HIGHLIGHTS
~are you human if you want to eat people?
~wherein the purchase of a shawl makes me bawl
~always beware conspiracy theorists
~especially when they might bring about the end of the human race

Translation State is the fifth book in Leckie’s Imperial Radch universe, and though you really don’t need to have read the standalone Provenance, I don’t recommend jumping into Translation without having read the original trilogy first. Ancillary Mercy, in particular, provides a lot of context for Translation that you might be a bit lost without. (Although if you have read it, you probably won’t need to reread it before reading this – Translation ought to jog your memory enough just fine.)

As I now definitely expect from Leckie, Translation State is fun; not a quippy thriller-thing, but twisty and thoughtful and in places even kind of cosy. Although the various plotlines have potentially huge implications for all of human space (and non-human space, for that matter) each one is very…peopley, more character-driven than action-driven, quick and deft but also impressively introspective. I mean, it’s Leckie; it is well-established that she can balance plot and introspection beautifully. And just as Breq of the first trilogy is an incredibly interesting being to use as a character – as well as her being an interesting person in her own right – Leckie has set up a wonderful cast here in Translation State.

We open with Enae, whose situation reminded me quite a lot of Halla’s at the opening of T Kingfisher’s Swordheart – except worse. Both Enae and Halla have devoted huge chunks of their lives to taking care of ailing relatives; but it’s pretty clear that Halla’s valued her highly, whereas Enae’s, as becomes clear over the course of the book, was emotionally and verbally abusive, crushing Enae’s spirit to a horrible degree. Seeing hir blossom as sie turns the mind sie’s never really been allowed to use to hir new job was a genuine delight. The Shawl Scene – you’ll know it when you get to it – made me tear up, I was so happy for hir!

Another seriously delightful character is Qven – the only first-person pov in the book. Qven is a Presger Translator – a creation of the terrifying, implacably deadly alien Presger, made to act as a go-between between them and the other sapient species of the universe. The Presger Translators were a big, interesting question-mark in the original trilogy; extremely weird, extremely important, and, honestly, extremely funny. But there’s not really anything funny about poor Qven’s childhood; a whole lot of it is pretty disturbing by human standards (although nothing’s graphic on-page), and after a combination of traumas – one of which can be compared to attempted sexual assault, although really it’s a fair bit worse than that – they’re deemed capital-f Flawed. This is, as you might imagine, very Not Good.

And finally, there’s Reet – a perfectly normal orphan raised by loving parents, drifting through his life but more or less content about it. He’s probably the character I found most relatable – despite the urges to bite people and take them apart. It’s not like he ever acts on it! He just wants to eat his snacks and watch his favourite tv shows – the Murderbot vibes are strong with this one! But when a sort of cultural club offers him answers about his ancestry, he accidentally becomes involved in some very tangled and dangerous politics…

It takes a while for these three to end up in the same space, but I never felt like things were moving too slowly; I enjoyed my time with each character, even before the ‘proper’ plot really got going. I’ll admit, Qven’s parts were definitely the most interesting – Leckie very successfully conveys the extreme Otherness of the Translators, especially the young ones, and as someone who swoons for worldbuilding I wanted to know everything there was to know about what they actually are and how they work. There was a really good balance of disturbing and funny – you want to laugh when you learn how rigidly the Translators adhere to what they’ve been taught is Proper Human Behaviour, like taking tea and making small-talk – and then you learn about…well. Spoilers.

I think most people who’ve read the other books will work out what’s happening pretty quickly, and see the big reveal coming, what the big Thing is that tangles these three characters together. That didn’t ruin anything for me, though. This is much less a what book than it is a why book – which does mean that if you want the action of the Ancillary books, well, you’re not going to find it here. The stakes do get very high, but it never reaches that frenetic, turn-the-pages-as-fast-as-you-can tension I remember from the Ancillary trilogy. I suppose most of the plot takes place in a relatively short timeframe, but it never felt like things were moving especially quickly to me. Not too slow, either! Just, not super fast-paced and packed full of emperors trying to assassinate themselves and whatnot.

