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.
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