long time – even as to whom their eventual match will be. They’re expected to obey and yet this doesn’t feel right. Here Leckie makes us feel the importance of not being who you’re not and having the power and choice to say no actually this is who I am and want to be.

In many ways Translation State is an evolution of the themes picked up in the first Imperial Raddch trilogy. Where there the core idea of gender was an issue raised – getting us to watch a society where the feminine pronoun was the key driver to language, here in this tale its contrasted with multiple groups and characters who use different terms and need to be respected for using them. If before the question was can an AI be really sentient? Leckie now pushes us to ask can anyone call themselves human? With Reet and Qven we move to powerful legal drama (that of course turns into a SF adventure) where we face the idea of people being able to swap species, genders and more. In a time where forces gather to say Identity cannot change or be questioned this story makes us feel exactly why that is so important a freedom and the consequences of not being allowed to know who you are and be allowed to live it are made very clear. This is a story of small victories, being loved by your family; sharing a TV show that you love but also taking on powerful Ambassadors who feel they can control the whole legal system and saying firmly no. But with added aliens with strange power s that can warp reality for good measure which creates a powerful solution as all the main characters face their lives on the line and need to find a solution to prevent a galactic war. Importantly the stakes were high and yet not too high to make us lose the character’s own stories.

Translation State is a powerful and persuasive tale of allowing us to explore and choose to be who we are. It reminds us those decisions are never fixed but also are important o our happiness and way of living. It’s the kind of story science fiction excels at and Leckie does it with a quiet focused storytelling ability that made this a beautiful, refreshing and heartwarming read. It is strongly recommended!

"Translation State" by Ann Lackie is a captivating exploration of the Imperial Radch trilogy and Provenance. With a blend of three characters, Lackie delves into the challenges each one of them faces. Translation State has got enough of a plot, but is very much a character driven novel. There's a nice pace to building the characters which allows the readers to get to know them.

Lackie's writing style strikes a perfect balance between accessibility and depth. It's nice to see a build-up around ideas of politics, gender, power.

It was a pleasure to read.

Translation State is unlike anything I have read so far, and I mean it as a compliment. Set in the universe of Ann Leckie’s celebrated Imperial Radch series, this fantastically imagined space opera incorporates elements of multiple genres and themes, including a coming-of-age tale and a love story of sorts!

Sometime far in the future, when humans have spread across galaxies and are coexisting with several species of beings – thanks to the Treaty that prevents them from tearing each other apart, Enae lands the seemingly inconsequential job of tracking down an alien fugitive who might have entered one of the human systems two hundred years ago. The runaway is supposedly a Presger translator – a species of the enigmatic, all-powerful aliens, engineered using human elements solely for communicating with humans – and Enae’s search is an attempt at good appearance as the Treaty is up for debate soon. Elsewhere, Reet Hluid, an orphan brought up by human parents, is in danger of unwittingly helping the cause of a militant group indulging in anti-government activities, driven by his feeling of rootlessness and a yearning to belong. In the Presger system, Qven, a juvenile Presger translator with a promising future, is in trouble due to their divergent thoughts and improper actions and must undergo something unsavoury if they want to stay alive. The paths of Enae, Reet, and Qven converge as multiple agendas – far larger than the three individuals – come into play, and the freedom and life of all three and many others become endangered.

The world-building of Leckie is phenomenal, with multiple species and genders of characters, each with their own unique voice, character, and – more importantly – pronouns. All three main characters are well-developed and demand the reader’s attention and sympathy, and the fringe characters, too, are adequately fleshed out. The plot, while engaging all through, is unevenly paced, with periods of lull followed by a frenzy of action – especially towards the somewhat rushed ending. The courtroom-like scenes with arguments and counterarguments and the variety of quirky participants are utterly amusing. I would have liked to learn more about the Presger, whom majority of humans consider a myth while others are terrified by the mere name, but the first-person narrative by Qven limits the things they can explain. Though Translation State works fairly well as a standalone, being conversant with Leckie’s much-admired Imperial Radch series would improve the experience tremendously, and I am intrigued enough to get to it.

