Book: Ancillary Sword

Book: Ancillary Sword
Rating: 5 of 5.
Short review: The second in the series that started with Ancillary Justice, the series continues with spaceships and feelings. There are super beings in multiple forms, denying their humanity while being so very, very human.  If you enjoy Star Trek more than Star Wars, this is a series for you.

Longer version -- not spoiler free. Be careful.

This series is absolutely amazing. I'm a bit jaded on my science fiction; I know the tropes and have expectations from 30 years of reading it. But, this series man.

Here we've got a galaxy spanning human civilization. Well, wait. I say human. But, is the Lord of the Radch really human? Are you human if you have a thousand bodies spread out over 10,000 light years? Is it a human civilization if the space ships are sentient, love their Captains, and have thousands of humans turned into extensions of the space ships? What does gender matter?

And that's not even to mention a glorious point of diction. The language of the Empire has no gender. No he/his/brother. Its all it/its/sibling. To translate into english, the book uses gendered expression continuously and consistently -- and unless speaking to someone in a language demanding gender, all pronouns are female. In a genre dominated by men, that is striking. 

Those are questions dealt with -- and delightfully never answered! -- in the first book. This second tome in the series addresses entirely different questions:
-- In a society claiming propriety, justice and benefit are intertwined, what does it mean when the low end of the ladder is never taught how to be proper?
-- To what extent does an imbalance of power make relationships impossible? How about sexual relationships?

Most of this book takes place in a minor system, which the protagonist went to as the sister of someone she loves is there. The lives of millions are changed, the government of a world is altered, and it hinges on the live of one person for another. And a tea set.

Always tea. Tea is the hallmark of civilization, and marks propriety, justice and benefit.

I'm happy to discuss. I'm a bit late to the party.