Ancillary Sword by Anne Leckie (4 stars)

This is the second novel in a trilogy, and the first was spectacularly good.  At this point you're already familiar with the whole gender weirdness, the unique perspective of Breq, and the stage has been set for an epic civil war space opera.  Great, lets dig in and see what she comes up with for this one!

If I said that Anaander Mianaai barely features, the civil war doesn't get much play, and the theme is mostly social justice on a single station and associated planet, would you be surprised?  I certainly was.  It's still a good novel, and the switch from epic space opera to smaller focus reminded me of the Fire Upon The Deep to A Deepness in the Sky transition, but it isn't nearly as strong as Deepness.

Leckie gives us deep insight into the tensions between various population dynamics, and this will obviously be important in the following novel, but there wasn't much here to be really excited about.  Breq seeks out basically every oppressed minority group she can find and tries to liberate them with the authority that comes with the rank of Fleet Captain, and last name Mianaai, pissing off everyone in the wealthy establishment.  Her visit to the planet's surface was full of Apartheid overtones.

It's definitely an interesting read, and the climax with the Presger gun getting a workout is thrilling.  But space opera it is not, so I can see why some people were disappointed.  Of course it is worth reading to be ready for the next book.

4 stars.