I wish to thank Little, Brown Book Group UK / Orbit for the Digital Review Copy of Translation State through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

4.5 Stars. It is a very entertaining read, written in Leckie’s usual easy to read style. Switching POV characters and going back and forth between 1st person (Qven) and 3rd Person omniscient (Reet and Enae). I enjoyed it very much. The Presger Translators get some more screen time and not just for comic relief as in the Imperial Raadsch trilogy. We learn a little more, but they are very mysterious.

There is a discussion throughout regarding self-determination from a few different angles (body, sexuality - although never explicit - and life path), which is pertinent to our current times and which I appreciated. Leckie goes beyond the Raadsch predilection for using the she pronouns for all people and uses a variety of pronouns for all sorts of people. Generally, they just use them, but at a certain point Qven decides e is em. Not “they” as all Presger Translators are. And this determination is spun out a little.

At any rate, the story centers around this self-determination with a bit of calamity to make matters pressing. There was an extended section in the latter quarter, which was very interesting from a space reality standpoint but for me, just served to raise more questions about the Presger than answer them.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ann Beckie and Orbit for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry it's a bit late.

A new book set in the same world as Ann Leckie’s beloved Ancillary Justice trilogy, as a standalone companion. As a big fan of the original trilogy, I couldn’t have been more excited and was not at all disappointed.

You might enjoy this book if you like:
Character driven stories
Come on board the Inner Conflict Express. Here you’ll get to meet three very different characters, all with their very own struggles, all not quite sure about their place in life and who they want to be, just trying to figure out where to go from here…

Queernorm worlds
Use of neo-pronouns, gender/pronoun-questioning characters, discussions on what gender even means, all wrapped in a story that says “be what/whoever you want to be” (both in terms of queer but also in a general sense), with lots of supporting (in both senses) characters who turn this into the most wholesome read.

Cozy scifi
Going hand in hand with the character driven aspect, Translation State has less action packed sequences and is generally more about its characters getting deep into their thoughts and emotions, thinking about their place in the world. There’s lots of sitting down to eat and drink tea/coffee and giving you the cozy vibes.

Wibbly wobbly space time stuff
I was enjoying the whole book from start to finish but I gotta admit, the last bit was what turned this one into a favorite for me. When a bit of brain fuckery, space “science” happened. The cozy vibes didn’t exactly move over, but it did get a pinch of excitement in there.

Would I recommend this book to people who haven’t read the original trilogy? Very likely so. It’s harder to say when you actually have read the trilogy but then I do have a poor memory and don’t think you might be missing any facts to fully enjoy this, especially as this is very much about it’s three main characters, and lesser about the world it is set in.

Set in the same universe as the multi-award winning Imperial Radch trilogy, <I>Translation State</i> follows on from the events of those books.

The basic premise of this novel is that it's about what it is to be human (or not human, come to that) being focussed on the experiences of three characters, the first of whom (Enae) has spent much of her life waiting hand and foot on a rich relative and who is now left wondering what to do with what's left of it. Unexpectedly, Enae is tasked with the job of finding a fugitive, one of the almost-human Translators used by the only alien race that the Radch are scared of - this is seen as something of a sinecure, a nice opportunity for a bit of well-funded travel around the known universe, but Enae takes it more seriously than anyone had expected.

In her travels, she meets another of our main characters (Reet) who was found and adopted as a baby and has never quite felt he fitted in. We also get the parallel story of Qven, being brought up as a Translator for the Presger and whose entire reason for being is to preserve the treaty between the Presger and those aliens they consider Significant. The question of who or what is Significant has been raised at the end of the trilogy by the insistence of both station and ship AI that they are sentient and should therefore be given the same status as the Radch - cue the appearance of a supporting character (Sphene) from the trilogy as a bit-player in this drama too.

