Translation State, by Ann Leckie

 This entry in the Imperial Radch universe really shows Ann Leckie's writing skills. We have three protagonists, and cannot do without any of them. And we get to learn more about the Presger, that incredibly alien threat.

There's also a lot of interesting and astute political commentary here. Leckie has built a consistent world where gender and race are fluid concepts, with alternative pronouns used naturally. She then reintroduces race and oppression through the Phren and the Hikipi, two human races from LoveHate station now residing on a planet. The Hikipi suffer from terrible oppression at the hands of the Phren, but this does not make them into saints and martyrs. The Hikipi fall for disinformation (the Presger aren't real!) and commit violence just like real humans do. The point of valuing all people, and lifting up those who have suffered oppression, is not to put them on a pedestal. It's to make space for them as people.

Family and human connection are the center of the novel. Protagonists Reet (raised as human) and Qven (a Presger Translator) want to be human, and their family (who adopted Reet, and then embraced Qven when Qven is in a relationship with Reet) fight for their right to be human.

There's so much high quality teaching going on that it starts to become the point of the book. That's the only issue I have, and hard to say it's a real one. The Imperial Radch is an incredibly complex place, Leckie can explore it for her whole career and just get started. Looking forward to the next one.

My Goodreads Review

Witch King, by Martha Wells

I just finished reading this, which took a really long time. Martha Wells is a very versatile writer--the Murderbot series is all quick hits and snappy dialog, a fun read. This one feels more like a masterwork in the making--no doubt Wells has huge files of backstory. Very little of that is in the book, you have to figure out the fantasy world as she describes it, which is fine. Wells is taking her time building characters--Demon and Prince of the 4th House Kaiisterion (Kai to his friends) being the protagonist, with fellow traveler Ziede (I never figured out exactly what she was, a Witch I guess?).

A lot of the book is driven by Kai's memory of events, and his speculations on what and who is driving them. The book opens with Kai waking up from an imprisonment that should have been impossible, and freeing Ziede from a similar imprisonment. From there we have a very slow build, first introducing the powerful factions, then watching Kai and Ziede narrow down who was behind their capture. There's not a lot of action in either of the parallel story lines until the last third of the book.

There's a whole lot of potential here, you can see the scaffolding for the above-mentioned masterwork. This is one where the sequels could be better than the opener. This one feels like it's mostly introduction (through actions, but still an introduction).