By Daniel Dern: Having just (earlier this morning) finished reading Radiant Star, Ann Leckie’s newest sf novel set in her Imperial Radch universe, I cheerfully recommend it.

(I’d say, “without reservations” except that, given that the book went on sale about a month ago, if you’re looking to get it from your library, I urge you make a reservation – like I did, some months back when first learning about the then-upcoming book – to shorten your wait period.)

I don’t think you have to have read her previous Radch U books (Ancillary trilogy Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy), Provenance, and Translation State), but (a) some things will make more sense if you have, particularly towards the final third of the book, (b) IMHO this series is best read in publication order (unlike, say, Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos (“tal-tosh”) series). But since I have read them all – including a recent (over the past year) re-read (from which I’ve got a Scroll idea that OGH is patiently waiting for – if nothing else, I want to first wrap up a Westlake/Block one that’s been marinating much longer).

Here’s some of who/what isn’t in Radiant Star (as far as I can tell): Characters we’ve previously met. (E.g., Breq/Justice of Toren, Anaander Mianaa (who is mentioned a few times, though), Translator Dlique, nor (not unreasonably) any talking foxes, although that would make for a fun mash-up. No space shoot-outs, not even (unless I missed something) any weapon-firing at all. And no songs (although there is one musical instrument).

Some of who/what Radiant Star does include: A few Saints and potential Saints (not like the ones in John Crowley’s Engine Summer); tea and other drinks and foodstuffs, and related ceremonies;  Justice Of Albis and of few of the ship’s ancillaries; manners and language across various social/economic classes in the city of Ooioiaa, on the planet Aaa (which has one similarity to the planet He in James Blish’s Cities In Flight Tetrology); food/farming/agriculture/ecology/environment as an essential plot element (which we’ve seen in one or more of the Ancillary books) (and is also a big, albeit different, part of Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup, which I have started reading and cheerfully recommend even before finishing). And a very different narrator/PoV from Leckie’s previous (Radch U) books.

In writing this micro-review, I turned up various summaries, interview(s) with Leckie re this book, and an excerpt…but I’m not naming/linking to them because IMHO, Leckie fans are better served by going directly to the book proper.

Radiant Star is both like and unlike Leckie’s previous five Imperial Radch books. It’s possible it won’t be your (cough) cup of tea. There’s only one way to find out.