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Ancillary Sword
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Ancillary Sword
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Ancillary Sword
Audiobook11 hours

Ancillary Sword

Written by Ann Leckie

Narrated by Adjoa Andoh

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

The sequel to Ancillary Justice, the only novel to ever win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards and the second book in Ann Leckie's New York Times bestselling series.
Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship. Once a weapon of conquest controlling thousands of minds, now she has only a single body and serves the emperor.
With a new ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is ordered to go to the only place in the galaxy she would agree to go: to Athoek Station to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew - a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.

In the Ancillary world: 1. Ancillary Justice 2. Ancillary Sword 3. Ancillary Mercy
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 7, 2014
ISBN9781478931263
Unavailable
Ancillary Sword

Reviews for Ancillary Sword

Rating: 4.0468751464285715 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the second book in the trilogy begun in last year's Best Novel Hugo winner, Ancillary Justice. Breq, having survived the confrontation between the two parts of Anaander Mianaai, is now in command of Mercy of Kalr, and off to contain another part of the spreading crisis at Athoek. While there, she hopes to also protect and offer some sort of compensation to the sister of her much-loved Lt. Awn, whom she was forced to kill.

    At Athoek, she finds an already tricky political situation exacerbated by the closer of the gates and the news that there are at least two perfectly legitimate "Lords of the Radch" now in open conflict with each other. It takes longer to discover that underneath the existing and new political conflicts, and ordinary class conflict and exploitation, there's a truly horrifying corruption hidden here.

    Did I mention there's another ship in the system, Sword of Atagaris, of questionable loyalties? And a little error in judgment by Atagaris' Captain results in the death of a translator/representative from the frighteningly powerful aliens, the Presger.

    And while juggling all that, Breq is confronting her odd status as an ex-AI, ex-ancillary, now in command of a ship rather than a part of it. It's a sometimes unsettling experience for her, and at first her crew, except for old companion Seivarden, do not know what to make of her.

    There's a lot going on here, in character development, revealing more about the history and culture of the Radch, and action as the conflict between the Mianaais and even older tensions in the Radch empire play out.

    I'm looking forward to the third volume, Ancillary Mercy.

    Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    good enough to make me seek out book three
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    this book is like 90% people sitting around drinking tea and having tense pointed conversations and it utterly delightful and completely engrossing and a complete page-turner.

    i lovelovelove Breq, my beacon of justice and rage. and Kalr 5 and her dishes, and deardear Ship and okay just everyone

    i am equally pumped and terrified for the next one!!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A readable but surprisingly lightweight entry for the 2nd book in a trilogy. The first book impressed with a narrative razzle-dazzle atypical for space opera, but still chock full of extreme action. Second books are usually darker, have more action factor, and primarily set up the third volume. This reads more like a minor entry in a long running series. Having uncovered the secret of the Lord of the Radch in volume 1, our narrator now leaves that part of the galaxy where all the action is, for a backwater region with some local corruption in play. The action is low-key, the mood is more melancholic, and the character's primary driver is frustration with the way the races in power mistreat those without power. Recommended for fans of the first book, with the above caveats. Not recommended as an entry point.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a wonderful sequel. It definitely wasn't as good as the first, but I still loved it. I liked the new character development we get for Breq and really see how she longs for things in the past. I loved the dynamic between her and Mercy of Kalr and how she handles her new position as Fleet Captain.

    I liked the plot of this book, and I can see how it will work into the over-arching storyline, but it felt a little separate, yet it fit perfectly. I enjoyed learning about new cultures in Radch space, and we get to see more problem solving and reasoning from Breq in a new perspective. This goes back to her character development and Leckie really did a great job with this. Her writing was on point and I just loved how the book flowed.

    I am very interested to see how the plot progresses and how all this political maneuvering affects it.
    4.5/5 stars
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a great book, brilliant and filled with ideas. It was not, however, a quick or easy read. It, like the first book in the trilogy, Ancillary Justice, is very subtle, at times almost too subtle. Everything is innuendo. You have to pay attention when reading, and be very patient. Things are mostly revealed, but I at least often felt like I had missed something, when in fact, it just hadn't been revealed yet. Breq is a wonderful character, kind and good and always concerned with what is truly just. This keeps these books from being your standard space opera that's all about intricate politics, although the politics here are as intricate as any. It's just that the politics are not everything, nor really even the main point, although they seem to be at first glance.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's unusual for me to be caught up in a book. I'd guess it's because I've read so many, and there's really only so many ways to say something, at least for most of the authors out there. Every once in a rare while, someone comes along and startles me. Leckie has done so, twice, now. I'm looking forward to reading the last book in the trilogy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Unusual and really interesting. Compelling despite being far less plot-y than most spec fic. The pronoun thing does strange things to my brain and I'm glad of it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed 'Ancillary Justice', but found the sequel less satisfying overall.

    With the mystery of Breq's identity and history revealed, the story marks time as the next move in Emperor Mianaai's warring and shattered hive mind is awaited. On an isolated system of Athoek, strategically important because of its location close to a number of wormhole gates, Breq is is now allied with a part of Mianaai, and must now navigate the byzantine politics of Athoek's station. The author tackles themes of colonialism and class in the narative, whilst retaining focus on the manner in which Breq and the crew of Mercy of Kalr confront enemies bot overt and covert.

    The tone of the storytelling is close focused, terse and intense, and drives the narrative forward, keeping the pages steadily turning. As the middle chapter of the trilogy, it leaves many questions to be answered. I am eager to find out what hides behind the Gates, and just what the Presger are up to.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great sequel.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I got about 20 minutes into the audio version of this book and gave up permanently. The narration is performed by a different narrator than Ancillary Sword, and she pronounces names quite differently. Perhaps it is the pronunciation in [Ancillary Sword] that is incorrect, but the different was just too jarring. Because of that, I decided to follow up by reading the printed book instead.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ancillary Sword, the second book of the Imperial Radch series, surprisingly takes us away from the main action involving Anaander Mianaai's civil war. Instead, the former ship AI Breq is given a shiny sheriff's badge and told to maintain the peace in the rural Athoek system, which seemed odd at first given the scope of the first novel. The author uses this setting to make an incisive commentary on social class--while Athoek is "civilized" and all citizens are supposedly equal, in reality many racial groups are oppressed by the wealthy and powerful, and even good-hearted officials turn their heads the other way instead of rocking the boat. That is, until Breq shows up and uses her newfound authority to repeatedly take the side of the downtrodden, to the confusion of some and the ire of others. We are also introduced to other AI characters, including the station AI as well as several Imperial warships, which helps the reader understand the place of AI's in the universe. What's remarkable is that the AI's are all different from one another, but they all seem to have more compassion and a better sense of justice than the human characters. The book is very well-written and, as in the previous book, the characters are a delight to read. I'm really looking forward to the final installment in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this, lots. It was hard to know where the story could _go_, once Breq had killed some Anandai Minaii's and started civil war. But where it actually goes is one small corner of the galaxy, a station in orbit around a tea growing planet, and a story about fighting for the rights of oppressed / marginalised people.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The second book in the trilogy is in some ways more character focused than the first. There are secrets and threats and sudden violence and action sequences, but at the heart of the story are characters seeking their own redemption. Breq, a single ancillary AI from a destroyed ship, goes to this planet seeking to provide some kind of comfort to the sister of her beloved fallen captain. Meanwhile, a young lieutenant must deal with her anger at being a victim of having her mind invaded, while desperately trying to prove her worth, and Seivarden is trying her best to shake off her past addition to drugs, which becomes more difficult as the situation and stress builds.Again, Ann Leckie presents fantastic world building layers, with the plot intricately bound up in the complications of culture and politics presented in this carefully wrought universe. The sequel delves deeply into the class-based inequality and the way colonization attempts to erase other cultures through homogenization and margenization. The Radechai's believe in Justice, Propiety, Benefit are explored, leaving the questions: Who's justice? Who's benefit? Another utterly fantastic book from Anne Leckie, and I will be immediately picking up the finale.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ancillary Sword is the second in Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series and the sequel to Ancillary Justice. Picking up chronologically almost immediately after the events of that book, it follows Breq, the once ship, but now the last remaining ancillary of her ship, as she is given command of a ship and sent to resolve problems in a star system under the Imperial Radch rule. Within moments of arrival, it's clear that something is awry, but exactly what is a mystery.