The Big Picture story of Translation State is primarily concerned with a question that the Radch carefully never asked the Presger, but which is kind of an ethical must-ask: who, exactly, do the Translators belong to? We know the Presger created them…out of stolen and massacred humans, mixed with bits of the Presger themselves. Does that make them Presger? Does it make them Presger property? Are they human enough to be human, and if so, what obligations do the rest of humanity have to them? Do they have human rights? Should they?

What I really enjoyed about this aspect of the book was that there was no easy answer. Certain biological facts make certain things necessary for Presger Translators, and all the debating and philosophising in the universe can’t change those facts. On the one hand, that does, arguably, make a very large part of the book – which is arguing and debating and philosophising most fiercely – redundant. I can see that being a bit annoying for a certain kind of reader. But I think Leckie does a good enough job at getting you invested enough in the characters that the debate really does matter to you – it did for me, at least. And I was extremely interested in how the debate was affected by the politics of all the different species represented in the Presger Treaty; particularly in how the relationships of the Radch, specifically, to other species tipped the scales in one direction or the other. Like Provenance, Translation State takes place outside of the Radch and follows humans who don’t belong to it, and this is our first time really seeing how much power the Radch hold as it relates to the rest of humanity – and how much the rest of humanity does not necessarily approve of how the Radch represent humanity’s interests to the alien alliance. There were hints of this in Provenance, but it’s much more explored here.

Basically, Translation State was a pretty fun, interesting, thinky read. …Or at least, the first 2/3s (or maybe 3/4s?) was. But the last bit of the book was a major letdown in several ways.

Translation State presents itself primarily as an exploration of the Translators; their culture, their roles, even their biology. And we do learn more about them than we did before this book. But frustratingly, the Big Mysteries that are held over the reader’s head for the entirety of Translation State are never properly explained. Adult Translators try to explain the Presger to Qven, for example, but give up after a few tantilising hints, insisting that only an adult Translator has a hope of understanding. And that explanation never comes to the reader. Which felt very much like having a piece of cake dangled in front of my face for 400+ pages, and then it being whisked away at the last second rather than put on my plate. It was frustrating as hell.

Much, much worse was the incredibly weak resolution of the biggest, most immediate and personal issue for two of the main characters. I was genuinely surprised that this huge thing – the most time-sensitive plot, with the highest personal stakes for the two characters involved – ended up being resolved off-page. After a whole novel leading up to it, I took it for granted that we would see at least the beginning of that resolution, even if it would probably be a fade-to-black scene. (It’s not romantic or sexual, but an allosexual romantic plotline makes a good comparison; after a whole book of will-they-won’t-they, you’d expect to see them kiss on-page, wouldn’t you? If you turned the page, found a bit of a time-skip, and were told the kiss happened where you couldn’t see, that would be a bit of a let-down, wouldn’t it? And this is a much bigger deal than a first kiss, or full-on sex, which can, after all, be completely devoid of meaning depending on the people involved and their relationship to each other. This is a Huge Lifechanging Forever Thing, and after all that build-up…) So for the book to instead skip over it, handwave it, call it all wrapped up and finished so blithely – I was pretty upset, to be honest. And I have no idea why the decision was made to keep it off-page. I have no doubt in my mind Leckie could have written it, and done it very well. So…the hell?

A more minor gripe: I have zero interest in following characters who are lost in mazes or death-traps or cursed temples – any kind of plotline that means we have to watch the cast go round and round trying to find their way out bores me to tears. (Even if it’s a scenario where a wrong step means death. Sorry, it’s just not my thing.) And a big chunk of the ending was made up of just that. It was extremely random, and felt like a really lazy way to stall everything as an excuse to eat up the time that would bring us to the catalyst point for two of the characters. I can think of half-a-dozen other ways Leckie could have used that page-count to tick the boxes that needed ticking, ways that wouldn’t have had us on the pause button for way too many pages.

Just. What???

So I’m pretty conflicted. On the one hand, Translation State is extremely readable, and I found most of it to be a really great story that I didn’t want to put down. On the other hand, several aspects of the last chunk of the book massively disappointed me.

