Ancillary Mercy

I'm not certain that Ancillary Mercy is the best book in the Imperial Radch, but I think it's my personal favorite. It's the one that makes me laugh out loud (I love you, Translator Zeiat) and it's the one that makes me cry the happiest of tears.

I just hit this section in the middle: Breq has just lost a leg and is awake but obviously pretty heavily drugged. Kalr Five brings Breq water in her own green bowl. Seivarden wanders in (wearing nothing but gloves and underwear), heavily drugged herself, and snuggles in with Breq. And Mercy of Kalr patiently explains to Breq that it loves her, because, "maybe it isn't that ships don't love other ships. Maybe it's that ships love people who could be captains...I do like Lieutenant Ekalu. I like her a great deal. And I like Lieutenant Seivarden well enough, but mostly because she loves you." (Oh, and Kalr Twelve is, while all of this happening, trying to organize a group to sing outside Breq's room. I cannot see through my happy tears.)

I can recognize that this is one of those things that would sound completely crazy to someone who hasn't read these books, which is a testament to the world- and character-building that has happened in the build-up.

Ancillary Sword and BLM

I'm not sure how many times I've re-read Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy now. I think it's safe to say that it's climbing the list of my most re-read books/series, in part because every time I read it, it has new resonance.

I suspect the last time I read it was a few summers ago, but, of course, much has changed since then. And so inevitably, I find myself drawing parallels between Breq and her fight against the tyrant Anaander Mianaai and our current political situation. I won't dive deep into this, because, as I've said too many times already, this is what happens with most of the books I read now (and I doubt I'm alone). But this passage in Ancillary Sword jumped out at me - I appreciated the clarity.

"These people are citizens." I replied, my voice as calm and even as I could make it, without reaching the dead tonelessness of an ancillary. "When they behave properly, you will say there is no problem. When they complain loudly, you will say they cause their own problems with their impropriety. And when they are driven to extremes, you say you will not reward such actions. What will it take for you to listen?"

It's been said before, and it will be said again, but as the debate about Black Lives Matter and kneeling during the national anthem drags endlessly on, I suspect it cannot be said enough.