onyxkat 's review for:

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

4.0

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-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

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A huge detractor in a sequel for me is when they summarize all the major plot beats in the first part, as if I didn't already know about it. Ancillary Sword did that a little, but Mercy did it a bunch. Of course, there was more to cover, but it still took me out of a lot of the first quarter. 

That said, I think this one did a good job of picking up all the threads begun in the first two, while still leaving room to imagine the characters continuing on their journey. I feel a little anxious to know what happens to the

provincial republic

, but hopefully Provenance and Translation State will reveal more details. 

I most enjoyed Breq's interactions with other AI, and the range of reactions to her and her actions. Particularly her own revelations about how she reacts to other ships. 

I do feel that the fallout of her being revealed to be an ancillary wrapped up a little too easily. I kind of feel like the stakes ended up feeling very low, since ultimately

only Breq was injured

. Making the

Presgr into a macguffin

felt a little too easy, honestly. But I appreciated that humans on all sides of the conflict were forced to deal with

AIs as another civilization.

Overall - a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, if my least favorite of the three. I still want to go straight into the companion novels.