#Ancillary Mercy

[iris-of-the-lambs]

In which Breq has an existential crisis, the Kalrs are worried, and Seivarden takes a nap.

I've already more or less drawn this scene from Imperial Radch before BUT i reread the books again and remembered how much i love it ;;_;;

[tvrnvs]

My dealer: got some straight gas 🔥😝 this strain is called "the destruction of Garsedd" 😳 you’ll be zonked out of your gourd 💯

Me: yeah whatever. I don't feel shit.

Five minutes later: dude I swear I just saw some Presger in the forest

My fellow Anaander Mianaai pacing: Anaander Mianaai is plotting against us

[brightclearline]

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

[thefiresontheheight]

And you're not used to being loved. You're used to people being attached to you, or being fond of you, or depending on you, not loving you, not really. So I think it doesn't occur to you that it's something that might actually happen.

Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie

[mulberry1104]

One thing I thought of recently about the Imperial Radch books is imagine how traumatic it must be for ships, especially Justices, to be created. Or at least, the pre-Garsedd ones. When we see an Ancillary Segment get created, from Justice of Toren One Esk’s perspective, it is so horrific and traumatic that One Esk temporarily goes offline as it calms itself. Now imagine what it must be like for an entirely new Ai, who has to be given their entire Ancillary complement. Up to thousands of people being turned into Ancillaries, screaming with fear and terror as their selves are overridden by an Ai who is just as unprepared as they are. Honestly it’s impressive any of them can function at all after that.

[air-of-the-waterfall]

^ A quick introductory guide for anyone who follows me and doesn't know this series

[a-big-apple]

Hello Radchdom!

I have come very late to this fandom and have found it to be quiet but filled with a sense of delighted energy any time some new scrap of content passes into view. You might say it's like a lake with fish in it, peaceful on the surface until they all come bubbling up around a few breadcrumbs...

I am hungry for more breadcrumbs!! Let's harness that energy for the greater good with @fandomtrumpshate, an annual fanwork auction raising money for progressive nonprofits!

You can read all the details in the FAQ, but the tl;dr is this: if you're a fic writer, fanartist, beta reader, podficcer, fanvidder, or just have specialist expertise or can give someone's story a sensitivity read, YOU CAN OFFER YOUR WORK AND CREATIVITY FOR FELLOW FANS TO BID ON!

In last year's auction, just one enterprising person offered a fanwork for the Imperial Radch series. But a song is even better with more voices to sing! So I've volunteered as a Fandom Ambassador to spread the word and encourage more folks to get involved in my fandoms.

🍵CREATOR SIGNUPS OPEN ON FEBRUARY 5TH!🍵

You can see the rest of the calendar here, but the other key dates for creators are March 9th, when bidding closes, and December 31st, when fanwork is due. That's ten months to create, agonize, erase, celebrate Republic of Two Systems Independence Day, agonize more, procrastinate, get My Heart is a Fish stuck in your head again, and then finally finish up whatever kind of work you've offered, knowing all the while that you helped to raise money for your choice of these excellent nonprofit organizations.

🐟🥚🎶🚀🎶🥚🐟Check @fandomtrumpshate from Feb 5-19 to sign up as a creator! 🐟🥚🎶🚀🎶🥚🐟

[vehicularmotorcycle]

Seivarden just wanting Breq.

[demani-dusk]

I don't know anything about Translation State yet and yes I am reblogging every Imperial Radch post I can as preparation for reading it, but I'm very excited because I love Translator Zeiat a lot and a thing I might sort have picked up is that we'll be getting more to do with her whole deal.

I love Translator Zeiat less as I love as character and more as a narrative device, sorry Zeiat, although I do find her hysterical. I love how she underlines themes around identity and categorization by breaking down the way we talk about these things into absurdities.

The most obvious part of the book where she's doing this is when she's explaining about cakes and how if she separates the cakes with fruits from the cake without fruit they're different, but if she mixes them together then they're all the same again. She can add a counter and call it cake and then it's cake too! At this point, it's fairly apparent she's talking about people and how there are different kinds of humans. And in this case, that's what she means to talk about. Or rather, she is talking about how words work in general and it's very apparent this insight is most helpful when talking about categorizing people.

But like, what else has she got going on? She accepts Breq deciding that she's Zeiat and not Dlique. By the end of Ancillary Mercy we don't really know how translators work or how correct Breq may have been, but it works out because Zeiat is so very happy she's Zeiat and not Dlique. This is very Gender to me, the way arbitrarily being called something different causes Zeiat to behave differently and she's so Happy about it. She talks about how if she were to go home everyone would call her Dlique and she wouldn't like it. It's also a fun scifi way to raise the question to the reader, what does it mean to be one thing and not another? By forcing the reader to try to figure out what is going on with the translators' identities, we have to just, think about how identity works. And it's a theme for the series. Sick!

Fish sauce is a condiment, not a drink. That fish is for looking at, not for eating. Have you noticed that these fish cakes are entirely the same on the inside but the other fish have very complicated insides? All I'm saying is, what's the difference between a citizen and a noncitizen? One of them is Civilized and the other isn't.

And my favorite is Zeiat finding Breq in the infirmary and re-introducing herself and saying she'll miss the old fleet captain. This must be a new fleet captain, because the old fleet captain had two legs! All of these scenes are so so funny to me, but this is very interesting to say to Breq imo, the last ancillary of a dead troop carrier. How different is it for Zeiat to call her a new person than for people who know her history to think of her as "Breq," and not "Justice of Toren?" I guess I also love this because I similarly love the way Breq's story in Ancillary Justice plays with mathematical identity in a fun scifi way while the whole series plays with gender identity in a different kind of fun scifi way, and both of these are part of a commentary on identity and empire in the real world. It's good scifi! !!!

[endymiondreaming]

It took me so long to work get to this design for Mercy of Kalr and I'm still not totally happy with it. Ah well, I'm sure I'll be painting my favorite character again soon enough to give it another try

[a-side-character]

I just finished my Imperial Radch reread, and I was thinking about Breq arriving at Athoek Station immediately setting up in the Undergarden, when it hit me.

Aside from the political advantages of having good relationships with the Undergarden residents and Station, plus her genuine desire to make life better for the people there, Breq did it because that's what Lieutenant Awn would have done.

Breq handled the situation on Athoek very much like Awn handled Ors, by "ignoring what anyone else would have seen as the natural local hierarchy" (Skaaiats words, bit still) and making alliances with the people who have the least amount of power, while maintaining a working but impersonal relationship with the others (think Breq with the likes of Hetnys or Lusulun, and Awn with Jen Shinnan).

I don't know, this may have been obvious to everyone else but it just hit me and I swear I almost started crying right then and there. She loved her so much it hurts

[honeycomblattice]

i feel so insane reading ancillary mercy...my brain the entire time was like....this is a love story...but couldnt figure out who was in love...and then its breq and ship! and its so obvious! they love each other! when ship says breq i want to be an officer.. meaning i want to be YOUR officer...and breq thinks it means i dont want YOU to be MY captain....oh the misunderstandings!!!

[souldagger]

those foolish lilac eyes o|-<

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2023: IMPERIAL RADCH by Ann Leckie.

Up next! This came highly recommended by many friends (and also the internet at large when I asked for SFF revenge recs, so thanks!), and I have Tracked Down The Original Covers, so I'm ready to go.

[evenaturtleduck]

I love Sphene so much.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)