Broadside No. 16 – Ann Leckie

Ahoy there me mateys!  Welcome to the sixteenth broadside – the Ann Leckie edition.  She has a new book coming out on September 26, 2017.  Arrrr!  I am so excited that I thought now would be a great time to celebrate her works.  Plus September is just far enough away that if ye try hard, ye can catch up on all her work to date!

Please note: All book descriptions are from the author’s website and book title links lead to Goodreads.

imperial radch series:

Okay so this series comprises of three novels:

1. ancillary justice
2. ancillary sword
3. ancillary mercy

This and a handful of short stories are all that she has written to date.  Don’t be alarmed by the small body of work.  This series is one of my all time favorites with the first book in particular being one that I gush about over and over.  I am not the only one who knows it is brilliant.  The first book in the series won the following awards:

Hugo Award for Best Novel (2014), Nebula Award for Best Novel (2013), Locus Award for Best First Novel (2014), Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel (2014), British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel (2013), Philip K. Dick Award Nominee (2013), John W. Campbell Memorial Award Nominee (2014), The Kitschies for Golden Tentacle (Debut) (2013), James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List (2013), Seiun Award 星雲賞 for Best Foreign Novel (2016)

How is that for a list?  The series involves Breq who used to be the artificial intelligence of the starship, The Justice of Toren.  In addition to being the ship, she also had control of thousands of human soldiers.  The catch is that she has lost control of everything except one human body.  She is out for revenge.

This story is absolutely stunning and complex.  Breq is one of me all-time favorite characters.  She is thousands of years old and has such a complex understanding of the connections of society.  The side characters are awesome.  The novel shows her point of views from the present and flashbacks to when she was controlling ancillaries.  I have such fondness for One Esk.  The writing is wonderful.  The world building is delightful.  I absolute adore this series and don’t know who to discuss it without giving away spoilers.  Pick it up fer yerself.  Don’t believe me?

Here are some of the reviews from me crew members who gave book one a five star rating:

J.L. Sutton

carly @ bookaneer

althea ann @ readingtrance

lisa @ tenaciousreader

Did I convince ye yet?

Side note: This log post did not deal with books two and three because no spoilers!

Her website has this to say about book one:

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Breq is both more than she seems and less than she was. Years ago, she was Justice of Toren–a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of corpse soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

An act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with only one fragile human body. And only one purpose–to revenge herself on Anaander Mianaai, many-bodied, near-immortal Lord of the Radch.

So that be me introduction to Ann Leckie’s novels.  If ye haven’t read any of her novels I would suggest ye hoist those sails and get moving!

To visit her website go to:

Ann Leckie – Author

To see a complete list of all books she has written visit:

Ann Leckie – Books

To add this author or her novels to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

If ye missed me other author broadsides:

Garth Nix – No. 1

Sharon Shinn – No. 2

John Scalzi – No. 3

Tamora Pierce – No. 4

Brandon Sanderson – No. 5

Robin McKinley – No. 6

Michael Crichton – No. 7

Mercedes Lackey – No. 8

Dean Kootnz – No. 9

Justine Larbalestier – No. 10

Neil Gaiman – No. 11

Kate Elliot – No. 12

George R.R. Martin – No. 13

Rosemary Kirstein – No. 14

Piers Anthony – No. 15