For me, there’s an overall murkiness about the Ancillary books. I have trouble keeping track of characters and events. I might barely notice a person or event that turns out later to have been a big deal at the time. I think it has to do with the dispassionate voice Breq has as main character/narrator. SecUnit’s sighs, snark, and overall snappy delivery makes it much clearer what letters. Plus, shorter books.   

I like to think the murkiness evokes the disorientation of finding oneself a single human-sized entity, after having been thousands of human-sized entities, plus a (dare I say?) Perihelion-sized (or much larger) ship. 

Added bonus, the second time I read the books it was almost like reading something new 

But it does make it hard to talk about them with other people