Book Review: Another Gem from Ann Leckie

Translation State, by Ann Leckie (Orbit)

Ann Leckie is a jewel of modern science fiction. Her worldbuilding and characters are consistently original, nuanced, deeply resonant, and well thought-out. To describe the plot and premises of Translation State is to ignore her masterful layering of themes and her ability to create truly relatable alien characters.

This story centers on three characters:  Enae, a reluctant diplomat tasked with hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years; Reet, an adopted mechanic who is desperate to learn about his genetic roots to explain why he operates so differently from those around him. And Qven, created to be a Presger translator, an intermediary between the dangerous—as in world-destroying—Presger and human civilization. The Presger are truly alien, and it’s only through a centuries-old Treaty and the translators that they haven’t inadvertently destroyed entire systems of inhabited worlds.

Presger translators are far from benign; in their formative stages, for example. they think nothing of vivisecting or slaughtering their age-mates. They must be taught human customs, everything from wearing clothes, making small talk, drinking tea, and sitting on furniture to not casually eating one another. Qven is no exception, and Reet very well may be at least part translator, although his adopted parents have instilled human values in him.

Leckie manages to make both characters, as well as the endearing Enae, sympathetic, understandable, and even upon occasion admirable. She introduces Enae first, inviting the reader into a complex universe through a single relatable character. I had a harder time with Reet initially, but by the time it was clear the story lines would merge, the deeper themes of consent, becoming fully oneself, loving another as I-Thou, and the meaning of being human had me hooked. I loved Leckie’s subtle hand in conveying sophisticated, often bizzare cultural conventions without a trace of ramming them down the reader’s throat.

Leckie also portrays gender conventions in ways that are occasionally humorous—like the way the Imperial Radch insist on using “she” for everyone, but Reet keeps correcting them, “I’m a he!” and Qven, for the first time given a choice, insists on being an “e” (and, after seeing the unconditional love and support of Reet’s three moms, makes a conscious choice to become human).

Highly recommended.

 

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