Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

The final book in the Imperial Radch Trilogy

I read this book in a bout of depression about my life and my job and it consumed me. I loved Ancillary Mercy with all my heart. This was the perfect ending to the trilogy. It was an ending that made me think “Of course this was the natural outcome, how did I not guess this in the first book?”. Exactly what I needed.

Breq has chosen a planet and a station to protect, instead of colonize as she did with the planet Shis’urna in the first book. She wants to truly improve the lives of these citizens. She got justice for Quetar & Tisarwat. She freed station and Sword of Justice. She got the Presgr to agree to potentially consider AIs as a Significant Species. Ancillary Mercy was my water in a desert. Things matter, people matter, we try our best. Things never end perfectly but that’s only because things never end. Life just keeps happening every day and then we keep going and if we stop, the world goes on without us. Breq has learned to love and learned to be loved. Maybe ships can love other ships. or stations.

Even more shocking, maybe Seveirden can become empathetic.