I love Ann Leckie’s writing. The Ancillary Justice trilogy is some of my favourite space opera, with tons of depth, and I also love what she is doing in Radiant Star. A city of pilgrims, living in a rock untethered from its solar system in the coldness of space. A whole society built around the belief that this rock will eventually find its star. Pilgrims visiting this “planet” for so-called visions from the monks. And then there is the politics and the petty battles between the different religious factions.
She essentially takes all the pointlessness of religion and puts it in context in the middle of space, to show us how incapable of solving any problems it is. That is what sci-fi shines at, I think: analyzing and criticizing today’s society by moving certain aspects of it into a sci-fi setting.
All this to say, the premise of the book is interesting. But this book was such a hard read for me, precisely because it was so boring to read about the petty squabbles between religious factions and the pointless arcs of the main characters. I guess that’s how real life is to an extent, but I can’t say I enjoyed it.