I really enjoyed all three books. They managed to do the galactic empire thing without getting overly bogged down in politics, and character development was interesting. I thought Leckie did a good job of conveying an extended AI in multiple bodies, and a solitary form (avoiding spoilers).
I read these not long after reading the first five Murderbot Diaries books, and I wonder if the Radch books might have been an influence on Wells. Some of the themes felt a little similar, while the stories were quite different.
Anyone read them? Liked it disliked, and why?
I thoroughly enjoyed all three, although I agree with others that the second two were a little harder to get into.
She did a good job of making the AI and science feel real. The character development and depth was also very good. It was easy to care about the characters, and many were likeable in their own way with real flaws, interests, and motives.
The action may not have been the focus, but that was also a strong point where a character driven novel or series often struggles with that delivery.
Overall, some of my favorite sci Fi.
I’ve read them too. I thoroughly enjoyed Justice, but had trouble finishing Mercy because it just failed to engage me.
Same here. The first book was great, the second and third didn’t grab me as much.
I liked the concepts in Sword and Mercy though. The various species and their oddities and taboos, the technology, the characters. It’s just that somehow you can feel that Leckie didn’t have as much of a clear goal in mind where the story was going.
I actually wish they could have dwelled more on the final act of Mercy, with how the treaty played into it (avoiding spoilers). That concept itself was interesting, and all of the three books really played into it.
The conflict in Mercy wasn’t as anxious for me, but I did like it. And, unsurprisingly, it felt like more of an ending than the others (the three books really are like one continuous story in a lot of ways - more so than other series I’ve read).
I read these not long after reading the first five Murderbot Diaries books, and I wonder if the Radch books might have been an influence on Wells.
I can’t speak FOR Wells, but in my personal experience, if you want to know an author’s influences, you usually need to look back 20-30+ years ago, or at current science developments and news, not at their contemporaries writing books in the same genre.
Martha Wells is only 2 years older than Ann Leckie, so they likely grew up reading similar SFF books in the 70s/80s/90s, and are now roughly the same age while current events swirl. I know they’ve reviewed each other’s books, but I’d be surprised if they influenced each other that much.
It’s more likely they were both influenced by mutually-read/experienced/loved books and shows from decades past.
It’s a fair point. All Systems Red came out like four or five years after Ancillary Justice, so seemed like a time frame where it could have gotten Wells thinking on the subject.
I’ve heard someone describe the background as “the most boring universe ever written”. I kind of agree when you get into the later two books. No clue why the second and third books got awards, they were painfully slow reading.
Hmmm, I don’t think I agree with the criticism. The have been a lot of galactic empires written about, but I thought the notion of one emperor who is in a giant number of bodies, all in contact with each other, was pretty interesting.
I don’t mind slower paced books. These weren’t super slow, kind of medium.
