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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
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:
Yes
The space action is fun, but it’s otherwise a mess. Leckie is wildly inconsistent. The first third of this is hurried and sloppy, all about covering the major beats no matter how confusing and clumsy. Our hero, Breg, makes the genius discoveries that being mean to people means they may not like you as well, that spying on your ship-mates post-coitus isn’t cool, and that being a brilliant military tactician is different from being a diplomat etc. It takes ten minutes of an existential crisis for her to make these perceptive breakthroughs. In the meantime, Leckie creates a Jar Jar Binks homage, cribs from 2001, and many other other works superior to this.
This one isn’t her fault, she meant well but needed some more thoughtful future-casting: sentience is its own worst enemy and emotional AIs in search of personhood don’t exactly garner my sympathy. Can’t imagine why.
This nonsense effectively nuked the goodwill the second book created; I want her work to succeed creatively because I like some of her ideas, but her skills are narrow.
This one isn’t her fault, she meant well but needed some more thoughtful future-casting: sentience is its own worst enemy and emotional AIs in search of personhood don’t exactly garner my sympathy. Can’t imagine why.
This nonsense effectively nuked the goodwill the second book created; I want her work to succeed creatively because I like some of her ideas, but her skills are narrow.
adventurous
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Slavery, Vomit
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As good as the first two with interesting twists to boot.
The individual books I wouldn't put above four stars but I would give the trilogy five. Ancillary Mercy was a fitting yet unpredictable conclusion to the trilogy. I started reading the day it dropped and haven't let up and I stayed up reading way past my bedtime as I haven't done for years.
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I find myself somewhat conflicted about this book. The earlier heavy handedness of gender pronouns kind of faded away during the second book but I found in this book it made things confusing again but I was more open to it.
I am put off by the lack of privacy the characters have and how this is accepted as ok. Breq does wrestle with this somewhat but just kind of lets it go. I enjoyed the different view of society from our current one where mental and emotional health is taken seriously but at times it was difficult for me to imagine people acting and talking in the ways the author describes.
I am put off by the lack of privacy the characters have and how this is accepted as ok. Breq does wrestle with this somewhat but just kind of lets it go. I enjoyed the different view of society from our current one where mental and emotional health is taken seriously but at times it was difficult for me to imagine people acting and talking in the ways the author describes.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
No
adventurous
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
Such a great series. Ending wasn't perfect, but that's what fanfiction is for.