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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
Another fun page turner! Checks most of the same boxes as the original. Cool ideas, intrigue, some semi moral catharsis, etc.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one is very much more character driven and focuses on a specific aspect of the (very incredible) world that Leckie has built, which made me just want six thousand more pages.
I still think singular they would've been more effective. I also wish that there'd been a wee bit more.
I still think singular they would've been more effective. I also wish that there'd been a wee bit more
Spoiler
exploration into Lt Tisander (sp) and what she was going through with her unique experience, especially because it first seemed like it would be like what Breq went through but as an arm of the Radch, but ended up being something completely different and unique
Note, this review does not contain spoilers for this book, but it could potentially be considered to contain spoilers for the first book in the trilogy, Ancillary Justice.
This is a TERRIBLE book. At the beginning of this book, a civil war has just broken out in a mighty pan-galactic empire. The main character is sent in command of a ship to be the highest-ranking officer in an up-for-grabs planetary system. Sounds like a great setting for some epic action right? Well it isn't! This entire book is concerned only with Breq's involvement in stopping a local bully and with Breq's support for improving working and living conditions for the locally exploited laborers! I know that sounds like it must be an exaggeration or a simplification, BUT IT ISN'T! I wish I could reach through this computer to grab you by the collar and look you in the eyes while I shake you to make sure you believe me. That is literally all that happens for the first 95% of this book. The only action at all is in the "climax" in the last few pages, and it consists of less than a dozen shots fired between 5 people in a garden! SERIOUSLY!!!
This book is all about local politics and gossip and such. It is like a low-stakes, slow-moving soap opera, not a science-fiction adventure. There are a few hints of some brewing tension that may come out in book 3, but this is far, far, FAR worse than any other "slow" second member of a trilogy I've ever read.
For comparison, Ancillary Justice was a bit slow, but I gave it credit for an interesting premise. I thought that after some set-up of the universe in Book 1, things would accelerate in the book. I couldn't have been more wrong. This has to be one of the worst science fiction books I have ever read!
This is a TERRIBLE book. At the beginning of this book, a civil war has just broken out in a mighty pan-galactic empire. The main character is sent in command of a ship to be the highest-ranking officer in an up-for-grabs planetary system. Sounds like a great setting for some epic action right? Well it isn't! This entire book is concerned only with Breq's involvement in stopping a local bully and with Breq's support for improving working and living conditions for the locally exploited laborers! I know that sounds like it must be an exaggeration or a simplification, BUT IT ISN'T! I wish I could reach through this computer to grab you by the collar and look you in the eyes while I shake you to make sure you believe me. That is literally all that happens for the first 95% of this book. The only action at all is in the "climax" in the last few pages, and it consists of less than a dozen shots fired between 5 people in a garden! SERIOUSLY!!!
This book is all about local politics and gossip and such. It is like a low-stakes, slow-moving soap opera, not a science-fiction adventure. There are a few hints of some brewing tension that may come out in book 3, but this is far, far, FAR worse than any other "slow" second member of a trilogy I've ever read.
For comparison, Ancillary Justice was a bit slow, but I gave it credit for an interesting premise. I thought that after some set-up of the universe in Book 1, things would accelerate in the book. I couldn't have been more wrong. This has to be one of the worst science fiction books I have ever read!
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
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
In a lot of ways Sword is very different from Justice, and they end up being extremely striking contrasts to each other. Whereas in Justice we are inundated with plot that shunts us from one scene to another in high acceleration, Sword takes a very different approach, and more or less lacks an overall plot structure period. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and as a trilogy middle it's handled better than most, though I say this only because I didn't feel like I was constantly bored in it.
Even if nothing necessarily HAPPENS IN IT in a huge, bombastic way with PLOT and things (it is present, but they're more like bookends with hints littered throughout), we learn so much more about the characters. Definitely without the endless commentary of "My name is Justice of Toren, you killed my captain, prepare to die," we are able to delve into Breq as a character in a way we've not been able to before because she was so wholly obsessed and consumed with her revenge and love of Awn in the first book, and get to observe her not as someone with a single-minded goal but also in her interaction with others and how she deals with what she feels are injustices. Plus, the working of her crew, the machinations of Seivarden and Tisarwat; there was a LOOOT of character development in this book and I loooooved it.