    There is a distinctly different feel to the story her from Ancillary Justice. So much of the excitement over the first book seemed to be how Ann Leckie blew the top off conventions of perspective in how she told the story, using Breq as a personality split over many bodies as the narrator. With Ancillary Sword, Breq is confined to just one remaining body, her ship destroyed, and while she is able to jump her awareness to many the perspectives of those under her command instantaneously, it is not the same thing. Further, the story itself is structured differently, her motives are different, and her goals changed. It results in a completely different feel, one that is, in many ways, more conventional than Ancillary Justice.

    The change isn't necessarily a bad one, but Leckie doesn't really seem to provide that wow factor that carried Ancillary Justice. Her characters are flat, her protagonist is not compelling or sympathetic, and I wasn't really sure that I felt the injustice that was supposed to be resolved. Sure, there was an underworld of repressed citizens on the space station and down the well, but their repression is never developed into something that felt personal. I might have been reading something out of a travel log by a socially conscious journalist for all the depth that the oppressed demonstrated. In some respects, this may be an outgrowth of Breq's nature as a ship, an artificial intelligence shoved into a physical body, but the effect is one that while occasionally interesting is ultimately lacking in sympathy and emotion, even when Leckie goes into excessive detail about every feeling and motivation that Breq is experiencing.

    In some respects, it's an excess of tell over show that dulls the credibility of Breq's experience. Breq never really faces significant obstacles and strides through Radch colonial civilization like a demi-god, demanding, and receiving, the results she desires.

    This observation about the nature of the colony raises some other concerns I had. At 600 years the colony is still facing the same prejudices as integration by the Radch? Given the level of technology the Radch and their citizens utilize, this strains credibility and marks one of the deficits in a lot of science-fiction writers repertoire--an appreciation or understanding of anthropology and human cultural evolution. We may buy that civilization in the Star Wars universe remains relatively static for millenia, but we don't come to it with a promise of social change and justice the way that Leckie does in her novels. As a result, the sudden changes that Breq forces upon Athoek's governors and people seem out-of-place and forced. Would change really have been static for 600 years? For a comparison, consider that it 600 years ago, Columbus had not discovered America--or been born, most of the world was feudal, peasants lived in wooden huts, fought with bows and arrows and swords, traveled by horse, and had a life expectancy of 30. Meanwhile, Radch citizens were conquered by space ships, had access to artificial intelligence, and lived in space stations. And social change has been static for 600 years? Perhaps this is Leckie's point--something has been retarding the change, but I didn't get that impression. Rather, it felt like an excuse for Leckie to write a metaphor for social change imposed by powerful individuals on repressing social groups to the benefit of the huddled masses.

    Yes, the heavy-handedness of it all. Leckie's actually much lighter with her hand than others, but because the tale lacks in other ways, the social message seems to drive the story more than the story driving the social message. It hurts her effort, and I think diminishes Ancillary Sword's potential.

