Ancillary Sword discussion thread!

[kaberett]

Because, yep, it's out tomorrow. :-) There will be spoilers in comments.

And before it gets to us... thoughts on the first three chapters (if you've read 'em)?

ALSO it is probably worth noticing - in case any of you don't subscribe to annleckie_feed - that Ann Leckie is doing a Reddit Ask Me Anything, with some questions (left in comments at her blog) already answered in the body of the post! I am going to try not to hit refresh endlessly...

Comments

[davidgillon]

It was a wonderful read, but it didn't do anything of what I expected, to the point that I now have to completely revise my expectations of what the trilogy is trying to address. I'd assumed that the overall backdrop would be the Anaander Mianaai civil war, with Breq* wrapped up in that, but clearly that isn't the case. Maybe we're looking at something more like Cherryh's Foreigner series (or indeed most of Cherryh's work) where the overall world-changing conflict that would dominate anyone else's story is purely the backdrop against which an intra-household conflict is played out. Or maybe it's all about the Presger, and that gun.

I'd assumed Breq was more sympathetic to their Anaander Mianaai than appears to be true. I think she is more sympathetic to the cause of not-blowing-up-gates, admits-exterminating-an-entire-planet-might-have-been-a-tad-over-the-top, but the moment when she strangles Tisarwat to force AM out, plus some later comments suggest she's successfully distinguishing between cause and leader. I do worry over her judgement, hatred for AM is all very well, but AM is the leadership of the entire Radch, take AM (all of them) out of the situation and the Radch descends into chaos and anarchy as every governor, captain, and citizens like Fosyf and Raughd Denche decides now is the moment for them to take charge. Maybe she recognises that, and that's why her focus revolves around the small, intensely personal goal of protecting Basnaaid Elming, but actions like her strangling of Tisarwat are problematic - Tisarwat as AM's glove-puppet was more predictably manipulatable towards those goals than Tisarwat as an abused, emotional 17yo with 3000 years of political manouevring to draw on.

Which raises the observation that if AM recognised Breq as coming closer to her own experience of living than anyone else, then Tisarwat now comes closer to that for both Breq and for AM. (And I wonder at analogies with the Presger Translator - I would have liked to see a lot more of her)

And drawing on both those points; AM and Breq have created a monster, a damaged 17yo with an incredible ability to manipulate to her own ends. Tisarwat's using her powers for good at the moment, but what happens when she and AM come back into contact? Tisarat knows she was essentially murdered by AM, while AM knows Tisarwat has all of her knowledge, but no loyalty to her. It's not a situation that promises to end well.

WRT Kalr Five, this strikes me as a clear nod to the traditions of naval fiction; the captain's servant is absolutely a traditional role that needs to be filled. I was struck when Breq moved herself ashore that she was actually behaving exactly as a Post Captain would be expected to behave in Napoleonic-era naval fiction, making the overall post/port her focus rather than solely the running of her own ship, and AM making her Fleet Captain gave her the seniority to do that, just as making her Mianaai allowed her to act without people assuming superiority through their particular house. It's clear that AM can't directly control Breq, but that doesn't mean she can't find ways to make Breq's aims congruent with her own - she's had 3000 years to practise....

* And in writing this I find I'm now more comfortable talking about Breq as Breq, rather than Justice of Toren/One Esk Seventeen. I have mixed feelings about this.

[davidgillon]

(Was meant to be a reply to Kaberett, but I seem to have hit the wrong 'reply')

[davidgillon]

A point I meant to, but forgot, to make. It's become very clear that the tendency of the ships to have favourites, to love members of their crew, is, in strictly military terms, a weakness. In our contemporary military tradition, taking the ship's captain hostage will simply result in a stand-off while they rustle up a hostage rescue team, but here Sword of Atagiris immediately folds and surrenders its entire crew (of officers, the ancillaries would be considered disposable) into Breq's hands, even though it has no guarantee they won't be killed later and even though Breq just kneecapped Captain Hetnys to make a point.

There's an odd parallel here, between this situation, and that on Justice of Toren when AM ordered the execution of Lieutenant Awn, yet it's the arrogant, militant Sword of Atagiris that immediately abandons its mission in order to protect its favourite, while the far more thoughtful Justice of Toren carried through even to the extent of killing Awn with its own hands (as that's what Ancillaries are). Of course it then promptly shot AM, apparently to its own surprise, suggesting JoT may have been (unknowingly) as divided against itself as AM is. The difference of course is the instruction in JoT's case came from the Lord of the Radch, but even for Sword of Atagiris the instruction is from a legitimate superior officer in its chain of command.

[davidgillon]

Just read AL's Redditch AMA and I see she cites Cherryh as a favourite/influence. {Smug}