This is definitely one of those novels which benefits from the re-reading of the previous trilogy and I'm glad I was able to take the time to sit down with those again before tackling this one. Having said that, I don't know that this book would work quite as well without that prior knowledge and perhaps that's one of the reasons I didn't give it 5 stars even though I can see myself coming back to it again in the future. Still, as usual, I find myself either really enjoying or being totally smitten with something this author has written and long may that continue to be the case...

<I>I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This review is my honest opinion of the book in question.</i>

Translation State is a delicious serving of SF, taking place in a universe so odd that I don't how Leckie imagined it, let alone made the story into something as coherent and compelling as it is.

The main protagonists are Qven, Enae and Rest. We meet Enea at the start of the book. Enae has just attended the funeral of her grandmother (henceforth referred to as the "Blessed Deceased") and there are surprises as the estate is divided, a division that ultimately leading to Enae taking up a new life as a diplomatic troubleshooter. Enae is a fascinating person, who has spent an entire life under Grandmother's thumb and who isn't sure now what to feel about being free of that. There's a convincing portrayal here of Enae's mixed feelings - grief and loss but also resentment at somebody who seems capricious and manipulative. Nevertheless Enae is intelligent and inventive and soon succeeds in solving a diplomatic mystery which had been left to fester for centuries, tracking down a fugitive who make or may not be a danger to the order of things.

Qven has an even stranger background, being one of a number of siblings genetically engineered to be Presger Translators. The Presger are aliens, indeed, unimaginably, indescribably, alien, and their Translators mediate between them and humanity, especially on matters concerning the vital Treaty whose existence protects all. Qven, destined for a high place in the clade, has been dishonoured by another juvenile Translator (who suffers a terrible fate as a result) and is now threatened with being forcibly "matched", a fate that Qven fears.

Reet, in contrast, is trying to live a quiet life. An orphan raised by foster parents, Reet has been singled out by a cult of exiles as the descendent of their revered leader. Having never previously felt any great sense of belonging, Reet is somewhat flattered by their attention - but will soon be presented with quite another potential origin...

All of this rapidly leads to a Big Mess with diplomatic implications (that Treaty!) and the fates of individuals seem likely to be sacrificed for political expediency - until some determined foster parents, Enae (regretting good intentions that messed up others' lives) and a clutch of ingenious lawyers, take the whole matter to the highest authority and demand justice.

I had great fun reading this book. It isn't, for the most part, full of drama and action: rather the plot is driven by the unrolling of Enae's, Reet's and Qven's feelings and their gathering understanding of themselves and of the universe around them, and by the politics and horse trading that others insist on tangling up with those things. All three are sympathetically drawn, with emotional depths and a growing awareness of themselves and their own desires. It doesn't hurt that Leckie has a wicked sense of humour (I would quote but you need to read this for yourself) and a real appreciation for social interaction and structures. So for example, here you'll find painfully-familiar prejudices against minority communities, putting them on guard against manifestation of the law; stereotypes used unthinkingly even by the apparently well-intentioned, sometimes followed by a quick apology, sometimes not, and that painful dance where people are trying to do what they think others want or need without either asking them or being honest about their own feelings.

I love this kind of story where the stakes are high both at the personal and the global level, with the ostensible threat - here the future of the Treaty - really just getting in the way of resolving deep personal issues. Leckie's resolution of the two strands is little short of genius.

Strongly recommended.

Leckie has truly mastered the craft of blending genres and stories into a cohesive, unique unit of work that is best described simply by saying "a novel written by Ann Leckie".

Translation State, of course, is no exception. We're put in a familiar universe, which is still described in enough detail to not feel too alien if this is your first introduction to the Radch (though I am curious what it's like to experience this world by first reading TS or Provenance, instead of starting with Ancillary Justice). It's a delicious blend of mystery, thriller, space sci-fi, and that sweet Leckie touch of questions about identity, personhood while managing to make every character a unique, tangible person and proving that they are just that: a person.

