Reviews

I enjoyed this book but didn't feel it quite stuck the landing for the trilogy. It had a tense mystery throughout that I really enjoyed and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. However the main character seemingly always being perfect and having the right answer got a little tiring and the ending felt surprising, but in a left turn sort of way that left me going "oh". It wasn't bad, just a bit anticlimactic I felt.

makkans's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

ilikereadingactually's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

donaidh_camshron's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring 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? No

4.25

literatehedgehog's review against another edition

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4.0

A solid finish to an excellent sci fi series.

The first will still be my favorite, as it has both the novelty of figuring out a new world and a fast-paced alternating plot. The second was straight-ahead storytelling - no jumping around in storylines there - but dug deeper into the politics and personalities.

Mercy concludes the series in the same style of Sword - straight-ahead plot, sequential timeline, not as many cliffhanger chapters. At first I thought it wasn't going to get as involved in the politicking, until I realized it was slowly setting the stage for (timely) racial tensions. It felt like reading the first book - gut-punch revelations and rollercoaster emotions - when the protagonist, Breq, finally unearths her one biases and tries to uncover her own blindspots. (UGH. Hit me in the now-pain, Leckie, jeez.) Just when I thought I was coasting alongside the adventure, a few subtle sentences are like shots across the bow - pay attention, show up for this work too! I raced through the second half, so I probably couldn't retell most of the major plot points there, but I do remember having some great laughs and sympathy-aches with the newer , non-human characters.

Ancillary Series in Sum
Come for the world-building and high-stakes drama, stay for the compassion, laughs, and personalities. Enjoy the small scale space battles and delve as deep into identity politics as you like.

himalaya's review against another edition

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4.5

loved this trilogy a lot!!! it took me a bit to get into it (I mean, not counting the 10 years between me reading the first 5 chapters of book 1 and picking it up again), but once I got into it, a lot less complex than i expected it to be? or like. smaller scale. which I enjoyed.

translator zeiat a standout in book 3, obsessed with her

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