Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch, #2)

by Ann Leckie


Ancillary Sword is the sequel to Ancillary Justice, the debut which is the only novel to ever win the Hugo, the Nebula and the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship. Once a weapon of conquest controlling thousands of minds, now she only has a single body and serves the emperor she swore to destroy.
Given a new ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is ordered to the only place in the galaxy she will agree to go: to Athoek station, to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew - a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.

The Imperial Radch trilogy begins with Ancillary Justice, continues in Ancillary Sword and concludes with Ancillary Mercy.
Also available now: Provenance is a stunning standalone adventure set in the same world as Ancillary Justice. NPR calls it 'A fitting addition to the Ancillary world'.

Praise for the trilogy:

'ENGAGING AND PROVOCATIVE'
SFX Magazine

'UNEXPECTED, COMPELLING AND VERY COOL'
John Scalzi

'HIGHLY RECOMMENDED'
Independent on Sunday

'MIND-BLOWING'
io9.com

'THRILLING, MOVING AND AWE-INSPIRING'
Guardian

'UTTER PERFECTION'
The Book Smugglers

'ASTOUNDINGLY ASSURED AND GRACEFUL'
Strange Horizons

'ESTABLISHES LECKIE AS AN HEIR TO BANKS'
Elizabeth Bear

Reviewed by adamfortuna on

2 of 5 stars

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After enjoying the first book in the series, I dove into the 2nd. It didn't hurt that it was nominated for another Hugo award, on a number of short lists for great sci-fi. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as interesting as the first in the series. Many of the concepts explored in the first one were put aside to tackle a case of discrimination on a subset of people on a space station. Still great sci-fi, but I didn't get the same level of enjoyment out of the story as the first one -- which might have set my expectations a little bit too high.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 15 April, 2015: Finished reading
  • 15 April, 2015: Reviewed