Book Thoughts: Translation State by Ann Leckie
After I read a book, I generally email my thoughts or notes to a friend. I'm now copying these first emails to this blog since it's easier to revisit. Not spoiler free.
Original Sent Date: February 19, 2025
By Ann Leckie, who wrote Ancillary Justice. That and this book are all part of the Imperial Radch series, though my memories on the other books I've read are now foggy and there's at least one I haven't read.
It's nice to see a book go more into the Presger translators. I just in all had a good time and don't have anything in particular to comment on, other than the fact that I liked the three view points and Qven's whole experience was extremely interesting to read esp in first person as someone who grew up without the human concepts of compassion and the like.
I guess if I were the one writing this I wouldn't have made Reet and Qven match for real but I guess that's a part fantasy of finding a partner that suits you and wants you in the same way you want them with full respect of each other's autonomy. I guess it's the romance-adjacent fantasy that said connection transcends all else and makes you feel like you aren't alone anymore. But anyway, happy for them. Happy also for Enae's whole arc.
Need to reread the entire series at some point. I really love the ancillary / ship thing and seeing all the committee members was fun.
Also the whole bureaucracy and procedure of it all really reminds me of what we're hoping for currently with law to intervene. Something that's been mystifying me lately is how much rules and procedures are abided by because we set up complex systems to delineate power. Like how come anyone actually respects any of that when you can just go around and gun people down when you disagree? Perhaps the energy cost of doing so all the time is what leads to rules and the like, which then have to be enforced by the threat of violence underlying them (aka if you breach this i'll invade you or whatever), but at some point people forget this and try to act like the rules themselves mean anything and then are shocked pikachu face when factions like Trump actually come in with real violence and do away with all sorts of rules. But at what point does that dissonance happen, and is it enough to be self-fulfilling sometimes where if everyone forgets violence is an option there will be less violence? But the FBI and CIA and police all exist so is it just the citizens who forget? But also I feel like being trained in how to use a gun makes you more likely to use one. But maybe that's an acceptable risk idk. Anyway that has nothing to do with this book it just reminded me of it.
Find it funny that this book had two neo-pronoun sets but neither of them were ones I've ever met someone using so I still had whiplash. all of us gen Z-adjacent losers are using uncommon ones i guess!