Far be it for me to say that this book isn't heavy-handed with the colonialism and imperialism connotations and allegories, and it definitely stands out, what with it being a bulk of the book's themes, but I can't say that I minded. At least this time there isn't an undercurrent of "overall they're better off though, right?" And there's nothing about it necessarily to say that Leckie was trying to be clever, clever, lookatme by making it an allegory, which I feel like is present in a lot of other scifi/fantasy books, opposed to coming right out and saying that the mindset of colonial societies are a load of bull. As far as heavy-handedness goes, Breq's insistence on giving us an update every time someone implied that ships don't have feelings could have been toned down a bit. "Haha, ships, amirite?" I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HOW I USED TO BE A SHIP BECAUSE I WAS AND I HAD ANCILLARIES AND I KNEW FIRST HAND THAT WE HAD FEELINGS BECAUSE I USED TO BE A SHIP. Great status update for people who haven't read the previous novel. Annoying after maybe the second time for anyone who did read the previous novel. Annoying to everyone after the seventh time.
However, I feel like my favorite theme of the book was the one that isn't necessarily explicitly mentioned. We are treated somewhat endlessly to Breq's knowledge that ships have feelings and emotions, but I appreciated that these things are not a human-only aspect. I remember reading another review that discussed Breq's disinterest in "being human," which is fine and great and cool because how many times is there some race that's supposed to be emotionless but their half-humanity gives them WEIRD FEELINGS THAT FEEL, but I loved the implication under it that with sapience comes a personhood and NOT a humanness. Actually, after several trip-ups of this concept in other scifi shows and novels, it's great to see it actually realized here with no caveats, no one race that "probably doesn't" because "I don't know, they're different?"
Just overall, I am so in love with this series and this book in a same-but-different way than the first one. It's the scifi space opera I've been waiting for ever since my brain noticed that space operas are filled with the self-empowerment fantasies of a thousand cishet white dudes. It's wonderfully unapologetic, and though not perfect (nothing is) it's a great example of not only what scifi has the potential to be, but what scifi is supposed to be.
Even if nothing necessarily HAPPENS IN IT in a huge, bombastic way with PLOT and things (it is present, but they're more like bookends with hints littered throughout), we learn so much more about the characters. Definitely without the endless commentary of "My name is Justice of Toren, you killed my captain, prepare to die," we are able to delve into Breq as a character in a way we've not been able to before because she was so wholly obsessed and consumed with her revenge and love of Awn in the first book, and get to observe her not as someone with a single-minded goal but also in her interaction with others and how she deals with what she feels are injustices. Plus, the working of her crew, the machinations of Seivarden and Tisarwat; there was a LOOOT of character development in this book and I loooooved it.
Far be it for me to say that this book isn't heavy-handed with the colonialism and imperialism connotations and allegories, and it definitely stands out, what with it being a bulk of the book's themes, but I can't say that I minded. At least this time there isn't an undercurrent of "overall they're better off though, right?" And there's nothing about it necessarily to say that Leckie was trying to be clever, clever, lookatme by making it an allegory, which I feel like is present in a lot of other scifi/fantasy books, opposed to coming right out and saying that the mindset of colonial societies are a load of bull. As far as heavy-handedness goes, Breq's insistence on giving us an update every time someone implied that ships don't have feelings could have been toned down a bit. "Haha, ships, amirite?" I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HOW I USED TO BE A SHIP BECAUSE I WAS AND I HAD ANCILLARIES AND I KNEW FIRST HAND THAT WE HAD FEELINGS BECAUSE I USED TO BE A SHIP. Great status update for people who haven't read the previous novel. Annoying after maybe the second time for anyone who did read the previous novel. Annoying to everyone after the seventh time.
However, I feel like my favorite theme of the book was the one that isn't necessarily explicitly mentioned. We are treated somewhat endlessly to Breq's knowledge that ships have feelings and emotions, but I appreciated that these things are not a human-only aspect. I remember reading another review that discussed Breq's disinterest in "being human," which is fine and great and cool because how many times is there some race that's supposed to be emotionless but their half-humanity gives them WEIRD FEELINGS THAT FEEL, but I loved the implication under it that with sapience comes a personhood and NOT a humanness. Actually, after several trip-ups of this concept in other scifi shows and novels, it's great to see it actually realized here with no caveats, no one race that "probably doesn't" because "I don't know, they're different?"
Just overall, I am so in love with this series and this book in a same-but-different way than the first one. It's the scifi space opera I've been waiting for ever since my brain noticed that space operas are filled with the self-empowerment fantasies of a thousand cishet white dudes. It's wonderfully unapologetic, and though not perfect (nothing is) it's a great example of not only what scifi has the potential to be, but what scifi is supposed to be.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated