A fitting end to a great series. Leckie's Radch is a quieter SF universe, where a lot of tea is drunk and social niceties matter more than military hardware. However, that internal, quieter focus makes the bursts of action more exciting, and gives her the space to examine personhood and agency. I'm sad to leave the Radch.

An excellent end to this fabulous series. Moving, thought-provoking, exciting and funny. The last chapter was perfect.

Spoiler

They should have called it the (Provisional) Republic of a Thousand Eggs.

The final book in the trilogy is an immensely satisfying story, although a tiny bit less wonderful than the second book. The story begins almost immediately after the ending of book 2. Fleet Captain Breq and her lieutenants are on their ship, Mercy of Kalr, and the republic-wide crisis is about to come directly to them and nearby Athoek Station.

The relationships between Ship (Mercy of Kalr) and Breq (Justice of Toren), Breq and Seivarden, Breq and Tisarwat, and — well, really, each relationship Breq has with anyone, including Station — as well as Seivarden's relationship with Lt. Ekalu — are all the spinning plates of this book, with the extra point of interest being that three of them are AIs, and the others, the humans, have all had their identity jerked around in some serious way that left damage. So many moments had me thinking about what it means to be human, to be a person — or to be something else, but still a sentient being that has feelings and desires. And a citizen, and the obligations of the state to its citizens ...

There's a new Presger translator, and another new character, an ancillary called Sphene whose ship waits on the other side of the Ghost Gate. (I love the way author Ann Leckie is able to convey so much about SF constructs, like space gates, without bogging us down in technical detail.) Both the translator and Sphene impose themselves upon Breq and her crew, and eventually they become endearing characters in their own rights.

We learn quite a lot more about the Presger gun that Breq has been carrying around since book 1, and it's pretty damned interesting!

Eventually, Anaander Mianaai, Lord of the Radch (one of her, anyway) barges in, and all manner of deadly threats and danger ensue.

"I'm Justice of Toren. All that's left of it. It was Anaander Mianaai who destroyed me."

One of the sweetest things is how the members of her crew react, now, to Breq's almost constant singing. Oh, and there's tea. And tea bowls.

I'm definitely going to reread all three.

Book 1: Ancillary Justice

Book 2: Ancillary Sword

Always great to finish a series, but this story somehow got smaller in scope and intrigue over time rather than larger. Book one is phenomenal. Books two and three lose the forest for the trees when it comes to plot versus the minutiae of character interactions including drinking tea.

A tremendous end to the trilogy, which makes the entire thing an easy 5/5 stars. Very few climaxes that are both incredibly hilarious and tense at the same time, except maybe in some parts of the Dresden Files. Fantastic trilogy, very glad I reread it.

This didn’t really go where I thought it would. I would have found it a lot more interesting if the plot got wider. Like of the lord of the ratch was really the ai controlling the Dyson sphere or if the alien conclave was part of the book. Like having it be the ending of this book was actually the middle of the plot rather than the finish.