Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Orbit (New York, 2017). 1st edition, 1st printing. 448 pages. $26.00.
Description
An ambitious young woman has just one chance to secure her future and reclaim her family's priceless lost artifacts in this stand-alone novel set in the world of the award-winning, New York Times bestselling Imperial Radch trilogy. Though she knows her brother holds her mother's favor, Ingrid is determined to at least be considered as heir to the family name. She hatches an audacious plan -- free a thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned, and use them to help steal back a priceless artifact. But Ingray and her charge return to her home to find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating interstellar conflict. Together, they must make a new plan to salvage Ingray's future and her world, before they are lost to her for good.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member RobertDay
This stand-alone novel is set in the same universe as Leckie's 'Imperial Radch' novels, but has very little congruency with those books; at one point, someone comments on the political moves to give AIs full civil rights, and there's a Radchaai ambassador, but that's about all. But the
Other world-building hints at all sorts of puzzles; what is "ruin glass", and why does it seem to exist in almost geological quantities? And why does Hwae have such a restricted diet of noodles and nutrient blocks?
The plot concerns Ingray, adopted daughter of a powerful politician, but the way things are looking, not one who stands to inherit prestige and advantage. She devises a plot to make her brother - who is more likely to succeed - look bad; but her plot unravels in various ways. Meanwhile, other unravellings are taking place around her.
Some critics have said that Ingray (whose name I kept reading as though it were pig Latin) seems a a whiny and flimsy protagonist. She is certainly an insecure character at the start of the novel, and it is partly her inexperience and lack of worldly wisdom that gets her into problems. I rather suspect that to have been Leckie's point; just as Breq in the earlier novels has to negotiate their way round what seems to them a strange and puzzling society, so Ingray has to do the same as part of the process of growing up, and growing into a complex and high-profile role.
On the dustjacket of my copy, Elizabeth Bear declares Leckie to be an heir to Iain M. Banks. Well, Leckie may lack Banks' political sensibilities that informed his idea of The Culture, and I certainly don't think that Radchaai space is necessarily well-developed enough for anyone to imagine that they might like to actually live there; but on the strength of this novel, she is well along the road to having created an intriguing and rich universe to set her stories in.
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world-building is just as inventive, and the society as interestingly different as Radchaai space. Political power here is achieved through inheritance, but there's a lot of strings attached to that; and the society of the planet Hwae is heavily invested in "vestiges" (taking the place of the tea services in Leckie's earlier novels), artefacts somewhere between souvenirs and an autograph collection. The provenance of these vestiges is important, and indeed plot developments in this novel hinge on just how solid those provenances are.Other world-building hints at all sorts of puzzles; what is "ruin glass", and why does it seem to exist in almost geological quantities? And why does Hwae have such a restricted diet of noodles and nutrient blocks?
The plot concerns Ingray, adopted daughter of a powerful politician, but the way things are looking, not one who stands to inherit prestige and advantage. She devises a plot to make her brother - who is more likely to succeed - look bad; but her plot unravels in various ways. Meanwhile, other unravellings are taking place around her.
Some critics have said that Ingray (whose name I kept reading as though it were pig Latin) seems a a whiny and flimsy protagonist. She is certainly an insecure character at the start of the novel, and it is partly her inexperience and lack of worldly wisdom that gets her into problems. I rather suspect that to have been Leckie's point; just as Breq in the earlier novels has to negotiate their way round what seems to them a strange and puzzling society, so Ingray has to do the same as part of the process of growing up, and growing into a complex and high-profile role.
On the dustjacket of my copy, Elizabeth Bear declares Leckie to be an heir to Iain M. Banks. Well, Leckie may lack Banks' political sensibilities that informed his idea of The Culture, and I certainly don't think that Radchaai space is necessarily well-developed enough for anyone to imagine that they might like to actually live there; but on the strength of this novel, she is well along the road to having created an intriguing and rich universe to set her stories in.
