February marks part 3 of the Imperial Radch read-a-long, which started in November last year, and also the first time I’m joining in, as they are now reading book 3 – Ancillary Mercy. I had already read the previous two books, so I’m just joining in for the conclusion to the trilogy!
Every week, there are a set number of chapters to read, and the host for the week will post questions for people to answer!
Week 1 Questions – Azrah @ Quintessentially Bookish
Week 2 Questions – Nicole @ The Bookwyrm Knits
Week 3 Questions – Annemieke @A Dance With Books
Week 4 Questions – Mayri @ The Bookforager
Without further ado, let’s take a look at my thoughts for week 2!
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. THIS IS NOT A SPOILER-FREE POST. SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE SERIES UP TO CHAPTER 5 OF ANCILLARY MERCY POSSIBLE!
I am writing this and then immediately getting back to reading because I need to know what happens next! This instalment is just as addictive as books one and two.
Many thanks to Nicole @The Bookwyrm Knits for this week’s questions. I’m trying to give my raw thoughts on this, so I’m holding off on reading any other posts until I’ve posted mine – so my thoughts may change depending on what other people suggest!
Between the fish sauce and the oysters, Presger Translator Zeiat seems to be filling the role of comedic relief. And yet, she also had a serious discussion with Breq about whether Humans should remain Significant. Given everything we know so far, do you have any new ideas about why Translator Zeiat was sent to this specific system?
I’m getting the impression that the Translators have their own interests separate from the Presger, considering what Translator Zeiat was saying about the Translators’ vested interest in Humans remaining Significant/upholding the treaty for fear of them otherwise being unneeded.
Breq and Tisarwat have now talked to two of the AIs in the system (Station and Sword of Atagaris) and prevented as much outside interference in those AI’s behavior as they could. What impact do you think this will have?
I think this will have at least a localised impact on how things work, considering AIs are now much more obviously active agents (rather than just tools) and more people are going to be forced to realise that. I’m also kind of interested because the ships are some of my favourite characters! If the little rebellion we’ve got going on does have any widespread impact, then I think we might be looking at a significant recontextualisation of human-AI interactions in the future, which would have pretty major knock-on effects considering how dependent Radchaai society appears to be on AI.
Sphene is finally willing to talk to Breq! Does what they discussed about activities on the other side of the Ghost Gate shed any new light on Sphene’s actions in the past, or why Captain Hetnys did what she did?
I’m so happy that so far it seems like Sphene is going to be a sort of ally as I had hoped last week! I’m not sure it shone much light on Hetnys’ actions yet (although I could definitely be missing something considering it’s been a while since I read book 2), but I get the impression that Sphene is mostly trying to survive… and was maybe looking for the AI core? Although why, I’m not yet 100% sure.
Breq, once again, decided to undertake a suicide mission in order to strike at Anaander Mianaai. There’s a lot to unpack here—what did you think about Breq’s actions and the way everyone else acted & reacted?
I think we’re starting to see Breq consider life outside of vengeance more and more as she builds up a network of relationships surrounding her and especially as she has started re-contextualising some of the relationships she has with Ship and Seivarden as well, so I think this will make an important turning point for these relationships as Breq realises that the people around her don’t consider her disposable.
It seems from the news feeds that Breq’s attack on The Other Mianaai’s ships had some kind of impact. Breq and company are now branded as traitors by the Athoek Station government. What impact do you see this having overall?
I think this will both push and enable Breq to take more direct antagonistic action against Mianaai (all/both the Mianaais, even). I think potentially it also indicates that Athoek is now fairly firmly in control of the Other Mianaai (if not directly, then those aligning with her).
And that’s it for week 2 of the read-along! I’m now off to go and read everyone else’s answers (and week 3’s chapters!)
Keira x
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