On 01/05/2026 05:38, Tony Nance wrote:
And there sat "Radiant Star", a brand new standalone by Ann Leckie in
her Imperial Radch universe.
I love her writing and enjoyed it whilst reading but overall was
disappointed because I was expecting similar to the Ancillary series. I
still recommend it. Three stars.
There was little Radchai involvement other than that the "civil war"
from the Ancillary series prevented food and other necessities being
supplied to the remote planet, Oiooiooai??, (perhaps next door to Old MacDonald's Farm), governed by a Radchai troop ship. The emphasis was on
the religious ideologies of opposing factions vying for space in the
Temporal Location where the Radiant Star, a god, will return. The
society and its breakdown, (starvation was the main issue), was
portrayed from the viewpoint of different characters whose behaviours
were mainly explained by their detailed weird religious motivations. The character revived from stasis had a different motivation. The fact that
his age and recent memories were thirty old events to others and
forgotten or misremembered was not exploited.
Another issue for me was that I didn't really care about the characters
even when understanding their attitudes.
James Nicolls' recent review is well worth reading but after you read
the book for yourselves.
--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)