Reviews and Comments

As the title suggests the intriguing part of this novella is about origins and authenticity. The precipitating event is an attempt to discover the truth about a forgery but from there the action blooms into the political conflicts between solar systems and their cultures.

The central character is good hearted, self-deprecating, often bumbling and subject to deus ex machina. The central plot is a straight-forward romance bordering on comedy. However they are a reasonable point of view character into another part of the Radch universe and its is interesting to see the perspective of cultures that were mostly being obliterated and assimilated before. The smaller scale provides a richer sense of place.

I had read the other books before and enjoyed the new perspective of the consequences of the original trilogy but I think it stands alone and the references to the wider universe are more fun for fans than necessary to enjoy this story.

I really loved Ancillary Justice and while it ended on an open note I felt the tone shift from the first book's renegades on the fringes of the empire to being at the heart of the empire's governance here was hard to adjust to.

Although there's a conspiracy, a murder, the backdrop of civil war and a mysterious jump gate much of the second half of the book is taken up my musings on the nature of justice and the relationship between the empire, the representatives of its immortal emperor and the citizens of the empire.

The action shifts to a planet and its attendant space station, much of the action revolves around the growing and harvesting of tea. Around halfway through I felt the pace had slowed down to the point where I felt I was enjoying the writing in terms of the scene setting and the world building around the politics within the empire.

While the conclusion accelerates back up with a bomb and a shootout it still has a cliffhanger with much in the background plot unresolved and to be honest not a lot of progress on the concept of just and honourable behaviour within the Radch. Unlike the first book though the idea that the conclusion of this book is just a stepping stone into the conclusion of the trilogy feels easier to me.

This is a bit of an odd book in the series. I general enjoy the titles that focus on the creation of the game or its critical and cultural reception and influence but this is quite a personal memoir that combines the author's discomfit with his love of fantasy and genre fiction, his writing of a D&D novel and literary fiction and his love of Baldur's Gate.

The game is essentially a background detail to the memoir, which isn't badly written but just didn't feel to me like the bill of goods I signed up to.

There are some good points about some of the strangeness of the relationships within the game fiction and a very good point about how scripted open world games empty of life the more players interact with them. The world removed of injustice becomes dull and impossible to engage with.

However ultimately it felt the only point being made was that every cultural artefact is a product of its moment.