Ann Leckie: Ancillary Mercy

Hi

Ancillary Mercy is the third part in the Imperial Radch Trilogy by Ann Leckie.
My copy has 330 pages and I got it at the Standaard Boekhandel.
You can find my other reviews in this series here.
This book is nominated for the Hugo Award 2016 and the Nebula Award 2016.

I had high hopes for this one. Everyone seems to love it even more then the previous two (which I just found ok) so I hoped that this conclusion would make the reading experience worth it.
It wasn’t in my opinion.

The plot is not really exciting or suspenseful nor is it surprising; it’s actually rather boring and not a lot happens.

Seivarden en Ekalu’s fight is entirely understandable, but it doesn’t need so much time in the book. And the moralizing message behind it is has no part in it.
Seivarden has turned into a whiny, pathetic and arogant ass.
Zeiat, the new Presger Translater is weird. Funny in a way, and also strange and bizarre but he/she is only there as comic relief, making the same kind of jokes over and over again. It gets old.

If I’d ever reread these books I’d make a drinking game out of it. Every time ‘tea’ is mentioned; I’d take a shot. But I like this obsession with tea. It’s charming.

The ending leaves everything open. What happens next with The Presger? What about Anaander Mianaai? We don’t know. The novel just ends. I honestly felt cheated.

The first book didn’t blow me away but I thought that was my fault. I was new to SF so it was possible I didn’t understand it all. That’s why I decided to carry on with the series. The reviews I’d read were all so positive, I felt a bit ashamed for not loving it as much as others.
Now however, I don’t care.
If she’d ever write a sequel; I wouldn’t read it.

2 STARS

Happy reading.
Helena

Time for a snack!