Well, I've arrived at the end of another trilogy. Unfortunately, I do feel a little disappointed. 
 As a quick summary, Ancillary Justice, showed a great deal of promise, particularly as a debut novel. Ancillary Sword was enjoyable, but served the small-scale purpose of "proving ground" for Breq and her crew. I really didn't mind exploring the politics/worldbuilding of Athoek as much as I thought I would. It was a great opportunity to explore interpersonal reactions, and I did enjoy it. However, Ancillary Mercy doesn't take our characters back out into the universe. It stays small, doesn't solve anything, and--while fun to read--is ultimately unfulfilling. 
 Perhaps it's that I prefer books that play the long game, plot wise, and Breq isn't much of a strategist. To Ann Leckie's credit, she did show the metaphorical gun before it went off, but the ending still felt rushed--mere chance, really--lampshaded by Breq's own response. There's a certain discordance between the predictability of events and their seeming-haphazard nature that really gets under my skin. 
 More than the 'rushed,' feeling, however, is the dissatisfaction with the ending itself. While Breq has come to terms with her new existence, and the status quo has (potentially) changed, the overt antagonist from the first book remains at large. In some ways, it feels like the author simply got tired of writing. 
 In general, I think the characters were underutilized, virtually interchangeable, even. Seivarden is the obvious one to point out here, but after the first half of the novel Ekalu seems to disappear entirely. Even Tisarwat, who had a lot of potential in the second book, fell by the wayside, replaced by the oddities that were Sphene (what was her narrative purpose?) and the Presger translator (extended plot device). 
 There were some great moments here (I have a lot of feelings about ships, now), but they are outweighed by a suffocating sense of stagnation in the plot and character development departments. 
 I don't regret the journey, but the trilogy--and this installment in particular--left me feeling underwhelmed.