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LibraryThing member semjaza
I didn't love this. I managed to finish it, but by the end I still didn't care much for the characters. The stakes were high at times, but never in a way that seemed to matter. It started off well, but then the author consistently made the most boring choices possible. There was so much potential
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here, and all of it wasted. I loved the Imperial Radch trilogy, but this book was just so dull. Show Less
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
Ann Leckie won the Hugo, the Nebula, and basically the everything for Ancillary Justice-- her very first novel. Provenance is her first book since the Ancillary trilogy concluded. The first was amazing, an excellent, gripping, clever novel. The second was low-energy and disappointing. I haven't yet
In terms of quality, Provenance is somewhere between the first and second Ancillary books. It's about a young woman who comes up with a desperate plan to curry favor with her mother, breaking someone out of jail to get him to help her locate artifacts he stole. It feels a little generic YA at times: I liked Ingray, but she is brave and clever and nice and resourceful, and is on the verge of tears a little too often. (The back cover calls her "power-driven" but this is completely untrue.) The beginning is quite good, as you figure out what Ingray is up to, and she keeps being thwarted in her desires; no sooner do you figure out her plan than it is completely upset by a new revelation, one that made me actually say "uh oh" aloud.
But after that I felt the book tapered off. About halfway through, Ingray's original goal just kind of dissolves and the books feels like it's treading water for a while with incidental details before it finally gets going again... but then it's moving in a completely different direction, and a new plotline with only tenuous links to the first. This is exciting, but not as interesting as what the book's beginning promised, I think. It's never bad, but it feels generic in a way that Ancillary Justice did not, which had strong attention to cultural detail and a cool sf hook with the ancillaries. Provenance doesn't have a cool sf hook; the technologies here are all pretty bog-standard stuff you've seen in other sf. A good adventure book, but I had hoped for more from the author of Ancillary Justice.
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got around to the third. Provenance takes place in the same universe as the Ancillary books, but is entirely unrelated.In terms of quality, Provenance is somewhere between the first and second Ancillary books. It's about a young woman who comes up with a desperate plan to curry favor with her mother, breaking someone out of jail to get him to help her locate artifacts he stole. It feels a little generic YA at times: I liked Ingray, but she is brave and clever and nice and resourceful, and is on the verge of tears a little too often. (The back cover calls her "power-driven" but this is completely untrue.) The beginning is quite good, as you figure out what Ingray is up to, and she keeps being thwarted in her desires; no sooner do you figure out her plan than it is completely upset by a new revelation, one that made me actually say "uh oh" aloud.
But after that I felt the book tapered off. About halfway through, Ingray's original goal just kind of dissolves and the books feels like it's treading water for a while with incidental details before it finally gets going again... but then it's moving in a completely different direction, and a new plotline with only tenuous links to the first. This is exciting, but not as interesting as what the book's beginning promised, I think. It's never bad, but it feels generic in a way that Ancillary Justice did not, which had strong attention to cultural detail and a cool sf hook with the ancillaries. Provenance doesn't have a cool sf hook; the technologies here are all pretty bog-standard stuff you've seen in other sf. A good adventure book, but I had hoped for more from the author of Ancillary Justice.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
A new standalone novel of the Radach universe, but only touching on the prior stories, it is set after they have concluded with a conclave of the treaty to determine whether AIs should count as Significant Species in their own rights. However I think this book should be completely readable to
Ingray is the foster daughter of a powerful politician (of a remote world barely within Radaach space). The world's culture is such that succession of the parent's political power, comes at the parent's whim, and the children compete vigorously for the right to be her heir. However such competition must never diminish the family's standing, so it all remains relatively urbane, particularly as the eldest son, and natural child, is known to be the favoured choice. Ingray though has a cunning plan - it's one of her best abilities the fortitude to think of some options. She's travelled off-world to pay (every last credit she can raise, including food money) a guild to find the former heir (Garal) to her mother's political rival who was exiled for stealing family heirlooms. Her thought is that he can sufficiently embarrass her mother's rival, raising her own esteem in her mother's eyes. However of course as might be expected it all gets a little more complicated. The alien Geck arrive on-station, demanding possession of the captain she'd hired to transport herself and her new friend. Not only that the friend denies all knowledge or desire to help her, and she's very close to being left destitute on a foreign station. But before it gets quite that bad the captain and Garal decide that returning her home may help them avoid the alien demands.
As with the Ancillary Sword books, gender and pronoun choice are a matter of taste and choice of the user, this culture refer's to everyone through a set of neutered pronouns, e, ir and the like. It mostly makes sense, and is easier to follow than the female only form of the Radch. There's a nice tip to the earlier books when the Radach Ambassador finally has to say 'his'. Another set of particularly clever writing was the partial translation - by machines- of languages Ingray wasn't familiar with, resulting ins some strange sentences, that again were just about making sense.
