Ancillary Sword

By: Ann Leckie

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

Locus Award winner, 2015

Seeking atonement for past crimes, Breq takes on a mission as captain of a troublesome new crew of Radchai soldiers, in the sequel to the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Ancillary Justice.​

Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship. Once a weapon of conquest controlling thousands of minds, now she has only a single body and serves the emperor. With a new ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is ordered to go to the only place in the galaxy she would agree to go: to Athoek Station to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew—a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.

Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy has become one of the new classics of science fiction. Beautifully written and forward thinking, it does what good science fiction does best, taking listeners to bold new worlds with plenty explosions along the way.

©2014 Ann Leckie (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Powerful."—The New York Times

"The sort of space opera audiences have been waiting for."—NPR Books

"Fans of space operas will feast on its richly textured, gorgeously rendered world-building."—Entertainment Weekly

Good book, bad narrator.

Interesting and fun story, but pronunciation of names is just horrific. The narrator even manages to somehow add T/D sound into "Mianaai". They are also very fond of high pitched, annoying voices. Still, good book.

I absolutely love this series!

I heard of Ann Leckie through Podcastle, but never would have imagined this particular genre based on that association. Man am I glad I got over that reservation.

The first book had me pausing occasionally, then scrolling back to see what I’d missed, due to the dense detail associated with this universe. Still, the story was so intriguing & well written that I didn’t mind that sensation. Indeed, it locked me in more completely, trying to figure out how these worlds worked.
Ancillary Sword was even better, & I’m thrilled to have another book in the series to look forward to.
And Adjoa Andoh! She is amazing. Such a wide range of vocal styles were required, including some singing, and she was masterful thoughout.

Enjoyed it overall

It took a few chapters for me to get into this book but I did end up hanging on to the story by the end. Other reviews complain about the narrator, but I didn't mind any of her voices.

Not nearly as good as the first

Overall, a kind of boring progression of the first. it felt like nothing was happening most of the time. just Breq living somewhere else fixing a poorly managed "town".

I do really enjoy this narrator though, A+ story teller. really nails the mood and characters.

Great narrative world-building

Plot not as captivating as the first novel, but the world continues to build in fascinating ways and the author artfully paints a picture of its political nuances in an interesting way. Seems well set up for a return to faster-paced action and more plot development in book three

Excellent, also same narrator as the first book

I think there must have been a time when the second book was uploaded with a different narrator, but the version now has the same narrator for all three books (and she’s great!). I really enjoyed the story too. Excited for book 3.

Good, but the shift in pronunciation was jarring.

I enjoyed the book, but the difference in pronunciation between Justice and Sword was jarring. I greatly preferred Justice's versions, as they felt more smooth and understandable.

Avoids mid-trilogy slump

Any additional comments?

Middle books in trilogies tend to be a little flat, nothing can be resolved and a dire cliff-hanger is a must because you want people to pick up the last book.

Ancilliary Sword avoids all of this. It is a complete change of pace from the first book but manages both an engaging and complete story arc and the set up for the final book of the series.

New and interesting characters are introduced, new and gorgeous tea sets are found and Breq just keeps getting more interesting.

The only two down sides are the fact that there is not enough Seivarden and the unfortunate death of a character who I was growing to love.

Different but great

The story does a great job in building and expanding upon the first story and I am greatly excited for the third. The narration became irksome at times in it's difference from the first book's and the trouble in understanding the jargon with the new narrator's accent. At first hearing I thought new characters were randomly inserted and new sci-fi jargon was being spat out with no explanation, only later did I realize that words like lieutenant, vacuum, Radch, Amaat, and more were pronounced very differently and I adjusted.

now I've finally figured out how to say anaander

amazing voice acting- although two of the voices are very annoying which matches the characters very well- and each character is distinct and easily recognized.