Ancillary Mercy

Starred review from September 7, 2015
The breathtaking conclusion to Leckie’s much-lauded Imperial Radch trilogy (Ancillary Justice; Ancillary Sword) lives up to the promise and expectations of the earlier books. Breq, the last human body housing the consciousness of the destroyed troop carrier Justice of Toren, must prepare the Athoek space station to survive the civil war spreading through Radch space. The station is overcrowded and badly damaged, and the political situation deteriorates as it becomes clear that the station has already been corrupted by competing factions of Anaander Mianaai, the many-bodied supreme ruler of the Radchaai. Breq has no way to determine the loyalties of the other military ships in the system. Things become even more complicated when station security finds somebody who doesn’t belong there and should have died 600 years before. New readers could begin the series here, but they will miss out on the deeply satisfying culmination of early plot points and running jokes. This glorious series summit is suffused with the wit and the skillful eye for character that fans have come to expect from Leckie. Breq and her lieutenants are destined to be beloved giants in the space opera canon. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.

Starred review from August 1, 2015
In the conclusion to Leckie's multiaward-winning trilogy (Ancillary Justice, 2013; Ancillary Sword, 2014), Fleet Captain Breq Mianaai directly confronts Anaander Mianaai, the interstellar ruler who blew up Justice of Toren, the ship that housed Breq's consciousness.The Lord of the Radch, divided as she is across thousands of bodies, is at war with herself. The more reactionary faction is preparing to invade Athoek Station, even while the Station is experiencing civil unrest; can Breq, her crew, and whatever allies she can gather overcome overwhelming odds and establish peace and a new social order? Leckie deliberately and deliciously flouts classic space-opera tropes. Rather than epic clashes between starships, there's just one determined, embodied Artificial Intelligence with a very powerful gun, a stubborn space station, espionage, and some very persuasive talking. Leckie creates a grand backdrop to tell an intimate, cerebral story about identity and empowerment. She devotes as much attention to the characters' personal relationships and their mental and emotional difficulties as she does to the wider conflict. What Leckie is saying is that individual people matter. Personhood matters, whether that personhood is expressed by an ordinary human, a sentient space station, a human raised by aliens, the remains of a spaceship AI inhabiting a human body that once belonged to someone else, or a 17-year-old whose previous personality was evicted by a ruling hive mind. Regardless of the situation in which one finds oneself, a person's right to be herself without interference is all that matters. And a small group of people can have a gigantic impact, with the right leverage. That message could so easily be hackneyed or too painfully obvious, but Leckie's delivery is deft and meaningful. Wraps up the story arc with plenty of room to tell many more tales in this universe. Let's hope Leckie does.

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September 15, 2015

Fleet Captain Breq, once ancillary to the Justice of Toren and last seen in Ancillary Sword, is still on Atheok station. She's trying to improve life for the residents of the Undergarden, but the brewing conflict between rival aspects of Anaander Mianaai finally arrives on her doorstep. Breq's desire for revenge against Mianaai burns as bright as ever, but her plan to oppose the Lord of the Radch will change not only the political landscape but all human and AI relations. While not quite as compelling as the two books in Leckie's award-winning "Imperial Radach" series, this is still highly impressive sf. We not only get more time with the fascinating characters of Breq and her troubled lieutenant Seivarden, who started this journey together, but Leckie introduces a representative from the Presger empire to knock everything a little off balance. Breq is the ultimate agent of change, upsetting a status quo that stood for millennia and advocating for a revolution in determining who is considered a person in a post-AI world. VERDICT This trilogy will stand as a classic of sf for the ages, although it's difficult not to want more stories set in this captivating universe. [See Eric Norton's sf/fantasy spotlight feature, "A Genre Takes Flight," LJ 8/15.]--MM

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