It's not an easy book to describe without spoilers, and personally I think that reading any Leckie book is best experienced going in knowing absolutely nothing about it beforehand.

(I was, personally, very looking forward to reading this as soon as it was announced - not just because of the title (give me an SFF story that's at least vaguely related to translation and I will gobble it up), but because it promised to tell us more about the Presger. Well, about the Presger translators, at least. And while it answered many questions, I feel like it left me knowing both more *and* less about them than I did before, which is an achievement of its own.)

Thank you to NG and the publisher for this delightful read, I cannot wait to put it on my shelf as well.

Ann Leckie's Anciliary books were a little bolt from the blue when they first came out. There was a little frisson of newness over her use of gender pronouns, but at the heart of it was a big stonking space opera which asked some interesting questions about free will and sentience, Leckie is back in that Universe with a different story (with a few tangential connections to the original) taking some of the tossed off ideas of the original and creating a compelling done in one adventure out of it. She has three protagonists who eventually intertwine (and more) by the end of it, and she manages to use them to do much of her world building for her. The Human lead Enae has been discarded by her household and been given an impossible piecemeal job to get her our of the way. Nevertheless given a job, she actually proceeds with doing it.

There are two not so human protagonists too, though one isn't quite sure of his heritage at the moment, and via these characters we get a sense of a conversation about biological and actual identity. Leckie has to pitch herself in between characters being who they want to be and their biological destiny, mainly because here biological destiny may turn the character into a homicidal killer. But it also questions aspects of traditional life roles when you are thrust into them because that is always what has been done (there's an icky but good analogy in here between the alien life cycle and sex education - where a little knowledge would be a good thing).

Three stories aren't always easy to juggle, and to her credit Leckie has made her protagonists interestingly different, that actually it felt a bit like a pity when they finally got entangled with each other in a last third court-room drama (don't worry its not as dry as it sounds). The mystery aspect of the book is served at that point, but there is something quite attractive about her Human lead Enae that you could see her returning to for what would ostensibly be a different case. Another enjoyable and solid piece of big sci-fi from Leckie.

Read courtesy of NetGalley.

This is one of my most anticipated books of 2023 and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm also sure people will love it, because there is so much to love here. The world of Radch, getting more fleshed out and expansive. The details about the Presger, much awaited and fascinating and weird. The lovely characters. (Perhaps too lovely, but that is clearly a personal preference.)

There are three narrators: Enea, who needs a new purpose after hir grandmother (of whom sie took care all hir adult life) passes, and who takes first steps into hir own. Reet, a likeable former foster child with a tendency for biting, looking for belonging. And Presger translator Qven, whose life looks completely alien and who needs to survive in utterly inhospitable conditions.

There's also a lot going on thematically - nature vs. nurture, individuality and identity, family trauma, found family, and it's done with nuance and care, and profound kindness, even when nature says - let's play with someone's guts.

And yet, I didn't love it as much as I wanted to - there was just a little bit too much niceness in it for me (many characters speak in this mild, polite, young-sounding voice), and I personally dislike this Murderbot-y vibe this book had going with regard to media consumption. Ancillary trilogy was quite remarkable in how complex and spikey its characters were, how difficult its alliances, and in contrast, this is rather cozy and mild, and I wanted teeth (there's teeth in it, but the way even abuse is written is very much subtle and careful not to go too brutal; all wounds are given correctives). It is probably my least favourite Leckie novel, but let's be honest, a least favourite Leckie novel is still an awesome read and one of my favourite reads of the year in all likelihood. I devoured it and wanted more Enea. (view spoiler) And I am quite happy to see that the ending leaves hope for a continuation with new interstellar adventures for one of the characters. More Radch? Sign me up. Take my money.

(Disclaimer: I reviewed an ARC, but I've since bought my own copy.)

