An excellent ending to the series. As always I loved the characters and am sad to close the book on their story. I was especially delighted by the introductions of Sphene and Translator Zeiat. I would read a whole spinoff series of them interacting. Ann Leckie keeps the tensions high in this book from early on and maintains it until the end. I raced through the pages to see what was going to happen next.

I wish this book was a better ending to a series I love. Unfortunately, I felt the dialogue was odd and stripped away a good deal of the interesting characterization of Breq, Sieverdan, Tsirawet, and Mercy of Kalr. Leckie isn’t as deft at handling characters confronting their emotions rather than avoiding them, and it especially shows when they openly discuss their relationships. Not to mention, the focus on neatly wrapping up a lot of big picture plotlines leaves this story without a lot of time to develop the complexity and nuances I love in the first two books. The new characters these plotlines introduce take a lot of pages away from the relationships, characters, and themes that the first two books spend so much time establishing. I’d have much preferred some open-ended lingering questions about the Ghost Gate and the Presger, but the book seems more concerned with tying up loose ends than telling an impactful story. I’m still excited to read Leckie’s other books, and hope they can capture the magic of Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword.

I liked Mercy almost as much as Justice! The second book, Sword, was a little slow for me. I think that's mostly because Seivarden was my favorite character, and she took a backseat in the second book. But here she gets more time on the page, and her relationship with Breq develops. Their dynamic is what hooked me in the first place, so I was happy to see them finally interacting again and really digging into their emotions towards each other. Leckie did a great job bringing the trilogy to a close! I was on edge right up until the end. The twists and turns were great, and there was always *just* enough information to keep me guessing on what was coming next. Her writing style is still a challenge for me, but her characters are always worth it. Definitely recommend!