Thus, I’m splitting the difference and calling it a 3 (and a half)-star book – and I suggest that anyone who wants to read Translation State borrow a library copy rather than buying their own. You can always buy a copy to keep afterwards if it turns out you love it.

(thanks NetGalley for the advance copy)

Leckie brings us back to the setting of the Ancillary books for another novel, and while I welcomed the chance to learn more about some of the other people and cultures (as well as new factions I don't remember from the trilogy), it just didn't grab me like Breq's investigation. I'd love to spend more time with Enae, though; hir viewpoint was firmly what I enjoyed most.

"Translation State" is set in the same universe as Ann Leckie's superb Imperial Radch trilogy. Her previous stand-alone, "Provenance," was disapointing, but I am happy to report that I found "State" quite a page-turner. (Not in a small way because it is a much awaited deeper look at Presger Translators!)

The novel is a well-contained tale told from three points of view. There’s Qven, a young translator-to-be; Reet, an orphaned human with mysterious origins and inclinations, and Enae, a sheltered human sent out to investigate a 200-year-old disappearance of a Presger translator.

That's just the surface. Underneath the plot, the novel is a look at how governments and society attempt to dictate one's identity. It addresses issues of nature vs. nurture, autonomy, gender; and tries to answer such questions as What is family? What constitutes a "person"? What does being "human" mean? What role do genetics play in determining identity?

These are hefty topics that can be quite a drag to a reader's enjoyment. Fortunately, Leckie's cozy - almost whimsical - quality of writing presents these issues through the points of view of very approachable and appealing protagonists. Even the one whose nature can be *quite* off-putting (cannibalistic Qven) becomes a favorite due to their bubbly child-like naivete, free from pretension or calculation.

All three narrators are searching for a place to belong and discover it in found family. In many ways they become so familiar and endearing, they are the readers' family as well. And since Leckie has a habit of bringing back characters from her previous novels ("State" does not disappoint in that regard), we can look forward to catching up with them again in the future.

This was an engrossing, entertaining read, and I recommend it full-heartedly.

First and foremost, I must express that Translation State is a remarkable standalone novel that unfolds in the aftermath of the Imperial Radch trilogy. Yet, what truly captivated me was the undeniable fact that I enjoyed it even more than the original trilogy.

What set this book apart for me was its impeccably crafted and contained storyline. Each protagonist received a satisfying character arc, tightly wrapped up by the book's conclusion. The plot unfolded seamlessly, leading to a climactic finale brimming with high stakes. Each narrative step felt meticulously planned and immensely enjoyable.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Netgalley and Orbit for providing me with a copy of this remarkable book for review purposes. Rest assured, all opinions expressed are solely my own.

I always make the same mistake with Ann Leckie. I think it’s going to be serious, intellectual science fiction, and it always ends up being a story I can’t put down. When I get to the review writing part, all I seem to be able to write about are the serious intellectual themes, so let me take this time to say that I had a hard time putting this down to do things like earn money and sleep.

Early in the book, Reet Hluid’s mother reminds him that he doesn’t have to be what others want him to be. That is the crux for our three main characters, Reet (he/him), Enae (sie/hir), and Qven, a Presger translator for whom gender is meaningless. I loved these weird baby characters and wanted to swaddle them against the rising political tensions.

There is a thing that happens before you get to the halfway mark that in another book would have been a shocking twist. It’s a big enough thing that I won’t spoil it, but when it happens you will have seen it coming chapters earlier. More important than the plot twist is the implications of the twist. While the thing does set off a chain of events, it questions the distinction between human and alien. There is tension between who a person chooses to be and how they are shaped by the family/culture/political entity around them.

In the Imperial Radch series, there are no ethical empires. Empires are a pyramid scheme and require a constant source of populations to other and oppress. The previously conquered become the instruments of oppression as they assimilate and feel like they are moving up the pyramid (they are never moving up the pyramid). Empires also require efficiency, which means individuals must be easily categorized. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that all Radch citizens are she because it is more efficient to flatten everyone into one pronoun.