The single person point of view makes following Ingray's plans easy enough but the motivations and actions of some of the other characters remain somewhat obscure, especially her brother who early on seems very dominant, but fades away almost to obscurity by the end. I had expected this to be the start of another trilogy, but everything seems to be conclusively wrapped up, and it works well as just a standalone novel in the universe.
This particular ebook edition had 10 pages of random "bonus" material from a completely different author's books, a publishing trick that I particularly dislike.
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anyone who hasn't yet read Ancillary Sword - but that work is so goo you will want to read it anyway. This perhaps isn't quite up to the same level on wonder, or social commentary, but it's still great fun and clever.Ingray is the foster daughter of a powerful politician (of a remote world barely within Radaach space). The world's culture is such that succession of the parent's political power, comes at the parent's whim, and the children compete vigorously for the right to be her heir. However such competition must never diminish the family's standing, so it all remains relatively urbane, particularly as the eldest son, and natural child, is known to be the favoured choice. Ingray though has a cunning plan - it's one of her best abilities the fortitude to think of some options. She's travelled off-world to pay (every last credit she can raise, including food money) a guild to find the former heir (Garal) to her mother's political rival who was exiled for stealing family heirlooms. Her thought is that he can sufficiently embarrass her mother's rival, raising her own esteem in her mother's eyes. However of course as might be expected it all gets a little more complicated. The alien Geck arrive on-station, demanding possession of the captain she'd hired to transport herself and her new friend. Not only that the friend denies all knowledge or desire to help her, and she's very close to being left destitute on a foreign station. But before it gets quite that bad the captain and Garal decide that returning her home may help them avoid the alien demands.
As with the Ancillary Sword books, gender and pronoun choice are a matter of taste and choice of the user, this culture refer's to everyone through a set of neutered pronouns, e, ir and the like. It mostly makes sense, and is easier to follow than the female only form of the Radch. There's a nice tip to the earlier books when the Radach Ambassador finally has to say 'his'. Another set of particularly clever writing was the partial translation - by machines- of languages Ingray wasn't familiar with, resulting ins some strange sentences, that again were just about making sense.
The single person point of view makes following Ingray's plans easy enough but the motivations and actions of some of the other characters remain somewhat obscure, especially her brother who early on seems very dominant, but fades away almost to obscurity by the end. I had expected this to be the start of another trilogy, but everything seems to be conclusively wrapped up, and it works well as just a standalone novel in the universe.
This particular ebook edition had 10 pages of random "bonus" material from a completely different author's books, a publishing trick that I particularly dislike.
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LibraryThing member lavaturtle
I liked this book's worldbuilding, particularly the development of the Hwae culture. Took a while to get into the plot, but it picked up after a while. The Geck are interesting, and I also liked the brief glimpses of how the events of the Ancillary trilogy had affected the world.
LibraryThing member kgodey
I’m a big fan of Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series and I was ridiculously excited about PROVENANCE, which is a standalone story set in the same universe but focusing on entirely different characters.
Ingray, the daughter of an influential politician on the planet Hwae, has spent her whole life
I wasn’t sure how to feel about Ingray; she is one of the least power-hungry characters I’ve encountered but her initial motivation is to be named her mother’s heir. Plus she constantly doubts herself and her emotions overwhelm her at several points (it makes sense because she keeps going from situation to situation where she is out of her element, but most science-fiction books don’t focus on the emotional ramifications of a character being under continuous stress). She does change over the book in a realistic way and comes to terms with who she is so I found her arc ultimately satisfying.
As with ANCILLARY JUSTICE, you can’t rely on your assumptions about gender conventions; humans on Hwae have a third gender and that’s just part of Ingray’s world. The book throws you straight into Ingray’s life and leaves it up to you to figure out her world and culture from context clues. There isn’t much exposition in the rest of the book either, which took a little bit of getting used to but I appreciated it in the end.
PROVENANCE reminded me more of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers books than Leckie’s previous trilogy. Despite its setting, It’s more of a coming-of-age story and a cozy mystery than a space opera. The characters are mostly all nice people that care about doing their job well, which is refreshing to read about but also lowers stakes and sucks much of the tension out of the story. But Leckie’s core strengths of creating an immersive world and setting up political intrigue with characters you care about make this a great read anyway.
