Ancillary Justice

I adored the way she expressed the difference between thinking as a collective and thinking as a singleton. the complex political machinations she created, and then revealed with perfect timing, made me think about what and how i was thinking in a way that i last saw in Asimov's books (prompting me to pick them up again. lol). She writes in a way that I can see the story organically falling into place, and there's a combination of twists I could see coming, twists I UTTERLY could not, and needed to retrace my steps to figure out, and twists that I knew I SHOULD have seen coming from a mile away. upon reading this one I immediately got the others and read them voraciously. and even after finishing the series, I want more. I intend to get into her fantasy book(s?) next.

One of the best books I've ever read. This and the following stories unfurl a beautifully complex world that's entirely believable. This initial book focuses on humanity and AI, and how separate those two things can really eventually be. The tone of the book and indeed the series parallels the main character's development, as well, making this a difficult, dry, and stilted read that slowly gets better.

This is the worst book I've ever tried to read. The intricate names used are off-putting, unpronounceable even in thoughts, and make it hard to concentrate on the story. The story is choppy, going back and forth to different times and places confusingly. Unfortunately, I bought all three books in the series before reading the first and I feel cheated. It's very pretentious and I hope others will take my warning before buying these 300 page books for way too high a price.