Just finished re-reading the Ancillary trilogy. Unique, imaginative, extremely well written and one of a kind. Simply one of the finest science fiction works I have ever read, and I’ve read a lot!

The authors pushing her gender agenda gets in the way of the plot which in the last two books devolves into petty bickering between the maybe female characters in a typically catty housewives of whatever city manner.

The basic story is excellent but the author discarded so much potential reader commitment to the story in the interest of political correctness. The ability of the reader to fully connect and identify with the characters is lost when everyone is a “she” or a “her” and you don’t know if she is he, hers is his or vice versa. I doubt I would ever read works from this author again. I like my protagonists to be a hero and/or a heroine with whom I can connect, not a faceless blob in my imagination due to the author being a slave to the latest trend in academia.

The characters are compelling and unique. The universe is complex, and deeply layered. A wonderful read from the first book to the last. Was sad to see the end of the trilogy

If Ancillary Justice was a fascinating tour in non-linear exposition, and Ancillary Sword felt like a cozy mystery set in the midst of a space opera, Ancillary Mercy struck me as an interstellar version of the folktale motif “six go through the world”. That is, a protagonist accumulates a set of unlikely and improbable allies simply due to treating those she encounters with honesty, empathy, and (if you will forgive the word) humanity, to find that those allies come through with a vengeance when the chips are down. And the essence of Breq’s success in gaining allies is the question "what counts as 'humanity?" Who deserves to be treated as having equal significance and whose consent is worth respecting? Issues of colonialism and class consciousness play out at multiple levels and there are additional mythic resonances to reward the observant reader. (For example, the motif of redemption through willing self-sacrifice.) If the resolution relies overmuch on the triumph of good will and virtue, I’m happy to see those things triumph on occasion at the moment. This was a very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

I'd advise against reading, to preserve your high opinion of Justice and Sword. Exhibits none of their strengths. Would never have been published, if not for the reputation established by its predecessors. Sloppy. Meandering. Grossly out of character. A terrible shame. I'm not giving up on Leckie, but this installment should not have happened.

Amazing third book in the wonderful Ancillary series. More action than the second book, builds to a very satisfactory ending.

Loved the book, love the series. Leckie has written an emotionally satisfying end to her award winning trilogy about Breq, the single ancillary soldier who is all that survived the destruction of the AI ship named Justice of Toren.

Revelatory exposition explodes page after page revealing ever more profound ethical and moral conundrums facing all of humanity in n the not-to-distant future. Necessitates an immediate reread of the trilogy primed with newfound understanding.