Ingray, the daughter of an influential politician on the planet Hwae, has spent her whole life
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trying to prove to her mother than she is worthy of being named her heir. She comes up with a brilliant but risky plan – breaking notorious thief Pahlad Budrakim out of prison and convincing them to reveal the location of the historically significant items (“vestiges”) they stole, which would make her a hero on Hwae. However, her plans are derailed when an important dignitary from another planet (and her mother’s house-guest) gets murdered and the newly recovered Pahlad is the prime suspect.I wasn’t sure how to feel about Ingray; she is one of the least power-hungry characters I’ve encountered but her initial motivation is to be named her mother’s heir. Plus she constantly doubts herself and her emotions overwhelm her at several points (it makes sense because she keeps going from situation to situation where she is out of her element, but most science-fiction books don’t focus on the emotional ramifications of a character being under continuous stress). She does change over the book in a realistic way and comes to terms with who she is so I found her arc ultimately satisfying.
As with ANCILLARY JUSTICE, you can’t rely on your assumptions about gender conventions; humans on Hwae have a third gender and that’s just part of Ingray’s world. The book throws you straight into Ingray’s life and leaves it up to you to figure out her world and culture from context clues. There isn’t much exposition in the rest of the book either, which took a little bit of getting used to but I appreciated it in the end.
PROVENANCE reminded me more of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers books than Leckie’s previous trilogy. Despite its setting, It’s more of a coming-of-age story and a cozy mystery than a space opera. The characters are mostly all nice people that care about doing their job well, which is refreshing to read about but also lowers stakes and sucks much of the tension out of the story. But Leckie’s core strengths of creating an immersive world and setting up political intrigue with characters you care about make this a great read anyway.
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LibraryThing member Strider66
Pros: tons of politics!, several interesting alien species, excellent world-building
Cons: heavily character driven, so if you don’t like Ingray the book may be a slog
Ingray Aughskold has hatched a cunning plan to beat her foster brother and gain their mother’s notice - and perhaps be named her
This is a heavily character driven story. I found Ingray intriguing, and wanted to know why she was making so many bad decisions. Seeing her owning up to her mistakes and try to make things right was satisfying. The side characters are also fascinating, with goals that often conflict with hers.
The world-building is excellent. Tyr Siilas station, the planet Hwae, the very alien Geck, and more recognizable but still alien Omkem. Each group has their own very different culture and language. One of my favourite parts of the book was towards the end where Ingray needs to use a translation software to help with a language she doesn’t know and it translates profanity as ‘fiddlesticks’ and complex phrases as near gibberish. Very realistic.
There’s a lot of politics in the book, which I loved. I find it fascinating seeing why people make certain decisions and how those decisions affect their world. It was especially interesting here as the politics crossed so many boundaries. Deeper purposes were constantly being revealed as Ingray learned more about what was happening and how the plans of others intersected with her own.
There are 3 (at least 3) genders, so be prepared for e/eir pronouns.
The book did feel a bit slow at times, I often have trouble maintaining interest in character driven books, wanting more plot to pick up the slack, but it was very enjoyable.
Cons: heavily character driven, so if you don’t like Ingray the book may be a slog
Ingray Aughskold has hatched a cunning plan to beat her foster brother and gain their mother’s notice - and perhaps be named her
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heir. Unfortunately for Ingray, that plan starts to unravel immediately as she discovers she’s broken the wrong man out of prison and it turns out her transport ship was stolen from aliens. Her life is about to change in many unexpected ways.This is a heavily character driven story. I found Ingray intriguing, and wanted to know why she was making so many bad decisions. Seeing her owning up to her mistakes and try to make things right was satisfying. The side characters are also fascinating, with goals that often conflict with hers.
The world-building is excellent. Tyr Siilas station, the planet Hwae, the very alien Geck, and more recognizable but still alien Omkem. Each group has their own very different culture and language. One of my favourite parts of the book was towards the end where Ingray needs to use a translation software to help with a language she doesn’t know and it translates profanity as ‘fiddlesticks’ and complex phrases as near gibberish. Very realistic.
There’s a lot of politics in the book, which I loved. I find it fascinating seeing why people make certain decisions and how those decisions affect their world. It was especially interesting here as the politics crossed so many boundaries. Deeper purposes were constantly being revealed as Ingray learned more about what was happening and how the plans of others intersected with her own.
There are 3 (at least 3) genders, so be prepared for e/eir pronouns.
The book did feel a bit slow at times, I often have trouble maintaining interest in character driven books, wanting more plot to pick up the slack, but it was very enjoyable.
