Ancillary Sword

Paperback, 359 pages

English language

Published Oct. 19, 2014 by Orbit.

ISBN:
978-0-316-24665-1
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
879642553

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (191 reviews)

Seeking atonement for past crimes, Breq takes on a mission as captain of a troublesome new crew of Radchai soldiers, in the sequel to Ann Leckie's NYT bestselling, award-winning Ancillary Justice. A must read for fans of Ursula K. Le Guin and James S. A. Corey.

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.

Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy has become one of the new classics of science fiction. Beautifully written and forward thinking, it does what good science fiction does best, …

7 editions

Way different from the first book, but still good

4 stars

While the first book had Justice of Torren right in the middle of all the action, this book has her in command of a ship and is much more focused on the political side of her character. I found it slower, but just as entertaining as the first.

An interesting sequel

4 stars

I really loved Ancillary Justice and while it ended on an open note I felt the tone shift from the first book's renegades on the fringes of the empire to being at the heart of the empire's governance here was hard to adjust to.

Although there's a conspiracy, a murder, the backdrop of civil war and a mysterious jump gate much of the second half of the book is taken up my musings on the nature of justice and the relationship between the empire, the representatives of its immortal emperor and the citizens of the empire.

The action shifts to a planet and its attendant space station, much of the action revolves around the growing and harvesting of tea. Around halfway through I felt the pace had slowed down to the point where I felt I was enjoying the writing in terms of the scene setting and the world building …

Review of 'Ancillary Sword' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It's rare that the second book of a trilogy is better than the first but this is one of those rare occasions. And maybe it's because it took me a fair bit of the first book to figure out what was going on exactly, but in this sequel it seemed there was more action, more interesting characters, and plenty of plot twists, or at least unexpected surprised.

Following the events in book 1, Breq - formerly the ancillary of the destroyed Justice of Toren - is now captain of her own ship, Mercy of Kalr, and despatched to Athoek Station to ensure it's safe and protected from the imminent civil war with Anaander Mianaai, supreme ruler of the Radch empire. Breq agrees to go, because the sister of her beloved and now 20 years deceased Lt. Awn is a horticulturalist on the station there. They arrive to find the ship …

Review of 'Ancillary Sword' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It is a very well-constructed universe that I have grown more fond of since the first book, but I would really like some backstory on how this far-future neo-Roman empire came about, and how all these human societies ended up on all these worlds when there are also alien races present in the galaxy.

Review of 'Ancillary Sword' on 'LibraryThing'

5 stars

I liked this even better than the first volume, which I already loved. It's mostly slower paced, but it manages to be simultaneously E.M.Forster in space, chapter after chapter of excellent world building, and a wonderfully sharp critique of the modern world.

I do definitely recommend reading these in order. Direct references back to Ancillary Justice are explained enough that I don't think reader would be lost starting here, but I don't think I would have got anywhere near as into it without the setup of book 1.

Review of 'Ancillary Sword' on 'LibraryThing'

5 stars

I liked this even better than the first volume, which I already loved. It's mostly slower paced, but it manages to be simultaneously E.M.Forster in space, chapter after chapter of excellent world building, and a wonderfully sharp critique of the modern world.

I do definitely recommend reading these in order. Direct references back to Ancillary Justice are explained enough that I don't think reader would be lost starting here, but I don't think I would have got anywhere near as into it without the setup of book 1.

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Subjects

  • Science fiction
  • Space fiction
  • Intergalactic war
  • Cloning
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Tea
  • LGBT+
  • Linguistics
  • Politics
  • Military