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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
hopeful
reflective
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
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
“My leg. Why did it have to be my good one? And not the one that hurts me all the time?”
This entire scene 😭 and I don’t know why that quote got me effed up
And the sequence leading up to Breq’s supposed sacrifice at the end of the novel. Medic and Kalr Five in particular 😫 Breq not realizing how much she is loved :((
And Seivarden’s emotionality when it comes to Breq rahhh my fave pair.
Also Sphene is so Aubrey Plaza coded
And Translator Zeiat is so loveable
There’s so much to say about the characters (they carrrrry)
Ending was a bit underwhelming but overall I’m going to miss reading from Breq’s POV
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
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
(reread)
This is just so good. Breq continues to be a fascinating character, continuing her blatant anticolonial efforts while starting to be more reflective about her personhood and captaincy and what that means (or could mean) for others. The world is fantastic, the exploration of personhood is fantastic, the utter unimportance of gender is fantastic, the found family is fantastic; I could keep going.
One series characteristic that I tend to love is when the scope of books & politics gets consistently larger - often by an order of magnitude each book. This series does not do that. The scope of the second book actually feels somewhat smaller than the first - it goes from thinking about a system to a lot of local politics. This one zooms out a bit more, but still focuses on the local politics. And despite that, it's incredibly good. The writing is fantastic. The tone and grammatical style seems perfect for an ancillary narrator. We have new, wonderful, side characters: Zeiat, who consistently provides excellent comic relief, which isn't something I knew I wanted from this series. Sphene, whose evolving relationship with Breq I found almost magnetic. (When Sphene first called Breq 'Cousin'?? magical). And there are characters I continue to love: Kalr 5 is potentially my favorite behind Breq, as well as Seivarden, Mercy of Kalr, Tisarwat, Medic, etc.
One thing that continues to bother me is how Leckie refers to Station Administrator Celar. She's always described as fat and beautiful. That's fine if you're introducing a character, but the number of times it's repeated made it feel like Leckie really needed readers to know that Celar is fat. And beautiful. And did you catch the fact that she's fat and beautiful?
Most impactful moments:crew taking care of Breq after they save her from her attempt to destroy Anaander's ships. When you survive Tisarwat successfully accomplished her mission. Athoek Station joining the "cousin" family <3
This is just so good. Breq continues to be a fascinating character, continuing her blatant anticolonial efforts while starting to be more reflective about her personhood and captaincy and what that means (or could mean) for others. The world is fantastic, the exploration of personhood is fantastic, the utter unimportance of gender is fantastic, the found family is fantastic; I could keep going.
One series characteristic that I tend to love is when the scope of books & politics gets consistently larger - often by an order of magnitude each book. This series does not do that. The scope of the second book actually feels somewhat smaller than the first - it goes from thinking about a system to a lot of local politics. This one zooms out a bit more, but still focuses on the local politics. And despite that, it's incredibly good. The writing is fantastic. The tone and grammatical style seems perfect for an ancillary narrator. We have new, wonderful, side characters: Zeiat, who consistently provides excellent comic relief, which isn't something I knew I wanted from this series. Sphene, whose evolving relationship with Breq I found almost magnetic. (When Sphene first called Breq 'Cousin'?? magical). And there are characters I continue to love: Kalr 5 is potentially my favorite behind Breq, as well as Seivarden, Mercy of Kalr, Tisarwat, Medic, etc.
One thing that continues to bother me is how Leckie refers to Station Administrator Celar. She's always described as fat and beautiful. That's fine if you're introducing a character, but the number of times it's repeated made it feel like Leckie really needed readers to know that Celar is fat. And beautiful. And did you catch the fact that she's fat and beautiful?
Most impactful moments:
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Breq and I love this universe that Leckie built. I thought it was a fitting end to the series.
I really wish this book had been able to recapture the sweeping space opera feel of the first book - with the multiple settings and intergalactic politics and fractured identity and competing timelines - but we're stuck at the space station again with minor personal drama. Even the emperor's presence and confrontation feels small scale, not to mention the looming threat of powerful dangerous aliens that's never fully followed up on. I saw someone's review that wished the second and third had gone with someone else's perspective to further explore themes of fractured/awakened identity (Tiserwat for 2nd, maybe one of the other AIs for this one), and I can't get that out of my head as a more compelling premise to build around.
Complaints aside, like the second book, it is a propulsive read. I gasped out loud several times and was invested in the characters. I do really enjoy hanging out with Breq and seeing her journey towards belonging. The AI gaining freedom also was a great addition and I loved those discussions, as well as all the forms
Complaints aside, like the second book, it is a propulsive read. I gasped out loud several times and was invested in the characters. I do really enjoy hanging out with Breq and seeing her journey towards belonging. The AI gaining freedom also was a great addition and I loved those discussions, as well as all the forms
Another one that was a bit of a trudge with an ending that tied it all together. I’m leaving this one as a 3, though.
adventurous
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
Great book. Great characters, great story, great series!
PHEW SO RELIEVED it was better than the 2nd book. I was getting worried there.
More action in this book, thank goodness. Not just tea but also fish sauce (yeay). Hilarious alien action with Translator Zeiat, although I think the author kind of dangles the alien Presgers like the "enemies next door" that is a wild card - they can do anything to the plot since we don't know enough about them except that they're powerful enough to do whatever they want. So far they have managed to breach all the laws of physics without proper explanation except that they "just can"? I don't like this device. I find it lazy and unfair to the readers.
Breq our protagonist finally comes "down to earth" and gets some "humane" faults which make us relate better with her. I mean in the 2nd book she just became this... outsider savior that's better than everyone (plus omniscient, all powerful,... sounds familiar?) but here she finally resembles the Breq that was so magnetic as a character from the 1st book.
More action in this book, thank goodness. Not just tea but also fish sauce (yeay). Hilarious alien action with Translator Zeiat, although I think the author kind of dangles the alien Presgers like the "enemies next door" that is a wild card - they can do anything to the plot since we don't know enough about them except that they're powerful enough to do whatever they want. So far they have managed to breach all the laws of physics without proper explanation except that they "just can"? I don't like this device. I find it lazy and unfair to the readers.
Breq our protagonist finally comes "down to earth" and gets some "humane" faults which make us relate better with her. I mean in the 2nd book she just became this... outsider savior that's better than everyone (plus omniscient, all powerful,... sounds familiar?) but here she finally resembles the Breq that was so magnetic as a character from the 1st book.