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LibraryThing member iansales
I enjoyed Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy, although I thought they declined in quality and interest as the series progressed. The many comparisons of this pendant novel to Le Guin were strident enough to put me off reading it. I mean, I like Le Guin’s fiction, she’s one of the genre’s great
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writers, but I knew Leckie was not actually all that much like Le Guin and so the comparisons were likely disingenuous at best. But I was in Akademibokhandeln in Gränbystaden and it was a 3-for-2 offer and I only had two books so I grabbed Provenance to make up the three. In the event, Provenance proved to be nothing like I’d expected, and a lot better than I’d thought it would be. It’s set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch trilogy, although not on a world controlled by the Radch. A young woman from a culture in which politically powerful figures chose their successors from their children – either biological or adopted – attempts to win her mother’s favour, and discredit her brother, the favourite, by breaking a criminal out of “prison” – implied to be a no-holds-barred prison world – in order to make use of him. It’s all to do with “vestiges”, which are basically a cross between antiques and mementos, ie objects present at events of historical significance, possessing exactly what the title outlines. Of course, there’s more going on here than is apparent to the somewhat naive protagonist. And for all the book’s claims to non-violence, it ends with a military assault on a space station, a hostage situation, and a violent response. But hey, at least it’s not totally fascist. This is not Le Guin, make no mistake about that. But it’s a nicely-drawn space opera, set in an interesting universe, which sadly still fails to avoid many of space opera’s failings. I enjoyed it, perhaps even more so than the two sequels to Ancillary Justice. I’m not sure where we go from here. Leckie has already moved onto fantasy – The Raven Tower – and the endless marketing of debuts means no writer has the chance to develop a universe as they once had. There will never be another Vorkosigan saga, there will never be another Wheel of Time. One of those does sound like progress, but I suspect we should rue the loss of both. Show Less
LibraryThing member ladyars
I've read this without reading the Imperial radch series, and I kept thinking I was missing something...
LibraryThing member pwaites
Provenance is a new, stand alone novel set in the same world as the Imperial Radch trilogy, a stunning space opera story that begins with Ancillary Justice. However, you absolutely do not have need to have read the Imperial Radch trilogy. Provenance takes place on a new planet and has a new cast.
Ingray’s hunting for a way to impress her mother and one up her brother, her continual competitor. She hatches a risky scheme that involves her springing a political rival’s child from a prison planet. Unfortunately, the person she sinks all her resources into rescuing is not who she thought e was. But all’s not over yet, for Ingray’s thought up a new plan to salvage the situation. She just didn’t anticipate the involvement of aliens or a certain untimely death…
I really liked the world building in Provenance. Ann Leckie excels at world building. Ingray’s culture places enormous importance in vestiges, objects that were close by to some historical event or person. They’re obsessed with vestiges, and the person Ingray’s originally trying to rescued was accused of stealing eir family’s vestiges. If Ingray can find out what happened to them, she’ll hold something of immense political and monetary value.
The Imperial Radch trilogy was known for playing with gender, and the same is true with Provenance. Ingray’s culture has a tertiary gender system: men, women and nemen (who use e/em/eir pronouns). One of the things I loved about Provenance was how it showed (or at least hinted) that not everyone fit neatly into this system. For instance, one of the characters delayed choosing her gender for a long time and faced a lot of social pressure as a result. I read her as gender-fluid without the words to describe herself in a culture that doesn’t recognize genders outside of their tertiary system.
It was also fun to see how Ingray’s people viewed the Radchaai, who’ve been our focus and protagonists in the last trilogy. The Radchaai diplomat was absolutely hilarious — completely arrogant and obsessed with tea.
I did enjoy the family relationships in Provenance. Ingry’s an adopted child of a prominent political house, and her mother plans to chose her heir from between her and her brother. But everyone knows it will be her brother. Hence Ingry being so desperate to prove herself. The family relationships are strained and difficult, but there did seem to be love beneath them.
I’d heard Provenance described as a heist, which made me excited. Turns out, Provenance wasn’t as heist like as I’d hoped. I’ve seen other reviewers calling it a comedy of manners, which I think is a very accurate description.
