Ancillary Justice left us in a weird situation with some weird characters in a weird Universe. A God emperor, consisting of many individually linked bodies, is locked in a civil war with itself. One half of the Emperor has given a ship and a military mission to Breq, a gender-less soldier with the brain of a battleship. She carries an invisible gun that can shoot through absolutely anything. Breq likes to kill the emperor whenever she can, but has to go along with the mission so that she can protect the only living relative of her former commanding officer (whom Breq executed). It's a familiar story, I'm sure you'll agree. This is where Ancillary Sword begins.
Whereas the last book had a Wild-West veneer to its bizarro sci-fi, this time around it feels a lot more like a Patrick O'Brian style Napoleonic historical novel. There is a ship with a crew, and a hierarchy of military officers. There are stiff upper lips and impeccable manners. There is a looming threat of a distant war effort that will soon find its way to the ship. The first book had to get across multiple obtuse concepts to the reader, so it was forced to limit its characters and keep it aimed towards a simple revenge plot. Ancillary Sword lacks such hindrances, so it gets to tell something a bit more complicated, whilst simultaneously being easier to understand. Sword juggles issues like colonialism, the value of propriety, emotional repression, pan-sexuality, and how to stop super deadly space aliens from getting bored with your company.
I liked a lot about Ancillary Sword, but I'm not really able to put my finger on why. Maybe I just like getting lost in the intricacies of this universe. Or maybe I enjoy finding the elaborate innuendo that the characters exchange behind polite conversation. Or maybe its because it is still at its heart an original and clever sci-fi that feels like it still has a lot more to offer by the end of the second book.
Ancillary Sword
Ancillary Justice left us in a weird situation with some weird characters in a weird Universe. A God emperor, consisting of many individually linked bodies, is locked in a civil war with itself. One half of the Emperor has given a ship and a military mission to Breq, a gender-less soldier with the brain of a battleship. She carries an invisible gun that can shoot through absolutely anything. Breq likes to kill the emperor whenever she can, but has to go along with the mission so that she can protect the only living relative of her former commanding officer (whom Breq executed). It's a familiar story, I'm sure you'll agree. This is where Ancillary Sword begins.
Whereas the last book had a Wild-West veneer to its bizarro sci-fi, this time around it feels a lot more like a Patrick O'Brian style Napoleonic historical novel. There is a ship with a crew, and a hierarchy of military officers. There are stiff upper lips and impeccable manners. There is a looming threat of a distant war effort that will soon find its way to the ship. The first book had to get across multiple obtuse concepts to the reader, so it was forced to limit its characters and keep it aimed towards a simple revenge plot. Ancillary Sword lacks such hindrances, so it gets to tell something a bit more complicated, whilst simultaneously being easier to understand. Sword juggles issues like colonialism, the value of propriety, emotional repression, pan-sexuality, and how to stop super deadly space aliens from getting bored with your company.
I liked a lot about Ancillary Sword, but I'm not really able to put my finger on why. Maybe I just like getting lost in the intricacies of this universe. Or maybe I enjoy finding the elaborate innuendo that the characters exchange behind polite conversation. Or maybe its because it is still at its heart an original and clever sci-fi that feels like it still has a lot more to offer by the end of the second book.