Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series was a big hit within genre fiction at a time when I was mostly checked out. It sounded like the sort of thing I would like, so I’ve been meaning to circle back to it at some point. And while I still haven’t made it to the original trilogy, the opportunity to dip into the world came this year when Translation State—a standalone novel within the Imperial Radch universe—made the Hugo shortlist for Best Novel.
Translation State follows three perspective characters who begin the novel on three entirely different planets. One has reached middle age with a life dedicated to caring for hir wealthy grandmother, whose death spurs hir to take up a job outside the family estate, one that involves investigating a century-old missing person case. Another has grown up in a minority family, trying to hide his destructive urges in order to hang on to a menial job, but finding himself tangled up with a subversive group who promises to shed light on his mysterious history. And the third is entirely non-human, raised in a casually cannibalistic society to hopefully learn to translate between the mysteriously alien Presger and the sentient peoples within the Radch. The stories don’t intersect immediately, but it’s no secret that they will intersect, with high stakes on all sides.
The main strengths of Translation State are in the characters and worldbuilding. Each perspective character is convincing and compelling, and the third represents a fascinatingly alien society. Throw in a prose style that’s engaging and makes it easy to keep turning the pages, along with a healthy dose of alien politics, and it’s easy to see why Leckie’s work has garnered such a fanbase.
In fact, I really only have one major criticism of Translation State, though it’s one that casts a shadow over the entire second half of the novel. Despite all of the alien messiness, political landmines, and danger to life and limb, the main perspective characters all have stories that seem to be driving toward a fairly clear resolution. And when they arrive at those resolutions, it’s certainly narratively satisfying, but it does rob a little bit of the tension from the journey, and it feels more clean-cut than such a fantastic disaster of an inciting incident deserves. That’s not a big enough complaint to sour me on a book that I really enjoyed reading, but it just brings the impression that Translation State had another level that it never hit.
Overall, Translation State is a great way to dip a toe into the Imperial Radch universe without circling back to the beginning. The worldbuilding and characterization are excellent, and it reads more easily than you’d expect based on the quantity of weird aliens. It ends up a little neater than it probably should, but while that may keep it off my favorites list, it certainly doesn’t prevent it from being a really good read.
Recommended if you like: bingeable space operas, alien aliens.
Can I use it for Bingo? It’s hard mode for Space Opera and is also a Book Club book with Multiple POVs.
Overall rating: 16 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.