Translation State

eBook, 322 pages

English language

Published June 5, 2023 by Orbit.

ISBN:
978-0-356-51794-0
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4 stars (3 reviews)

The mystery of a missing translator sets three lives on a collision course that will have a ripple effect across the stars in this powerful new novel by award-winning author Ann Leckie.

Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them: learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn't "optimal behavior". I's the type of behavior that results in elimination.

But Qven rebels. And in doing so, their path collides with those of two others. Enae, a reluctant diplomat whose dead grandmaman has left hir an impossible task as an inheritance: hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. And Reet, an adopted mechanic who is increasingly desperate to learn about …

1 edition

Too small for a space opera

3 stars

It's not like this was bad, it just wasn't super gripping and I kind of expected a larger story from Leckie. I think there were a lot of really interesting world-building elements here about how the aliens process time and space and the resulting ways they view humans but that stuff is sort of the backdrop for Leckie's exploration of character issues revolving around trauma and loneliness and making choices. Those dramas are interesting too but overall the book felt too small for a space book.

A Wild Psychological Ride

5 stars

Anne Leckie's world building and psychological insights into the different alien, AI and human races and factions are like no other. Sometimes it's hard to follow if you don't concentrate on the story, but it definitely never gets boring. If you liked the Ancillary books, this one is definitely for you.