Ingry herself didn’t stick out much to me. I didn’t dislike her, she was just sort of… forgettable. I think the same can be said of Provenance itself. While there were things I enjoyed about it and it was fun to spend time with, it didn’t stick with me much after I’d read it.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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Readers who found the Imperial Radch trilogy confusing might enjoy Provenance more, as the narrative is more linear.Ingray’s hunting for a way to impress her mother and one up her brother, her continual competitor. She hatches a risky scheme that involves her springing a political rival’s child from a prison planet. Unfortunately, the person she sinks all her resources into rescuing is not who she thought e was. But all’s not over yet, for Ingray’s thought up a new plan to salvage the situation. She just didn’t anticipate the involvement of aliens or a certain untimely death…
I really liked the world building in Provenance. Ann Leckie excels at world building. Ingray’s culture places enormous importance in vestiges, objects that were close by to some historical event or person. They’re obsessed with vestiges, and the person Ingray’s originally trying to rescued was accused of stealing eir family’s vestiges. If Ingray can find out what happened to them, she’ll hold something of immense political and monetary value.
The Imperial Radch trilogy was known for playing with gender, and the same is true with Provenance. Ingray’s culture has a tertiary gender system: men, women and nemen (who use e/em/eir pronouns). One of the things I loved about Provenance was how it showed (or at least hinted) that not everyone fit neatly into this system. For instance, one of the characters delayed choosing her gender for a long time and faced a lot of social pressure as a result. I read her as gender-fluid without the words to describe herself in a culture that doesn’t recognize genders outside of their tertiary system.
It was also fun to see how Ingray’s people viewed the Radchaai, who’ve been our focus and protagonists in the last trilogy. The Radchaai diplomat was absolutely hilarious — completely arrogant and obsessed with tea.
I did enjoy the family relationships in Provenance. Ingry’s an adopted child of a prominent political house, and her mother plans to chose her heir from between her and her brother. But everyone knows it will be her brother. Hence Ingry being so desperate to prove herself. The family relationships are strained and difficult, but there did seem to be love beneath them.
I’d heard Provenance described as a heist, which made me excited. Turns out, Provenance wasn’t as heist like as I’d hoped. I’ve seen other reviewers calling it a comedy of manners, which I think is a very accurate description.
Ingry herself didn’t stick out much to me. I didn’t dislike her, she was just sort of… forgettable. I think the same can be said of Provenance itself. While there were things I enjoyed about it and it was fun to spend time with, it didn’t stick with me much after I’d read it.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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LibraryThing member infjsarah
Although set in the same universe, this is a very different book to the Ancillary series. The main character is a young woman and beset with doubts as to her future and her role in the future. The unusualness of Breq is missing. I enjoyed the novel a lot and about a third way in suddenly realised
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why it is called Provenance which made me smile. If you like similar sci-fi to that which Lois McMaster Bujold writes, then you will enjoy this. But don't expect another Ancillary style book. Show Less
LibraryThing member rivkat
Exploring a different set of palace intrigues in her existing universe, Leckie introduces another set of gender conventions—on Hwae, it’s chosen from a set of four, when one decides one is old enough. But that’s kind of beside the point; Ingray is her politician mother’s less favorite
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child. In an attempt to impress her mother enough to best her brother, she recklessly gets involved with a criminal who might know the location of some stolen relics that have enormous symbolic importance on Hwae. Then the aliens show up. Not quite as funny as Bujold can be, but definitely there’s a Rube Goldberg feel to how all the threads somehow come together as Ingray figures out that her self-concept of the less competent child isn’t accurate. Though I’m still not sure whose shoes those were. Show Less
LibraryThing member Herenya
Ann Leckie’s new story is about family - the things people do for them and the things people do to get away from them.
To impress her mother and outshine her brother, Ingray goes to great lengths to rescue someone from 'Compassionate Removal'. And nothing unfolds as she expects.
There were a lot of
However I found that I had to concentrate extra hard to follow what was going on and, although I liked them, I didn't feel strongly about the characters. The Ancillary trilogy had confusing worldbuilding but I find it easier to follow - and connect with - a first person narrative.
I knew this was set in a different part of the universe to the Ancillary trilogy and was going to be different in scope, I wasn't expecting it to be the same sort of story at all. But I guess I was expecting it to be a story that I'd care about more...
To impress her mother and outshine her brother, Ingray goes to great lengths to rescue someone from 'Compassionate Removal'. And nothing unfolds as she expects.
There were a lot of
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things I liked about Provenance. Characters, scenes, ideas. There were moments that made me laugh or took me took me by surprise. I also like the way Leckie presents elements of her worldbuilding and leaves the reader to put the pieces together.However I found that I had to concentrate extra hard to follow what was going on and, although I liked them, I didn't feel strongly about the characters. The Ancillary trilogy had confusing worldbuilding but I find it easier to follow - and connect with - a first person narrative.