    Ancillary Sword has been nominated for the Hugo for Best Novel. I don't have any problem with that, per se. It's a decent follow up to Ancillary Justice, even if unsatisfactorily so. However, I suspect that, because it was not on the Sad or Rabid Dogs slate and because Ancillary Justice received the Hugo last year, it will receive the bulk of the votes from those who are revolting against the Sad and Rabid Puppies slates. This is unfortunate, because there are better books that have been nominated this year (for example, The Goblin Emperor, review forthcoming) and that deserve attention. But are the Hugos about quality science-fiction and fantasy any more or just a platform for the promotion of petty political agendas?
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This was actually painful to read. This is character driven storytelling taken to the extreme, and it's simply too much for me. Knowing every thoughts of every seconds of a character is not fun. Reading 50 pages to see a single scene unfold is not fun. Reading about the main char going to the infirmary to visit another character, and that action taking also near 50 pages, and nothing, absolutely nothing, coming out of it is not fun. I also got really annoyed at the fifth hundred "Sir", which must have happened near page 30(or so it felt)The first book had the novelty of a computer becoming a "human" on it's side. This one does not. This is it for me, I have no wish to read the last installment.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really liked the first book in this series, Ancillary Justice, but can't say the same about book 2. Odd, because the book isn't that much different. The first book, though, was fresh and new, introducing some very cool concepts (such as ancillaries, former humans that have been engineered to be parts of a space ship. Also, the whole concept of the Radch, an empire throughout space controlled entirely by one person, who rules the vast space by cloning herself repeatedly).But the weaknesses overwhelmed me in this book. There is the odd quirk of referring to all characters as "she", making no gender distinction. I guess this is supposed to be a feature of Rachchai language, but I don't see the purpose and it makes it harder to picture the characters. Then there's the cool way that ship AIs control so much and have feelings that affect their actions. One of the things they do is monitor all of their troops, watching every change in body temperature and twitch of every muscle, allowing them to read emotions on a very detailed level. But the narrative spends so much time detailing every emotion of every character all the time- it's a little annoying and unnecessary. Lots of sci fi has unusual names, which is fine. Why make these names so bizarre? ("Raughd"? How does one pronounce that?). And this book is really about the oppression of people from recently conquered systems, but the context isn't well explained and the reader has to figure it out as he goes along. There is some good action at the end of the book, and some satisfying conclusion of mysteries to the reader and to characters in the book who were in the dark. This is the middle book in a series, which is really about the struggle between different factions of Annander Minai clones- the emperor's plan to control her empire by relying only upon clones of herself seems to be backfiring, as the clones are too spread out to remain integrated. Another cool concept, but there are just too many weaknesses.I am still struggling with why I liked the first book so much and yet disliked this one so much, even though it was similar. But there it is!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I may have enjoyed Ancillary Sword more than Ancillary Justice.I loved learning more about Radch society and the complexities of living on a station and I loved the political and tactical maneuverings both by Breq and those around her. I enjoyed seeing more of the culture of the ships and the station and how their crews and AI's bond and interact with each other. I'm especially happy with how the AI's are being handled, they don't feel as if they are just humanized computers and there are reasons for how and why the act the way they do that make sense. I am still having a hard time with the gender pronoun usage here, I still see most of the characters as female even though they clearly all aren't, except for Raughd, I saw that character strictly as male, which as in the last book, most likely says more about my perceptions then anything else. I enjoyed being challenged that way a bit more in this book then in the first one. I am enjoying the twists and developments in the over arching story of the secret civil war and at this point I can't even imagine how that will be resolved, which I am really enjoying. I can't wait to get to read the next book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I haven't read much of what is generally categorised as "military sf", but I understand that it features ultra-competent protagonists, formal Space Navy ranks and structure, and at least one good space battle. None of these things are to be found within 'Ancillary Sword' in quite the sort of format that the formula would demand - yet I read this with a sense that this was a proper novel of military science fiction - as long as the military you have in mind is the Austro-Hungarian army in the years immediately before the First World War, as depicted in the novels of Joseph Roth. In those books, the officers of the Austro-Hungarian army sit around a lot, admiring each others' gorgeous uniforms and worrying about Mess intrigue, the latest affairs and Matters of Duty. And that's pretty much what happens in 'Ancillary Sword'.So as an action-packed, rip-roaring tale of space war, the book comes up short. But that's not really what we were expecting, was it? Instead, we see more of Radch space and Radch society through the eyes of Breq, the AI downloaded into a human body; we begin to understand more about what it was like to be an ancillary, a corpse soldier animated by a ship's AI (even though we see much of that via the crew of Breq's new ship, 'Mercy of Kalr', who are human but choose to behave like ancillaries); and we get to grips with more of the non-gendered languages of Radch