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.
It's always worth being a bit cautious when entering the second book of a series that has an awesome first book. You never know when something really boring is going to happen and keep you waiting until the final book of the trilogy to do anything. That's not the case with this book.
The setting and characters were just as interesting as the first book even if the narrative became somewhat simpler because of the lack of flashbacks. We finally get an opportunity to see Breq interacting with a larger cast of characters and how her reactions change based on their specific personalities and desires.
The use of language and its relationship with gender in this universe continue to fascinate me as does everything about the characters. Super excited to read the final book in the trilogy and happy to know there's more to come after I'm done.
I found this one a bit sloggier to get through compared to Ancillary Justice. I guess maybe because I didn't feel like Breq had quite as much of a bond with any of the characters, except maybe Seivarden. I set this book down for a week or so to read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, which maybe was doing it a disservice, but also which is often a sign that I'm not really enjoying the book all that much.
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.
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 …
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 around the politics within the empire.
While the conclusion accelerates back up with a bomb and a shootout it still has a cliffhanger with much in the background plot unresolved and to be honest not a lot of progress on the concept of just and honourable behaviour within the Radch. Unlike the first book though the idea that the conclusion of this book is just a stepping stone into the conclusion of the trilogy feels easier to me.
Rereading the series while waiting for the release of [bc:Translation State|62979034|Translation State (Imperial Radch)|Ann Leckie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1673303702l/62979034.SY75.jpg|98667857] Still 5 stars for me
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 …
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 Sword of Atagaris under Captain Hetnys acting strangely, and severe class inequalities, corruption, and exploitation being covered up or ignored by those in power.
As Breq digs deeper into the problems both on the station and off, more and more problems come to light and when a diplomat is accidentally killed due to a spoiled child of an influential house, Breq has the opportunity to go into a 2 week mourning isolation on one of the wealthiest family's tea plantation along with several of the problematic people she's having to deal with.
There are so many interesting layers in this book and this world that Leckie has created, I could probably reread this several times and keep getting more out of it. As mentioned in the first book, the Radch make no linguistic distinction between genders so everybody is just arbitrary "she" whether male or female. While not a particularly relevant plot point, just the absence of that distinction and the fact you'll find yourself trying to figure it out make it impossible not to face how very gendered our own language is and how meaningless that actually is.
Breq's loneliness as she is now part, but not part, of a ship like what she once used to be is poignant; and her empathy for the officers and crew who now serve on that ship comes from the fact she once had a crew herself and the ability to read their emotions and understand them completely. This also leads her to strongly identify with the Station (also an AI entity) and with the various oppressed minorities of the station and the tea plantation as well. Her perspective on this also leads to a lot of layers in the book highlighting class privilege, discrimination, and elitism, all through the perspective of an AI and a fictional alien society, but still very recognizable.
And of course, at the bottom of it all is the strategic political game being played by Anaander Miaanai, which is mostly in the background in this middle book of the trilogy but still ever-present as Breq tries to figure out what influences are acting where and on whom, in all the webs of conflict and local politics. Excellent series so far!
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.
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.
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.
Some interesting concepts. Not particularly exciting or thought provoking. Took a while to finish. Wasn't rushing back to read it. Only finished it now so that I could start reading the new Neal Stephenson book.
