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alexijai98's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Amazed at Leckie’s ability to write a tense and compelling sci-fi story that made me laugh out loud while reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Medical content, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse and Police brutality
violerwolf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
3.0
I wish this book was a better ending to a series I love. Unfortunately, I felt the dialogue was odd and stripped away a good deal of the interesting characterization of Breq, Sieverdan, Tsirawet, and Mercy of Kalr. Leckie isn’t as deft at handling characters confronting their emotions rather than avoiding them, and it especially shows when they openly discuss their relationships. Not to mention, the focus on neatly wrapping up a lot of big picture plotlines leaves this story without a lot of time to develop the complexity and nuances I love in the first two books. The new characters these plotlines introduce take a lot of pages away from the relationships, characters, and themes that the first two books spend so much time establishing. I’d have much preferred some open-ended lingering questions about the Ghost Gate and the Presger, but the book seems more concerned with tying up loose ends than telling an impactful story. I’m still excited to read Leckie’s other books, and hope they can capture the magic of Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation
booksthatburn's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ANCILLARY MERCY is an excellent conclusion to the Imperial Radch trilogy, with Breq solving a series of issues and helping out other people, but not framing her as some big damn hero able to fix every problem in the empire. She can't and she's not trying to do so. She can't fix the way that Anaander Mianaai is it war with herself, or the way that Breq doesn't know which Anaander Mianaai has which goal. This was an immensely satisfying ending, building on many things from the first two books, especially ANCILLARY SWORD, as this relates to Athoek Station pretty directly even though the previous book ended with them leaving the station.
ANCILLARY MERCY wraps up many details which were left hanging, almost everything I consciously noticed as being unresolved by the end of ANCILLARY SWORD gets handled in some way by ANCILLARY MERCY. There's an almost new story related to the Presger Empire, bringing in one of the most refreshing and delightful characters I've read in a long while. The translator is in a category all her own, and I would not expect any other of my favorite characters to compete with her. I found myself deeply relating to a lot of the ways that she expresses identity, especially for myself as a nonbinary trans person. There's a moment where someone asks whether she did a particular thing as a child and she replies something to the effect that she's never been a child, yes this body was a child at one point, but she wasn't the one in it at the time. I really like much of how she (and Breq) discuss identity. The Presger seemed to have something rather more suddenly shaped by names than any kind of directly human analog could encompass under most circumstances, but it reminds me of other transgender people I know for whom choosing a new name allowed them to embrace a new self in a way that hasn't been part of my own transition. I also like Breq's change in understanding about Ship, and the implications this has for all the various beings that the Radch constructed and consider to be tools.
This would not be a good place for a new reader to start, as it's the conclusion of a trilogy, but much of the story could make sense to someone who persisted in doing so. It's excellent from start to finish, though it greatly benefits from the context and characterization of the first two books in order to let the reader fully appreciate the more unusual ways that they get into conversations of identity.
The whole trilogy is great and I'm very happy with ANCILLARY MERCY as the conclusion.
ANCILLARY MERCY wraps up many details which were left hanging, almost everything I consciously noticed as being unresolved by the end of ANCILLARY SWORD gets handled in some way by ANCILLARY MERCY. There's an almost new story related to the Presger Empire, bringing in one of the most refreshing and delightful characters I've read in a long while. The translator is in a category all her own, and I would not expect any other of my favorite characters to compete with her. I found myself deeply relating to a lot of the ways that she expresses identity, especially for myself as a nonbinary trans person. There's a moment where someone asks whether she did a particular thing as a child and she replies something to the effect that she's never been a child, yes this body was a child at one point, but she wasn't the one in it at the time. I really like much of how she (and Breq) discuss identity. The Presger seemed to have something rather more suddenly shaped by names than any kind of directly human analog could encompass under most circumstances, but it reminds me of other transgender people I know for whom choosing a new name allowed them to embrace a new self in a way that hasn't been part of my own transition. I also like Breq's change in understanding about Ship, and the implications this has for all the various beings that the Radch constructed and consider to be tools.
This would not be a good place for a new reader to start, as it's the conclusion of a trilogy, but much of the story could make sense to someone who persisted in doing so. It's excellent from start to finish, though it greatly benefits from the context and characterization of the first two books in order to let the reader fully appreciate the more unusual ways that they get into conversations of identity.
The whole trilogy is great and I'm very happy with ANCILLARY MERCY as the conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence and Murder
alatarmaia's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
me, looking at translator zeiat: I have to read translation state as soon as possible. it will not explain anything, just like this book hasn't.
i envy leckie so much for having mastered the skill of leaving the world unknown even as you explore it via the POV characters and their knowledge. it has a charm to it that makes it feel realer.
i envy leckie so much for having mastered the skill of leaving the world unknown even as you explore it via the POV characters and their knowledge. it has a charm to it that makes it feel realer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Child death and Death
hanz's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Addiction and Blood
troisha's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, and Colonisation