Translation State continues this exploration, but outside the Radchaai. Governments hate mess because it’s easier to govern the predictable (even if the predictable is occasional bouts of political violence). The human systems outside the Imperial Radch don’t want the empire to be able to impose it’s narrow definition of human on them, but they are happy to decide some groups of humans have fewer rights than other as is convenient. The alien Presger want to keep their cultivated human Translators in a narrow role and do this by restricting information and thus choice.

I’m leaving out so many things I want to talk about! Translation State is a 9 course meal and I’m just telling you about some of the ingredients. Leckie has a way with making pointed social commentary while also being funny. The way Qven is raised to be human through a Presger lens sounds absurd until you realize how closely Qven’s scripted interactions sound like conversations we have all the time.

CW: police brutality, physical attack, arrest and confinement, torture (not graphic), political violence, emotional abuse.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Orbit books and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

Fantastic! Follows three characters who have been kept from being their true selves. One is loved and cared for, but can sense their own alienness. One is taken advantage of, then thrust into the world, but finds a way to embrace it. And one is truly alien, but still wants to make choices they aren't met to be able to make.

Utterly blown away. Having read the previous Imperial Radch books, I had no particular issues jumping right into this one but I don't think it would be necessary to have that knowledge to enjoy the heck out of it. Helpful, yes, but not necessary. It was so much FUN. So subtly snarky. And it was ever so nice to get more backstory on the Presger and their Translators.

Y'ALL. This is what great scifi is like. Hooked from page one, attached to the characters right away, and reminded of past characters/settings without being hit in the face by them. I loved the way each character struggled with the themes of self and community and how their stories intertwined. Also, I would be remiss not to mention that some of this book is, frankly, gross AF. But in a scifi way, you know? Like, I couldn't look away. Heed those CWs and you'll be fine. We are lucky to live in the same time as Ann Leckie!

Translation State is one of my most anticipated science fiction releases of the year and it does not disappoint. A charming story set around adolescent, self identity, and a mystery will delight readers looking for a feel good read. The gender identity storyline is excellently well done and feels natural which is one of the biggest highlights of the novel for me. Overall Leckie has hit it out of the ball park again. Perfect for fans of Murderbot, A Memory Called Empire, and Agatha Christie.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.
Another Ann Leckie novel is always something to celebrate. This takes place in the Radch world, again, which I am not tired of at all.
This is a an intricate and thought-provoking novel; it took me a bit longer to get into, but ended up being very satisfying. I thought the examination of "do you have to be only what your original purpose, or creator, or body, says you have to be" to be excellent and timely. I hope we are not done with the Radch, I have enjoyed the quite different stories set there.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

The beginning of Ann Leckie's Translation State is in the best tradition of romantic adventure stories. We have Enae, the put-upon unmarried relative who receives an unexpected inheritance on hir grandmaman's death, Reet, the adopted child whose birth family might have more-than-human powers, and Qven, the child of an aristocratic family drawn into danger by a charming friend. Reet isn't sure where he comes from, or why he feels a disconcerting urge to peel the skin off the people around him and see what's inside. Qven, on the other hand, is clearly alien, raised (and specially designed) to become one of the Translators who interpret human experience for the inscrutable and dangerous Presger.

It would be easy to collapse the various differences into one grand binary--to contrast human love for family with Translator coldness, or to make the Translators' strangeness a metaphor for human neurodivergence--and I admire Leckie's refusal to do anything of the sort. Enae's relatives don't care about hir, while Reet's adoptive parents love him dearly. His blunt, awkward Nana won my heart with a cynical observation on group dynamics that will be familiar to geeks the world over.

I was settling in for a book balancing lighthearted tropes and acutely observed social commentary when the story shifted. Enae, who begins by discovering small luxuries and gaining confidence, finds hirself at the edge of violent civil unrest. Qven's arc moves through tragedy to something rather like what you'd get if you put arranged marriage and fuck-or-die in a blender with a lot of alien goo.

And then something goes wrong with the station--something Presger levels of wrong--and all the acutely observed social tensions turn into a desperate struggle to communicate before the clock runs out. The precise details reminded me of the mathematical concept of monodromy (something that happens when you travel in a loop around a singularity). If your personal monodromy entails reading this book multiple times, I suspect you will be richly rewarded!

