Anna
asked
Ann Leckie:
Hi Ann! Is there a reason you chose to title the second book Sword, and the third Mercy? My SO keeps insisting that Sword would have been a better title for the final book based on how the ships are ranked, curious on what you can say on the choice? In any case, we're both excited for for the release!
Ann Leckie
I get this question a lot actually! Several people thought I should have titled Sword as Mercy, just because they didn't think there was quite enough Sword in that book.
I personally think Justice-Sword-Mercy makes a better overall arc, and that was the order when I first conceived of the trilogy. In fact, originally the titles were ship names--when I first went looking for an agent, the manuscript was titled Justice of Toren and the next two were intended to be Sword of Atagaris and Mercy of Kalr. When my agent suggested a title change, I figured I'd just make the same sort of change to the subsequent titles.
As sometimes happens to writers, the ship Sword of Atagaris ended up not being quite as prominent a character as I'd intended. But I still felt the arc worked better the way it was.
I personally think Justice-Sword-Mercy makes a better overall arc, and that was the order when I first conceived of the trilogy. In fact, originally the titles were ship names--when I first went looking for an agent, the manuscript was titled Justice of Toren and the next two were intended to be Sword of Atagaris and Mercy of Kalr. When my agent suggested a title change, I figured I'd just make the same sort of change to the subsequent titles.
As sometimes happens to writers, the ship Sword of Atagaris ended up not being quite as prominent a character as I'd intended. But I still felt the arc worked better the way it was.
More Answered Questions
Shane Kiely
asked
Ann Leckie:
About a third of the way through Ancillary Sword & curious about the setting. The Radchaai have a obviously non Judeo Christian belief system so clearly they don't mark time in terms of AD or CE. Do you have a clear idea in your own mind how far in the future (in terms of years) the events of Ancillary Justice etc are taking place or is it just an undetermined far future?
A Goodreads user
asked
Ann Leckie:
Hi Ann! I'd noted some time ago that you seemed to be a fan of choral music (I may be wrong in this, as I can't find the blog post in particular that clued me into this assumption). Does music play an especially large role in your worldbuilding or any thematic developments in the Ancillary series?
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more