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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
The rating is meant as a 4.5/5 score.
I admire the principled pragmatism of the protagonist. Also, the society portrayed in these books is just lovely to experience: all that military personnel worrying about which set of porcelain would be the most appropriate to serve tea in for the occasion (and everything constitutes an occasion for tea). It's also refreshing to get "she/her" pronouns for every single person, especially coupled with they way the soldiers call the lieutenants and captains "Sir", sometimes in the same sentence. It's a small thing language-wise, but has a huge impact on the feeling of the world.
In true Ann Leckie fashion, the book is mostly build-up and going through societal forms, with only the very smallest doses of action. But those scenes are therefore all the more powerful, even if they're not action scenes told in the classical sense -- the action itself might be "proper action", but the matter-of-fact narrating style of the protagonist gives them a clinical, disassociated feel. Which I don't mind one bit.
The docked half-star comes from the fact that the scale of the plot is somewhat disappointing for the final entry of a trilogy. The second book, Ancillary Sword, was already unexpectedly small-scale, and my feeling is that Leckie could have made more use of her excellent antagonist of the series: for me, the antagonist in this trilogy has the most fascinating antagonist concept across all books I've read so far. High praise, and this book would have been even better with more of the antagonist showing.
Moreover, the story doesn't feel fully resolved. That's perhaps to be expected, given the size of the inhabited universe in these books, but it still feels a bit unambitious.
I admire the principled pragmatism of the protagonist. Also, the society portrayed in these books is just lovely to experience: all that military personnel worrying about which set of porcelain would be the most appropriate to serve tea in for the occasion (and everything constitutes an occasion for tea). It's also refreshing to get "she/her" pronouns for every single person, especially coupled with they way the soldiers call the lieutenants and captains "Sir", sometimes in the same sentence. It's a small thing language-wise, but has a huge impact on the feeling of the world.
In true Ann Leckie fashion, the book is mostly build-up and going through societal forms, with only the very smallest doses of action. But those scenes are therefore all the more powerful, even if they're not action scenes told in the classical sense -- the action itself might be "proper action", but the matter-of-fact narrating style of the protagonist gives them a clinical, disassociated feel. Which I don't mind one bit.
The docked half-star comes from the fact that the scale of the plot is somewhat disappointing for the final entry of a trilogy. The second book, Ancillary Sword, was already unexpectedly small-scale, and my feeling is that Leckie could have made more use of her excellent antagonist of the series: for me, the antagonist in this trilogy has the most fascinating antagonist concept across all books I've read so far. High praise, and this book would have been even better with more of the antagonist showing.
Moreover, the story doesn't feel fully resolved. That's perhaps to be expected, given the size of the inhabited universe in these books, but it still feels a bit unambitious.
adventurous
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
yet another victim of the bad sci-fi sequel epidemic, in which the first book is mind-blowingly good and everything that comes after is terrifyingly trite. my condolences.
This last book was my favorite of the series! I'm really happy with how Leckie resolved to conflicts and for some reason, this book just felt a lot funnier than the other two which really appealed to me.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
adventurous
medium-paced
A good finished to the series. Enjoyed it a lot.
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
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