Ancillary Mercy

I wasn't so sure about the earlier books but this pulled the whole series together ( )

SPOILER WARNING: Spoilers for Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword.

Ancillary Mercy starts right where Ancillary Sword ended, with everyone at and near Athoek Station recovering from the fallout of the events of the previous book. However, Breq knows that her actions will not end up unnoticed for long, and sure enough, Anaander Mianaai shows up in the system in a very bad mood. Meanwhile, there’s still the issue of the ghost system and the missing ancillaries, the intervention with the Presger, and the fate of various people from Ancillary Sword to deal with.

I wasn’t sure how Leckie would end up wrapping up this series, given that the second book was so much more scaled down than the first (only involving one system), and this book seemed to be set in the Athoek system as well. I’m very happy with the ending, though – it was well set up in the rest of the series, and thoroughly satisfying. The characters continue to be a delight to read about as they discover things in them they didn’t know they had – especially Breq, but also Tisarwat, Seivarden, and Mercy of Kalr. There is still plenty of tea and personal drama, but there are also some really cool action scenes in space.

Ancillary Mercy was one of my most anticipated books this year, and it did not disappoint! This series is sadly over, but there’s going to be a new book set in this universe in 2017, and I’m really, really excited about that.
Comment ( )

This science fiction work is the final installment of the author’s Imperial Radch trilogy. If you have not read the first two volumes, the first a Hugo and Nebula Award winner (among others), do not try to start with this one. While the author inserts several information dumps in order to assist those that wish to treat this as a stand-alone work, they are not nearly enough to acquaint a newcomer with the backstory and are simply annoying to those who are familiar with the story.

This story takes place exclusively within the Atheok star system, with Fleet Commander Breq, the artificial intelligence previously known as starship Justice of Toren, commanding a Mercy class starship and providing security for the inhabited planet and space station within the system. The civil war between various factions of the Radch Emperor, Anaander Mianaai, is coming to a head.

There is no need to provide background; if you read the first two books of the trilogy, you are familiar with the landscape. The artificial intelligences in the story (the starships, the space station and various individual ancillaries) are given a much larger role in the conclusion of the story, as Breq injects free will into the mix. As a whole, this was a very good science fiction trilogy and I can recommend it without reservation. ( )

I have been gradually working my way through this series. I enjoyed the first book but not enough that I felt compelled to pick up the next one immediately. Eventually I did get around to it and felt a little bogged down half way through. These books do not have a great deal of action in them and instead focus on interpersonal interactions. Finally, as I read through the third book, I fell in love with the series. There is something warm and comforting about the characters and once you get used to the idea that the 'action' is less lasers and bombs and more politics and social interactions, it becomes engaging in its own way. There are a lot of interesting ethical issues at play as well, and a very interesting depiction of the singularity. I will probably go back and read these again - maybe sometime soon. ( )

Ancillary Mercy

First Thoughts: I liked this book much better than Ancillary Sword. It turns out Ancillary Sword is almost a book-sized chapter in itself for the third book of the trilogy. Yes, still read that, but don’t expect much.

“Mercy” is more understandable once you get your groups of military and assistants all straight, with their odd terminology – and I realized later, similar to Roman legions and their strange terminology to describe their military groups, centurions and so on.

Story and Plot:

The Author gives a lot of back story to her third novel which almost makes the first novel unnecessary to read. Almost. Read it anyway or the terms won’t make a lot of sense.

The Usurper (the so-called god who split herself) is heading to Athoek Station. Breq wants to make what’s right for the citizenry at the planet below and in the station above. The best way to do that is to grant certain freedoms that this dictatorship/police state is not used to .

The imaginative way it’s gone about is fun to read, and this novel is not bogged down into a soap opera-esque grind as Book Two was.

Will Breq make it happen? Will the Presger (the only alien race that can wipe out us Humans) step in? Will the Tyrant succeed? Will the squabbles of the others stop so that they can unite against a common enemy – propriety over common sense??

Final Comments: The book does have its faults. What happened to the original Anaander Mianaai who made Breq her “cousin” and sent him to Athoek Station in the first place? A few key characters seem to disappear from the scene as well. Despite these apparent holes, an enjoyable trilogy to check it, even if the pronouns are askew.

Recommended.


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