Reviews

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

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ugoglen's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Third in the Imperial Radch trilogy, "Ancillary Mercy" picks up almost immediately after "Ancillary Sword." Most of the same characters appear, and the mix of action and exposition was much easier to handle, especially as the grounding in the universe I'd gleaned in "Sword" carried forward easily. I was emotionally invested in how things would turn out for Breq and company, and enjoyed this book a lot.

thejaredpowers's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Goodness this was a fantastic series. The ending of the arc isn't wholly unsurprising, but it does make sense. This is one of those series that I'm sad I can't experience again, new. But maybe in a couple years I'll have forgotten the particulars and I can be surprised and delighted all over again.

darkskybooks's review against another edition

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4.0

Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy ask that classic sci-fi question: what does it mean to be sentient. Ancillary Mercy, the 3rd book in this series probably does it in the most straight forward way. Breq, our main character, is the remnant of an AI that controlled a ship occupying a human body that was once one of her crew (an Ancillary in the universes parlance). She is caught in the crossfire between a fractured entity (Anaander Mianaai) who is the supreme ruler of Radchai, the human civilization that Breq was constructed by. Somehow Anaander has become so fractured that he is effectively at war with himself, as different parts of his entity pursue different aims and strategies. Added into this is an ancient deal that he made with an alien entity called the Presger, which led to the Presger recognizing humans as 'Significant Beings' - essentially sentience - and so stopped attacking them. Different parts of Anaander have different interpretations of this deal. These basic premises were set up in the previous book. This all comes to head hear in Ancillary Mercy as part of Anaander Mianaai comes to the system were Breq is, at the same time as Presger negotiators are also there. Breq just wants to be free from Mianaai's influence so the question of significant being becomes key. Is Breq, an Artificial Intelligence, considered truly sentient?

These type of weighty idea based Sci-Fi's are always some of my favourites. This is a genre which really allows you to ask the 'what if?' questions and Leckie does a very good job of it. Breq is a very likeable character - a warm and strangely human AI.

violinknitter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

gabrielrobartes's review against another edition

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4.0

Not perfect. Even a faint whiff of Heinlein's Rampaging Author Alter Ego here and there (because Breq really does seem to be the most perfectly moral individual ever). On the other hand, the universe of the Raddch is fascinating, the Translator is hilarious (I'm sure there's a sweet nod to The Player of Games in there somewhere), and I'm perfectly happy with the ending. A qualified triumph.