I knew this was set in a different part of the universe to the Ancillary trilogy and was going to be different in scope, I wasn't expecting it to be the same sort of story at all. But I guess I was expecting it to be a story that I'd care about more...
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LibraryThing member quondame
One of my favorite books for 2017.
A stand alone book, different within a mostly familiar form. The arbitrary, and mostly unexamined, value systems are the delightful character actors for me, for while the consideration of vestiges are handled, there is so much in this world that is just left lying
A stand alone book, different within a mostly familiar form. The arbitrary, and mostly unexamined, value systems are the delightful character actors for me, for while the consideration of vestiges are handled, there is so much in this world that is just left lying
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about to wonder over. Show Less
LibraryThing member SChant
Disappointing. Flat characters, unconvincing - and sometimes downright silly - plot.I didn't really care what happened.
LibraryThing member jdifelice
Provenance was really good- not Ancillary Justice good - but still REALLY good.
We follow Ingray - from the planet Hwae, who is trying to find favour with her mother to be named heir. We follow her as she executes a plan that will gain her political notoriety, and prestige - but yet, nothing goes
I really enjoyed Ingray as a character, she was intelligent and witty. I enjoyed Garal as well and how his character developed and Tic was enjoyable as well.
The world that was explored was also really cool - set in the same world as the Imperial Radch trilogy, but not the same planet/system, we got to explore different cultures and see some new species. There were mentions and quips about the other species and peoples from the previous trilogy, (I especially enjoyed the digs about tea), and it was a nice detail. The Hwae culture was really interesting and I enjoyed all the political scheming that went on as well.
The themes explored in this novel were well done as well - birthright, privilege, human rights/species rights. The way Leckie weaves her novels is so well done, and you don't even notice that she is making you think about these subjects.
Overall, I really enjoyed this, and I anticipate whatever comes out next!
We follow Ingray - from the planet Hwae, who is trying to find favour with her mother to be named heir. We follow her as she executes a plan that will gain her political notoriety, and prestige - but yet, nothing goes
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according to her plan.I really enjoyed Ingray as a character, she was intelligent and witty. I enjoyed Garal as well and how his character developed and Tic was enjoyable as well.
The world that was explored was also really cool - set in the same world as the Imperial Radch trilogy, but not the same planet/system, we got to explore different cultures and see some new species. There were mentions and quips about the other species and peoples from the previous trilogy, (I especially enjoyed the digs about tea), and it was a nice detail. The Hwae culture was really interesting and I enjoyed all the political scheming that went on as well.
The themes explored in this novel were well done as well - birthright, privilege, human rights/species rights. The way Leckie weaves her novels is so well done, and you don't even notice that she is making you think about these subjects.
Overall, I really enjoyed this, and I anticipate whatever comes out next!
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LibraryThing member bragan
This novel is set in the same universe as Leckie's Ancillary series, but in a different part of it, with different characters, sometime after that series ends. The main character is Ingray Aughskold, who, in an attempt to impress her mother and have a better chance at being named her heir, hatches
I didn't think this was quite as good as the Ancillary series, but that's a very high bar indeed. Instead, it was just a good, fun story with a likeable main character, and some excellent world-building. I do hope Leckie keeps writing stories set in this universe, because I definitely want to keep reading them.
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a scheme to free a prisoner from a penal colony and get their help to recover some valuable artifacts they supposedly stole. It's a terrible, terrible plan, and it very quickly goes in directions Ingray could never have anticipated, eventually involving politics from the local to the interstellar, strange aliens, and murder.I didn't think this was quite as good as the Ancillary series, but that's a very high bar indeed. Instead, it was just a good, fun story with a likeable main character, and some excellent world-building. I do hope Leckie keeps writing stories set in this universe, because I definitely want to keep reading them.
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LibraryThing member nkmunn
I started out loving this A N D T H E N it got kinda bogged down - I'm not sure why, but this protagonist is easier to sympathize with when her inner life and deliberations are the focus rather than when she's doing her own stunts ;)
I like her anyway - and I'd enjoy to read more of her exploits
I like her anyway - and I'd enjoy to read more of her exploits
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and see more worlds and their peoples through her eyes Show Less
LibraryThing member LisCarey
This is a return to the universe of the Radchaai, but not their empire or its fleet.