space. Leckie's use of the feminine pronoun no longer struck me as odd or unique; I simply imagined all the main characters as women, whether they were intended to be or not. (Oddly, I saw the ship's troops as male, but so little male as to verge on the neuter.) The story works whether you visualise the main characters as male or female; Breq, don't forget, is an AI, and so the concept of gender is completely immaterial to 'her'.And the society! Radch society remains one of the more interesting examples of world-building in current sf; we see social interactions, prejudice, status, and mourning rituals which have no relationship to any we are familiar with. And there are tea services, taking the place of Roth;s gorgeous uniforms.I think I almost enjoyed this book more than 'Ancillary Sword'; certainly, once the final novel in the projected trilogy appears later this year, 'Ancillary Mercy', I shall schedule all three novels for an early re-read - and it's a long time since I've done that for any book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After confronting the galactic emperor in Ancillary Justice, Breq is made captain of her own ship and goes to the Athoek system to help keep the peace and make amends to Lieutenant Awn's sister.I think Sword has a case of middle-book syndrome. I actually would have probably liked this better as a standalone novel, since it's so different in scope and story from Justice. I kept expecting the conspiracy story to continue here, but it really didn't. I also couldn't help comparing the two. Many of the things that I thought were so excellent in the first book seemed to fall flat here. For instance, Breq is commanding a ship with a human crew, not ancillaries (although they like to pretend they are ancillaries); to recreate that sense of first-person omniscience, the ship keeps showing Breq scenes from the crew members' points of view, but because Breq is only an observer and not a participant this time, the effect isn't nearly as cool or engaging. Breq's observations are also sometimes frustrating, as she makes a lot of assumptions, and since I am not intimately familiar with Radch customs (and forgot many of the details from the first book), I got a little lost from time to time. Also, I felt that the climactic disaster was a bit too neatly telegraphed. Otherwise, I enjoyed the character development, especially the introduction of a new Lieutenant who has similar identity problems as Breq. The story ends on a cliffhanger and with a mystery; I probably will continue on, as I really want to see these sinister aliens that keep threatening.Read in 2015.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've been eagerly waiting to read this book since I read [Ancillary Justice] and I was not disappointed. It is perhaps not as stunning as the first book since we know that the Lord of the Radch has split into two factions which are in conflict. However, this book reveals much more of Breq, the ancillary who was once a ship but is now just one individual. And she is fascinating.Breq has been made Fleet Commander and captain of the Mercy of Kalr. As a result of the recent fightin two stargates have been shut down and communication with other parts of the realm is compromised. The Lord of the Radch, Anaander Mianaai, (or at least the part of her that is currently in charge) needs Breq to go to Athoek to quell possible problems. She has required that Breq take a seventeen year old newly-minted lieutenant as her third officer. Breq knows that Lieutenant Tisarwat will be spying for the Lord of the Radch but she has no choice but to take her. On the journey to Athoek she discovers that Tisarwat in fact has been implanted with ancillary powers that make her a copy of the Lord. Breq and the Medic manage to remove these but Breq continues to keep a close eye on the young lieutenant. Arriving in the Athoek system the Mercy of Kalr is almost attacked by another Radch ship, the Sword of Atagaris, but manages to evade them until the ship realizes their mistake. Their captain is on the Athoek's space station and Breq gives her a piece of her mind when she gets there. Captain Hetnys assures Breq that it was a mistake. Breq and her contingent find lodging in the Undergarden, an area damaged and supposedly uninhabitable but nevertheless lived in by non-Radch citizens. It is squalid and barely maintained but Breq's crew manage to clean up an area so they can stay in it. Through her own implants Breq can see what is occurring on the ship and the station and can keep on top of developments. She learns many things that bother her and she manages to correct most of them in time.I see that the third book, Ancillary Mercy, has been written and is due out in October. I must try to remember to look for it then.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    And just like that, I start liking "Ancillary Justice" a lot more. No, this is not a review of the wrong book. But reading the Sword made me reevaluate some of the things that really bothered me in the Justice. In a good way. I wish Leckie had actually published the two books as one novel or made it clearer just how much of a one single whole they will - the way Hamilton's space operas tend to be or the way Blackout/All Clear is. Yes - the first book told its own story and could have finished there but it was uneven - too much buildup. Add that second one to it and the balance is shifting. But back to the book at hand. Breq now has a ship (so a lot of eyes to look out from - giving us the multiple perspective), stays in Radchaii space (so does not need to think about gender and the few times she had to, it was handled nicely without the reminder of the peculiarities of the Radch language) and she is sent to the system where Lieutenant Awn's sister lives. And there she finds a mystery (a gate that supposedly leads to nowhere but is a bit too active), a captain of a Sword that she immediately dislikes and a station populated by people for which you are human only if you have influence. Add to that Anaander's attempts to control her (via other people), an oppressed population and Breq's ability to always get in trouble and the novel is a pretty fast moving adventure that shows glimpses into the Radch (handled a lot better than some of the ones in the