Ancillary Justice

Item: Ancillary Justice
Author: WhichBook

Ann Leckie

In this intergalactic quest Breq is on a mission for vengeance. Half-human, half-ancillary and agender, Breq is a multidimensional character who engages with various different adversaries and allies along the way. This leap into a fantastical world may at seem, at first, to some far-fetched, but the nub of the story is one of conflict and unrest between different rival factions, making it an instantly recognisable and contemporary plot.

Extract

If I had left Seivarden in the snow, this would never have happened. I had been so close. After twenty years of planning and working, of manoeuvring, two steps forward here, a step backward there, slowly, patiently, against all likelihood I had gotten this far. So many times I had made a throw like this, not only my success at hazard, but my life, and each time I had won, or at least not lost in any way that prevented me from trying again. Until now. And for such a stupid reason. Above me the clouds hid an unreachable sky, the future I no longer had, the goal I was now incapable of accomplishing. Failed.

Parallels