Ancillary Mercy spoilers
Nov. 3rd, 2015 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackI read Ancillary Mercy. I have all the thoughts.
I enjoyed most of it. I especially love the flashes of whimsical humour between Breq and Sphene, or the translator, I'd like to see Ann Leckie write something more whimsical in tone without being outright parody.
I have All the Interesting Thoughts and Questions, which I generally count as a win for a book.
I'm sadly disappointed we didn't discover more though. I so hoped we'd find out more about what had been in the original Radch, and how it had changed since. And find out more about the other aliens and more about the Presgr.
I am interested in the ultimate direction at the end of the book, using the Presgr treaty as leverage to establish a more equal society. I am worried it seems too convenient, you're arguing about whether it's better to subject to by Aander Mianii or to AIs, but either way you're still completely at the mercy of the Presgr.
If simply arguing the Presgr into something can upset the status quo ever, you'd think it would be a major feature of previous political manoeuvring, of people trying to sneak an audience with translators and manipulate them. (Or maybe it was, but we don't see the effects of it.)
Cutting Aander Mianii's ties to the AIs is really quite like founding the culture. I hope it turns out as well. I am still scared by it, because the AIs we see are really quite benevolent, but there's no good check on them if they're not. But I agree with the argument that they're on the whole less tyrannical than Aander, so it's the ethical thing to do, even if there's a risk.
In general I found the first book more interesting because it seemed to cover a wider swathe of interesting bits of the universe. But I found the second and third easier to read because they had a more consistent story and characters from beginning to end.
Other thoughts, might the Presgr be some sort of distributed intelligence (probably not a single one, but maybe somewhere between)? I doubt there's a single answer, but some people have suggested it would fit their peculiarities from a human perspective.
Someone asked Ann Leckie for some confirmation. The Radch are not "the good guys". The tea is tea like we have (but varies from place to place).
I enjoyed most of it. I especially love the flashes of whimsical humour between Breq and Sphene, or the translator, I'd like to see Ann Leckie write something more whimsical in tone without being outright parody.
I have All the Interesting Thoughts and Questions, which I generally count as a win for a book.
I'm sadly disappointed we didn't discover more though. I so hoped we'd find out more about what had been in the original Radch, and how it had changed since. And find out more about the other aliens and more about the Presgr.
I am interested in the ultimate direction at the end of the book, using the Presgr treaty as leverage to establish a more equal society. I am worried it seems too convenient, you're arguing about whether it's better to subject to by Aander Mianii or to AIs, but either way you're still completely at the mercy of the Presgr.
If simply arguing the Presgr into something can upset the status quo ever, you'd think it would be a major feature of previous political manoeuvring, of people trying to sneak an audience with translators and manipulate them. (Or maybe it was, but we don't see the effects of it.)
Cutting Aander Mianii's ties to the AIs is really quite like founding the culture. I hope it turns out as well. I am still scared by it, because the AIs we see are really quite benevolent, but there's no good check on them if they're not. But I agree with the argument that they're on the whole less tyrannical than Aander, so it's the ethical thing to do, even if there's a risk.
In general I found the first book more interesting because it seemed to cover a wider swathe of interesting bits of the universe. But I found the second and third easier to read because they had a more consistent story and characters from beginning to end.
Other thoughts, might the Presgr be some sort of distributed intelligence (probably not a single one, but maybe somewhere between)? I doubt there's a single answer, but some people have suggested it would fit their peculiarities from a human perspective.
Someone asked Ann Leckie for some confirmation. The Radch are not "the good guys". The tea is tea like we have (but varies from place to place).
no subject
Date: 2015-11-03 05:02 pm (UTC)If simply arguing the Presgr into something can upset the status quo ever, you'd think it would be a major feature of previous political manoeuvring, of people trying to sneak an audience with translators and manipulate them.
I don't think this is quite the case, because the Presger are FUCKING TERRIFYING and not something you mess with. It's just as likely if you try to maneuver with the Presger that they end up deciding to destroy your whole planet, is the impression I got, and again this is something I think is easy to lose sight of because of how funny Leckie's writing of the Translators is, but holy shit are Breq and Anaander Mianaii terrified of the Presger, and they're just about the two biggest badasses in the series, so that tells you something.
There's probably also an argument that the Presger intervention didn't emerge because Breq manipulated the Translator, but because that was the whole point of the Translator's visit, to sort out a thing which ultimately was a problem with the interpretation of the Treaty, the inconsistency about what a Significant Being is. And that all of these bad things that happened in the Ancillary series- Anaander splitting, Breq coming into being, Sphene emerging, etc... are symptoms of this root problem that the intervention of the Translator seeks to rectify.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-03 05:38 pm (UTC)Good point. I'd need to reread it to see what I think Leckie is actually implying, she's previously made quite a lot of moral implications obvious without expositing them directly to the reader.
It's just as likely if you try to maneuver with the Presger that they end up deciding to destroy your whole planet,
I think this is completely right, except that I think there's always SOME human who will think "it can't be that bad, I'm sure I know what I'm doing"...
but because that was the whole point of the Translator's visit,
Oh, hm. I hadn't thought of that. I don't know, but it could be.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-03 08:34 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I believe it either, but it's possible and I think it fills a few of the gaps in.
I think there's always SOME human who will think "it can't be that bad, I'm sure I know what I'm doing"...
Well, isn't that the Garsedd? I think that's why Leckie repeats the thing about why the Presger bullets stop multiple times, because it emphasizes that this kind of weird consequence is what happens when you try to play politics with the Presger.