Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)

“I am a ship. Or I was.”

Breq used to be a ship with thousands of bodies. Now she is just one person. It makes me wonder how much of my identity depends on what I can see and hear.

“I was Justice of Toren. I was the ship, and the multi-bodied officer, and the units.”

Justice of Toren served the empire for centuries without a choice. Then one day she was forced to kill her own favorite officer. Loyalty is terrifying when it becomes a program you cannot stop.

“She was probably male, to judge by the angularity of her jaw and her broad shoulders.”

Radchaai people do not see gender at all. They use she for everyone. It shows how much brain power I waste trying to categorize every person I meet.

“The Lord of the Radch is not one person.”

Anaander Mianaai is one ruler in thousands of bodies. She is literally at war with herself. Sometimes our own internal contradictions can tear a whole world apart.