This title was on my most anticipated list for 2023 so I was very excited to get an advance copy. Although related to the Imperial Radch trilogy it is a self contained story, neatly and satisfactorily wrapped up in one book, which I appreciated. Sometimes it's nice to have a solid stand alone story when everything seems to be part of a series. Translation expands on the mysterious Presgr Translators introduced as chaotic unfathomable but powerful agents of the Presgr aliens and impressively makes them feel truly alien, not just humans dressed in different costumes. Translation explores identity as all three main characters with alternating POVs do not quite fit outside expectations of who they are and struggle to define themselves. I appreciated that Enae is older than many protagonists, suddenly cast out into the world after spending many years in the tiny blindered world of caregiving, completely out of their depth but still determined to do a good job. Reet is adopted and longs to know where he comes from and Qven has never quite fit in the others around them. I loved this book and it made me want to reread the original trilogy and then reread Translation again with the universe fresh in my mind.

I suspect that writing a blockbuster trilogy nearly right out of the gate (or appearing to--I'm sure that even the authors of debut smash hits have their piles of increasingly polite "no thank you" letters from publishers) has to be incredibly rough on authors.
Pressure, of course, but also the fact that no one who reviews your work can do so except in light of the looming impression made on them by your first work(s).

I can't help but think I might be more generous if this were the first work by Leckie I had read. (For reader-compatibility gauging purposes, I loved the initial Radch trilogy, really enjoyed Raven Tower, and did not care for Provenance.)
I devoured this in nearly one sitting, staying up absurdly late the first night before forcing myself to settle on a stopping point. I clearly didn't have to fight my way through it by a long shot. So why the 3 stars?

I went in a little cautiously after Provenance and was, I admit, on the lookout for the things that had put me off of that book. Most glaringly for Provenance, I could not stand the main character, Ingrid--she drove me bananas. So good news for Translation State: there are 3 MCs whose stories we follow in alternating chapters! Even if one of them were to end up grating, at least they weren't the only one.

I ended up feeling like Translation State had a cracking good plot (and gosh--finally! learning! about the inscrutable Presger!) but suffered from some of what I found to be the shortcomings of Provenance. But where those shortcomings were turned up to 11 in Provenance, they were a more stately 4 or 5 in Translation State. Translation State didn't have the glaring plot holes that plagued Provenance, but while we start out with only one of our 3 protagonists being... just absolutely an Ingrid-analog, there's no other way to put it--the *other two characters*, distinct at the beginning, also start drifting toward behaving like Ingrid copies by the end of the book. Ingrid was emo-level mopey and prone to excessive weeping and self-pity alternating with a staggeringly naive, hair-brained pluckiness and recklessness. Ingrid read as being around 12 to 14 in that book and while Enae, one of Translation State's MCs and the primary protagonist, doesn't quite come across as 14, sie does not read even remotely believably as a 56-year-old person, even accounting for hir (using the book's pronouns) having been a wallflower shut-in who's been dominated by hir family hir whole life.

There's hammering points home via restating things over and over instead of either saying something once or letting the reader put things together for themselves (though thankfully this isn't as dramatic as it was in Provenance). One of my least-liked approaches to romances (or, accounting for aliens, things that are a bit like romances) is to have the characters involved constantly angsting and wringing their hands over how they have a crush (or whatever) on Other Character but Other Character would *never* like little ol' them. Bonus if it's in the face of plenty of evidence to the contrary. There kept being moments near the end (when all 3 MCs are drifting toward being analogs of that same character I'm not wild about) where I'd be emotionally affected by a scene and connecting to a character... only to have that character veer back into "but they could never love meeeee" territory and the connection would end and I'd be annoyed.

