I had obeyed her orders, of course, and she had never abused any ancillaries, never harmed any of my segments (as the occasional officer did). And she had never been one of my favorite officers. Seivarden Vendaai was no concern of mine anymore, wasn't my responsibility. I crouched down and felt for a pulse, for the faintest stir of breath. I had thought her a thousand years dead, but she was, undeniably, here. Her name was Seivarden Vendaai, and a long time ago she had been one of my officers, a young lieutenant, eventually promoted to her own command, another ship. So I can't explain to you why I stopped and with one foot lifted the naked shoulder so I could see the person's face.įrozen, bruised, and bloody as she was, I knew her. Even after all this time it's still a new thing for me not to know, not to have orders to follow from one moment to the next. Sometimes I don't know why I do the things I do. Bodies in the street were none of my concern. I was only here, on this planet, in this town, because I had urgent business of my own. This was the icy back end of a cold and isolated planet, as far from Radchaai ideas of civilization as it was possible to be.

But it was hardly possible I knew this person. There was something itchingly familiar about that outthrown arm, the line from shoulder down to hip. Or what passed for a tavern in this town. The snow stretched smooth in the wan sunrise, only a few tracks leading into a nearby ice-block building. It was minus fifteen degrees Celsius and a storm had passed just hours before. NPR calls it 'A fitting addition to the Ancillary world'.The body lay naked and facedown, a deathly gray, spatters of blood staining the snow around it. The Imperial Radch trilogy begins with Ancillary Justice, continues in Ancillary Swordand concludes with Ancillary Mercy.Īlso available now: Provenance is a stunning standalone adventure set in the same world as Ancillary Justice. Used to controlling thousands of hands, thousands of mouths, The Justice now has only two hands, and one mouth with which to tell her tale.īut one fragile, human body might just be enough to take revenge against those who destroyed her.

The colossal warship called The Justice of Toren has been destroyed - but one ship-possessed soldier has escaped the devastation. Whole planets are conquered by their own people. The Radch are conquerors to be feared - resist and they'll turn you into a 'corpse soldier' - one of an army of dead prisoners animated by a warship's AI mind. They made me kill thousands, but I only have one target now. Clarke, the Nebula and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in the same year. The record-breaking debut novel that won every major science fiction award in 2014, Ancillary Justice is the story of a warship trapped in a human body and her search for revenge.Īnn Leckie is the first author to win the Arthur C.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie