Ancillary Justice
Ann Leckie
21 people recommended it in 13 threads, 2013–2025.
2 commenters pushed back on it — worth reading the threads.
What people on Hacker News said
There are books (e.g. Ancillary Justice) that I know I would have not finished if I were reading the book directly (for various reasons). But the audio book narration was so good I stuck to it.
A spaceship's AI becomes confined to a single human body and seeks revenge
Oh man, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is AMAZING on so many levels.
Culture, gender identity, hive mind, all rolled up into one extremely dense universe with a rich history told through warfare and cutting remarks, humanising potentially inhuman central characters with a vague number of limbs.
Ancillary Justice is an excellent book, and the choice to make the main character not really understand gender and use female pronouns for everyone really makes it obvious how much we normally assume people to be male in the absence of other info.
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before? 2020 · 3 recommendations
- Ask HN: Best books you read in 2017? 2017 · 3 recommendations
- Summer Reading List 2017 · 3 recommendations
- Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books? 2023 · 2 recommendations
- What are your favorite sci-fi and fantasy books? 2015 · 2 recommendations
- My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before 2025 · 1 recommendation
- Books I Loved Reading in 2024 2025 · 1 recommendation
- Five Books: The best books on everything 2023 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once? 2020 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Books you read in 2018? 2018 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Great nontech book that you read recently? 2015 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days? 2015 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: What was the best book you read in 2013? 2013 · 1 recommendation