Neil Hepworth reviewed Ancillary Sword on Amazon:
Downton Abbey…in SPAAAAAACE. No, it really is. The novel is filled with tea, and fine china. There’s polite meetings in polite society. There’s blushing in abundance at the smallest of social faux pas. There’s tears from the young ‘uns when their jobs are just a bit too overwhelming. There’s snooty-as-hell top of society landowners with brat children to match. There’s tea. There’s gossip amongst the servants, and resentment amongst the slaves. There are gardens. And tea. And dressing expectations. And a funeral with a proper and lengthy period of mourning and doing nothing. And because everyone is bored with life, there are accepted and expected trysts galore. Also tea. 95% of the “action” in the book falls somewhere between “a snore” and “a boring college professor’s lecture.” There is, to be fair, a bomb. And there is a murder. But everything, and I mean everything, is dealt with such straight faces and such inhuman emotional reactions (and I do understand we’re working with ancillaries here) as to make the producers over at the BBC stand up and wildly applause (though quietly and politely, and certainly without smiling, unless it is wryly). And tea.
And:
In summary, all the interesting ideas were taken out (replaced by tea)
Did he mention the tea?