Did I request this book because there is "translation" in the title and I happen to be a translator? Yes. Was I surprised by the kind of translators that are represented in this book. Also yes. Did I understand everything about these translators? ...No. Did it hinder my enjoyment of the book? Also no.

Ann Leckie is amazing and simply can do no wrong. I am ecstatic to be back to this universe, and see more of the translators especially, as each their appearance was a delight in the previous book. I was not disappointed! Gobbled the book in two days and cannot wait for more.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of Translation State, an instabuy once the book is on the shelves!

Ann Leckie’s first fifty pages are a masterclass in setting a plot in motion. Fabulously aristo and crusty matriarch dies, and the extended family swoop in for the will…except grandma pulls a fast one, leaving the vultures empty-handed and leaving it all (sort of) to the most dearly beloved youngest of all, the only one who cared. Before you know it Enae, who has barely left the house since birth, is off on a galactic adventure. Leckie sets up with similar economy and verve two other protagonists - refugee Reet who turns up as a foundling with a mysterious genetic inheritance - and Presger translator teenager Qven before bringing all three together on a space station.

The Presger were the unknowable, ferocious aliens of Leckie’s Ancillary universe - and here a great deal of the interest in this novel is following Leckie’s fleshing out of their nature, literally at times. Leckie delights in riffing on genre tropes as she brings the three protagonists together. Qven’s story is a coming of age - as the Presger take a very singular approach to upbringing. Reen’s story is a search for identity and acceptance. And Enae, who sets the whole thing in motion, has something of the fool acquiring wisdom.

All three are brought together on a space station at a critical point - the treaty that has governed human/Presger relations is up for renewal, and there are forces that want to take advantage of it to push their own agendas.

Some of Leckie’s weaknesses as a writer are on show: the novel’s action virtually grinds to a halt in the middle section as Leckie explores how each character has to make a number of choices, ones which need fully exploring with each of the others. Discussions, topics are debated at length and in turn. Enae, having dominated the first third of the book rather fades into the background, almost as if Leckie could not find enough interesting to write about with them.

But there’s some highly original writing - the gradual revealing of the Presger social mores brought to mind nothing so much as cult horror classic Society. Leckie sets out to show how contemporary hot topics such as identity, migration and the biological or social construction of gender or race are fertile topics for science fiction.

I would not urge anyone unfamiliar with Leckie to start here. Read at least the first of the Ancillary trilogy, and I’d be surprised if you were not then driven to read all three. What we have here is a fascinating and largely successful revisit to the Raadchai universe, with much to enjoy.

I enjoyed Translation State a lot, but I must admit I was a little bit disappointed with it, too.

That's partly because my expectations were so high: a new Ann Leckie novel! A new book set in the Imperial Radch universe! A story about a Presger translator! I was so hyped, and maybe that set an unfair standard in my mind for what I was about to read.

Let's start with what I did enjoy. I thought the opening of the novel was fantastic; I was hooked. The characters were well written, and I liked the elements of mystery and suspense during the initial set-up. There were some really original and fun ideas around the Presger.

Other elements I loved:
—an older protagonist (Enae)
—main characters with neopronouns (and third-person POV, so the neopronouns were super visible)
—a queernorm setting that included asexuality and polyamory

As I read further, I continued to enjoy it but thought it deflated a little bit, too. The plot's middle was ok, but because all the characters got swept up in events that they couldn't control, things felt a little slow and static for a long time. And then the ending felt really, really rushed and not very satisfying on the character level. My final impression was one of... shallowness, I guess? There was no emotional payoff (for me, at least), and looking back at the story as a whole, I can appreciate it with my head but it didn't touch my heart.

It's a space opera story but it's also a story about people, humans and entity that decides they want to be humans.
There's politics and there's the simpler and more complex reality of human emotions and life.
This was the first book I read by Ann Lecke and will surely look for the other books set in this universe.
A great storyteller, great characters, excellent world building and plot development.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine