Reviews - Ancillary Mercy | The StoryGraph

2.11k reviews for:

Ancillary Mercy

Ann Leckie

4.29 AVERAGE

jesseebooks's review against another edition

5.0

This was an excellent end to the trilogy and Adjoa Andoh is a supreme narrator

webmulher's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny inspiring medium-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: Yes

kikii6's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging funny hopeful 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

emilycombs's review against another edition

5.0

The same as with the two that came before it, I could barely put this down. I loved what it had to say about relationships, politics, and humanity. And the unexpected interjections of oddball humor were so fun (fish sauce, oh my god!). I also appreciated the character detail revealed through minutiae. On the surface, one might question why tea (having tea, serving tea, fussing over tea, etc.) was such a persistent part of this series. By the end, it’s clear that tea has not only been a story arch to provide thoughts on morality and politics, but also served as a useful vehicle for conveying the various emotional and mental states of the characters. All these little teatime insights were necessary to understand the many perspectives Breq chose to try to balance and consider along the way. The whole thing felt like a truly great example of character-driven plot. And though I’ve seen arguments that the ending is abrupt, it certainly feels like and appropriate conclusion considering the context of the narrator.

This is a series I plan to read again and gift to friends. It was great writing and I can’t wait until the next time I get to relive and enjoy it.

helloimshadyj's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rongrong's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It’s a decent ending. A little chaotic near the end, with Sphene and Translator Zeiat. Liked this one better than book 2. Characters already pretty developed, except maybe Mercy of Kalr and Athoek Station and Tstur Anaander who got a little more rounded out in this one.

Breq’s appeal to Translator Zeiat as a new Significant non-human species was a surprise, and an interesting thought experiment, maybe the biggest push since book 1, but made sense after freeing Station & Ship from Anaander’s and everyone’s accesses.

The side plot of a kind of DTR between Ship and Fleet Captain felt a little drawn out and maybe not necessary, unless it was to help set up the Significance of the species. A lot of angst over it though.

chiefchickenhead's review

3.25

adventurous hopeful 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: No

This was a step back up from Sword, with much better pacing and some lighter moments.

The scale remained disappointingly smaller than Justice seemed to promise, and was still only the Atheok system which I'd seen more than enough of in Sword.

Instead we focus on the conflict with The Lord of the Radch, and it turns out

that the real revenge is the friends we made along the way

. Where the characters end up is feel-good and fits the themes of self-determination throughout the trilogy, but the climax of the book was essentially

"I'm telling Mum" and then admin

was not particularly thrilling to read, in my opinion.

The highlights for me were the action that we did get, and the supporting characters like Seivarden and Tisarwat for their depth, and characters like Five and the Translator for comic relief from Breq's righteousness.

Overall I liked it, but neither sequels lived up to Justice.