Ancillary Sword continues the story of Breq, now in command of her own ship, as she tries to protect the planet Athoek from the brewing civil war. 
 My mind was thoroughly blown after Ancillary Justice, so I had to stop reading. I knew it's a trilogy, but it was just so good that I couldn't imagine how the story could possibly move forward without being a huge disappointed. Since Justice's resolution is so satisfying as is, I was ready to stop right there. Yes, you read that correctly - I was ready to abandon the series because it was just too good. 
 But after a year, a review convinced me to give Sword a try and, peeps, it totally holds up. 
 In some ways, I even liked Sword a little better. For one thing, the main players and context are already established, so there isn't that "new fictional universe" disorientation. It also does away with Justice's time hopping. 
 In other ways, I didn't like it quite as much. More characters are shown to be single-faceted - baddies to be defeated. Raughd, in particular, was rather disappointing.It worked at first, to have this super charming, socially privileged, universally liked person putting people down in private and destroying their sense of self worth. There was a lot there to explore. But then Raughd started to play out more obviously, and became more of a caricature, and she became less interesting because of it. 
 But this is an extremely minor complaint. I still have one book to go, but I feel comfortable enough to recommend this book whole heartedly. It is mind blowing, thoughtful, well written, and absolutely fabulous.