first book), showing just how "just" a Radch society is. There will be a space battle of course, an explosion (or three), a few near dead experiences, a bad guy that need punishing (a few of them) and a big disaster that can obliterate the station. Of course the bigger conspiracy is not forgotten and if there is a weaker part in the novel, that's it. Being away from everyone else, being in a single system and having enough things makes this book almost a filler in the mail story of identity and self-understanding. On the other hand it allows Breq to grow and find her way so it was necessary. But as I said, these 2 first novels would have worked as a single novel a lot better (despite some of the repetitions Leckie had to put in this book for people that had forgotten the first one.Leckie's style is so much better suited to that kind of story than to the broad scale storytelling of Justice that I wonder why she did not do something similar in the first book. Yes - the world had to be introduced but we learned a lot about it in this book as well. On the other hand, maybe it would have taken a lot more than 2 books to get us where we are. I cannot wait to see where the third book is going to lead us.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    2015-05-04/1.5%: Started this after Goblin Emperor but didn't finish the first book and I'd like to check out one of the Whiny Puppy books. They're supposedly ruining the Hugos because they don't like the books nominated and I'm really curious to see if they've got anything better. I enjoyed both of the shorts from Torgersen last year. The Vox Day book was, meh.2015-05-11/1.5%: Picking this one up again as I finished or abandoned all the other Hugo novels.2015-05-13/38%: Enjoying this much more than I expected to but it's starting to drag. There hasn't been much going on aside from illegal implants.2015-05-14/61%: Can't imagine what was wrong with Ancillary Justice last year that I dismissed it so quickly. I'm enjoying this one enough that I'll definitely go back to the previous book.2015-05-14/100%: Good stuff. More action than The Goblin Emperor but still pretty light. Almost more of a mystery, or just a character study.... Whatever, it was enjoyable, though as with all of this years crop, not really deep or thought provoking.Hugo Summary/1: I'm tempted to swap this and The Goblin Emperor.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good addition to the series. While the novelty factor is mostly gone, still a lot of aspects of the society to explore. Again, some of the writing is not quite as smooth as one would hope with a lot of times where some of the aspects are not as clear as they could be given the complex interactions between characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great SciFi - follow up to her first novel tho able to stand alone.Liked it, liked the story, characters and style of writing!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Further adventures of Breq, this time with the authority of high military rank behind her. Her desire to save everyone and everything through sheer force of will is overwhelming -- fortunately for story's sake, there are no happy tidy endings, and we're left unsure how it will all work out. But she did what she could, which is a hell of a lot more when everyone is obliged to follow her orders. I wish we had found out more about the Ghost Gate plot this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I liked this almost as much as the first, though the story was a little less complex. We see more about ships and stations and their relationships with their officers. The book suffers from middle book problems; some things happen that I suppose will be resolved in the final book. I still am fascinated by Breq, though she's almost a Mary Sue: sees all, understands all, knows how to deal with every situation. Is she capable of behaving unethically or cruelly? It would seem not. That's not bad, it just makes her interesting in different ways than most protagonists. I don't think an AI could be an unreliable narrator, either.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    On the surface, this is a more straightforward narrative than Ancillary JusticeAncillary Sword is a more character-driven story. It's about identity, and justice, and the ramifications of empire building. It continues to explore what it means to be civilised - or perhaps what it means to be considered civilised. The Radchaii used to essentially mind-wiped conquered peoples in order for them to become AI-controlled ancillaries; now they expect those they colonise to conform to their idea of civilised.I like that the Radchaii see tea as being an important part of their civilisation and that Ancillary Sword looks at the situation of those who grow tea. (I read a review which complained that there was too much tea in these books. Me: "Too much tea? Not possible!")The book also explores what it means to be an ancillary: through Breq, who was an ancillary but no longer has a ship, through Mercy of Kalr who no longer has ancillaries but whose crew pretend to be ancillaries, through the Sword of Atagaris's ancillaries...It's all really fascinating and thoughtful, while at the same time being a compelling story about characters I care about. I finished this and I had FEELINGS.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Leckie managed to come up with a few new surprises.

    Library copy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting but not as suspenseful as its predecessor 'Ancillary Justice'. Breq takes command of 'Mercy of Kalr' and its not particularly well disciplined crew. On Athoek Station there is mystery and conspiracy. However some major plot motivators, such as the arrival of Translator Dlique, seem rushed, and the pacing of the novel is uneven. Breq spends a lot of the novel separated from her ship. However she seems to nevertheless understand a lot that is going on with her crew. That narrative device made sense when she was' Justice of Toren' in Ancillary Justice but seems a bit forced this time around. It must be very hard for an author to follow a Hugo, Nebula and Arthur C Clarke winning book with sequel just as good, so there is no shame to Leckie that she did not succeed in doing so this time round.