Things that were going to happen were broadcast too clearly (if only by virtue of characters moaning about how X definitely would never, could never, happen, woe is them)--but nowhere near as overtly or frequently as in Provenance. There's also kind of a parade of side characters who all happen to take a personal interest in our MCs and decide to Impart Sage Knowledge upon them via overly-familiar conversations (often using the Socratic method / asking leading questions: extra annoying), which has the effect of making either a) all of our adult main characters seem like children (one of them is arguably only a quasi-adult, but this happens to all of them), or b) everyone around them seem oddly patronizing. Exposition-by-dialogue is noticeable but much, much better than it was in Provenance.

I've listed out my gripes here, but I really *did* like Translation State--it's easier to articulate what didn't work and why than what did and why, but also as I said at the start, how I read is definitely influenced by how impressed I've been by other works of Leckie's. I raced through it in less than 24 hours and I'm absolutely glad I read it... what the reader learns about the mysterious Presger is *riveting*, and some characters you recognize from other Radch tales make appearances or are referred to--certainly you'll want to read this one if you plan to read more books set in this universe. But with limited shelf space, I'd be more likely to borrow this from a library or get the ebook when it's on sale than buy a deadtree copy.

Thanks to Orbit Books and Netgalley. I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Translation State is a stand-alone novel set in the Imperial Ranch universe. If you have not read the original trilogy (Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy), you should really start there. You may be able to follow along with the story without reading the trilogy, but you will not get the full implications of this novel. There is just so much that happened to make it to this point.

I adore Ann Leckie and, specifically, this world. I love how Ann talks about gender from a human standpoint. She explores the complexities and presents a world where gender is no longer restrained to this arbitrary binary system that we currently have. I also love how she presents alien cultures. They are not human, and at times can be extremely hard to relate to. Which is brilliant. Even more so, she writes them in a way that we can relate to aspects of their unfamiliarity.

Translation state focuses on Presgr Translators. Presgr is a race that is so dissimilar to humanity, with no concept of individuality, that they had to construct essentially a new species to even acknowledge the sentience of humans. Translation State explores this intersection of species in Presgr Translators while also showing the politics that we have seen in prior novels. It was brilliantly done.

I adore this world and am in awe of Ann Leckie’s skill.

Thanks so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC copy of this book!

I have scheduled promotional posts around release day for this book and I will provide a full review on my Instagram once I am able to get to this read.

Rating 5 stars on Netgalley as a placeholder for me to update later once the review is complete.

Will also complete a review on Goodreads once read.

Thanks again!

Really great, unexpectedly funny and heartwarming follow up to Ancillary series. Really a tale of fitting in and found family...with a heavy focus on the Presger (and not eating said family). Great read.

I've not read Ann Leckie before. I have, of course, heard of Ann Leckie. I work in a library and like science fiction; I've just never read anything written by her before. I am thinking I may have to read some more Ann Leckie.

Translation State is a standalone novel set in Leckie's Imperial Radch universe. The story revolves around three characters: a person setting out on a diplomatic mission, a person in the throes of transitioning to adulthood, and a person with no knowledge of who they are discovering where they belong.

The book is a meditation on identity, gender, and the power governments have to limit personal growth. It certainly resonates to things going on in the United States right now, but it is also an interesting science fictional exploration akin to Ursula K. Le Guin and Lois McMaster Bujold.

Reading Translation State, I was captivated by the switch in narrators and the ideas presented. I think the only reason I didn't give this five stars is because I wanted a bit more of Reet and Qven's endgame. But still, this was a really great example of science fiction that explores ideas without being weighted down by excessive plot machinations.

Read TRANSLATION STATE by Ann Leckie if you love mysteries, multiple narrators, space stations, artificial intelligence, coffee, strained treaties, scary aliens, childhood trauma, breaking the laws of physics, dumplings, questioning what it means to be human, and exiled pirates.

So nice to return to the Imperial Radch, and this time, gasp!, we have coffee drinkers. We also get a better look at the Presger translators, though the Presger themselves remain off scene.

This can be read a lot of ways in our current debate about identity, but I see it mostly as three people trying to figure out if who they are is who they want to be, and taking that choice.

Structurally, there is a neat trick with three independent storylines, so the stories are moving forward at 1/3 speed, then the storylines start joining and the pace increases at just the right time. It is like having a great drummer in your band.