Adrienne Martini Reviews Translation State by Ann Leckie
Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit 978-0-31628-971-9, $29, 432 pg, hc) June 2023.
With Translation State, Ann Leckie returns to the Radchaai universe she built in the Ancillary trilogy. This time, the focus shifts from the powerful and ritual-bound Radch to the rest of the humans who are just trying to live their lives without interference from system-wide events. That goes about as well as you’d think.
In the Saeniss Polity (which reads like late-Victorian Britain, sort of), a death in the family sends mild-mannered Enae out into the world in search of an answer to a 200-year old mystery. Her story ends up entwined with Reet, whose lineage isn’t what he thought it was, and Qven, a Presger Translator on the verge of adulthood. I don’t want to spoil anything, so will simply say that the plot always goes where it should but not always where you’d expect. Along the way, Leckie asks big questions about trauma, power, and secrets. She answers them, too. But, again, not always the way you’d expect her to.
I’ll put my marker down now that this book will be on most of the award slates at the end of the year. It’ll be well-earned. Translation State shows off Leckie’s skills masterfully.
Adrienne Martini has been reading or writing about science fiction for decades and has had two non-fiction, non-genre books published by Simon and Schuster. She lives in Upstate New York with one husband, two kids, and one corgi. She also runs a lot.
This review and more like it in the April 2023 issue of Locus.
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