I really don't understand what the hype is about here? This book won all the sci-fi awards and for what? It is a very boring story of Empire - bad, individual - good. Throw in some AIs that are ruling the world and have many bodies (ancillaries) and that's pretty much the whole book. Oh, yes, the AIs don't understand human gender, so everyone is a "she". So what? Is that supposed to be new, cool and original? There are better AIs in Dan Simmons' Hyperon Cantos. The ancillary bodies are better done in Altered Carbon. The "she" aspect of gender is way better done in the "Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula Le Guinn. So, what is special about this book at all? Why all those awards?
The characters are bland and completely unrelatable. The writing is dry and distant, no attachment possible. Plot is pretty much non existent. The final twist (spoiler) that different sub-personalities within the main AI personalities are fighting each other is completely unoriginal and uninteresting. Again, the question: how could this book win all those awards? On what merit?
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