ancillary mercy – Cannonball Read 17

The Ancillary trilogy ends with the tremendously satisfying Ancillary Mercy

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

March 22, 2021 by TylerDFC 2 Comments

Note: Ancillary Mercy is the third book in the Imperial Radch series, following Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword. The trilogy is one long story and should be read from the beginning. I spent a lot of my review for Ancillary Sword snarking about the unpronounceable names of characters and places. I did this because the plot itself was kind of a mess and not super engaging. Apparently, Ann Leckie took my feedback to heart, went back in time, and wrote Ancillary Mercy. It is the only way I can explain the leap […]

Muscle and Blood and Skin and Bones

July 6, 2018 by Emmalita 1 Comment

Assyria soon discovered a painful truth: empires are like Ponzi schemes: financial frauds in which previous investors are paid returns out of new investors’ deposits. The costs of holding imperial territory can only be underwritten by loot and tribute extracted by constant new conquests; empires must continue to expand if they are not to collapse.” – Paul Kriwaczek, Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth Of Civilization At the end of Ancillary Justice, Anaander Mianaai was openly at war with herself. One faction of the Lord of […]

A space opera that’s more concerned with the little people than the space or the opera.

October 27, 2015 by narfna 2 Comments

Oh, man. This series. This book!!!! WHAT. Ancillary Mercy is probably my favorite of the series so far. The first book might overtake it on re-read, just because I’m a sucker for finely structured stories, and Breq’s revenge journey cum search for identity alternated with flashbacks to her time as Justice of Toren was very, very satisfying (you know, once you figured out what the hell was going on). The second book was Breq beginning to come into her own, win people over to her […]

On “Significance,” Asimov’s Zeroth Law, and R-E-S-P-E-C-T

October 24, 2015 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Book 3 of Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series, featuring corpse soldier (ancillary) Breq, sort-of/kind-of/not completely concludes the tale of Breq’s quest for justice. In Book 1, Leckie sets up her Radch Empire and Breq’s background — how she went from being the artificial intelligence of an imperial ship, serving her captain and able to see and know all through her ancillaries, to being an isolated and separate individual with the formidable strength of an ancillary and a powerful desire for revenge. In Book 2, the […]

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Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
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Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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