Ancillary Mercy concludes Ann Leckie's Ancillary Trilogy, which started with the multiple award winning Ancillary Justice and what a ride it has been. I reviewed Justice here and Sword here. To say I enjoyed reading Ancillary Mercy is the equivalent to saying I like chocolate or coffee. It doesn't begin to describe the pleasure from reading the book.
I would be the first to concede that I'm not much of a critic. Exploring the underlying metaphor of existence and all that jazz generally leaves me feeling cold.
However, Ann Leckie's writing is assured which has a certain panache.
This book made laugh and cry, mostly laugh, but there are some sad parts, because change often involves loss or an acknowledgement of limitations about life. After I finished reading it my partner put down another book to start this. She sat next to me on the sofa reading while snorting at all the little things that make this book so enjoyable.
I know some people don't get on with the use of 'she' as the gender neutral pronoun, and the main character's inability to differentiate gender, but quite frankly the point is to keep you mindful that you're no longer in Kansas anymore.
So space opera with transhuman hive mind versus the alien Presger who are weirder than a weird thing. What's not to like? Go read it.
Can't finish without linking to Kintsugi Art.
I've been working on the re-write/editing of the second draft of Strike Dog this week, and I've managed to edit 51,858 words which means I've done 71,852 of the novel's current running total of 92,414. So the end is in sight. But I now realize I need to write a new last chapter to bookend the story and give proper closure to what happens on the world of Two Moons.
Didn't see that one coming but it will learn me.
No comments:
Post a Comment