Ingray Aughskold, of Hwae, daughter of a prominent politician, is on a mission. Not for her mother, but for herself. She wants to be her mother's heir, and her mother has set her and her brother up to constantly
Ingray has a plan to fix that, taking a major risk with, potentially, huge reward. She's paid for a convicted thief of vestiges, the vital mementos that are critical to social and political status on Hwae, to be retrieved from a prison planet from which no one ever returns, to recover the vestiges he stole.
He arrives in stasis, and when removed from his stasis pod, he claims he's not the man she expected, Pahlad Budrakim. There are also problems with the somewhat dubious freighter captain she hired to bring them back to Hwae. The Ambassador of the alien Geck, en route to the conclave to discuss the rebel Radch AIs' request to be recognized as a significant species under the treaty, also makes problems, claiming that the freighter captain is a Geck citizen, and that he stole three ships, including the one he is now using in his freight business.
This is all only a tiny glimmer of the problems they'll have when they get to Hwae.
Ingray is a smart, capable young woman, who does not have the killer instinct of her mother or brother. This causes them and others to form certain assumptions about her, while others in her small circle of family and friends perhaps have a different view of her. This isn't the intense drama and galaxy-shaking drama of the Ancillary books. It's a smaller, more intimate story, closer to a comedy of manners. This doesn't mean the stakes aren't very real, for everyone involved, and Ingray does a lot of growing and maturing over the course of the story.
This reads like a standalone, but I'd be happy to see more of Ingray and her friends, should they turn up in future books. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
Ingray Aughskold, of Hwae, daughter of a prominent politician, is on a mission. Not for her mother, but for herself. She wants to be her mother's heir, and her mother has set her and her brother up to constantly
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compete to impress her. That brother, Danach, is often a jerk, but he is more of a risk-taker than Ingray, and has simply created more opportunities for their mother to be impressed.Ingray has a plan to fix that, taking a major risk with, potentially, huge reward. She's paid for a convicted thief of vestiges, the vital mementos that are critical to social and political status on Hwae, to be retrieved from a prison planet from which no one ever returns, to recover the vestiges he stole.
He arrives in stasis, and when removed from his stasis pod, he claims he's not the man she expected, Pahlad Budrakim. There are also problems with the somewhat dubious freighter captain she hired to bring them back to Hwae. The Ambassador of the alien Geck, en route to the conclave to discuss the rebel Radch AIs' request to be recognized as a significant species under the treaty, also makes problems, claiming that the freighter captain is a Geck citizen, and that he stole three ships, including the one he is now using in his freight business.
This is all only a tiny glimmer of the problems they'll have when they get to Hwae.
Ingray is a smart, capable young woman, who does not have the killer instinct of her mother or brother. This causes them and others to form certain assumptions about her, while others in her small circle of family and friends perhaps have a different view of her. This isn't the intense drama and galaxy-shaking drama of the Ancillary books. It's a smaller, more intimate story, closer to a comedy of manners. This doesn't mean the stakes aren't very real, for everyone involved, and Ingray does a lot of growing and maturing over the course of the story.
This reads like a standalone, but I'd be happy to see more of Ingray and her friends, should they turn up in future books. Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
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LibraryThing member Gwendydd
This was a fun read, although it wouldn't have been if I hadn't read the other books in the Imperial Radch series. Leckie's world building is wonderful, but the story got bogged down in politics a lot. The main character is a delight, and the book is light-hearted compared to the other books in the
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Radch series. Show Less
LibraryThing member ireneattolia
Ingray is the most wholesome bean, even amidst political espionage
LibraryThing member nmele
I had heard some negative things about this novel, but I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed her trilogy about the Raadchai Empire starting with Ancillary Justice. Provenance is set in the same universe but explores different human polities and includes some details and involvement of one of the alien
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species, the Geck. Show Less
LibraryThing member chavala
4.5 stars. I was a bit nervous to pick this up - how do you follow up the Radch Trilogy? - but after a few chapters, I was quite sucked in. Same universe as the trilogy, but different planets/culture/people. The story moved quickly, the setting was both familiar and new, the characters were
Two things I especially loved in the cultures as written: recognition of more than two genders, and that people of all genders have all roles in life. I'm so tired of speculative fiction that casts women as mothers, hookers, princesses and not much more. This is not that book and that is part of why I really enjoyed it.
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interesting and I cared about what happened to them.Two things I especially loved in the cultures as written: recognition of more than two genders, and that people of all genders have all roles in life. I'm so tired of speculative fiction that casts women as mothers, hookers, princesses and not much more. This is not that book and that is part of why I really enjoyed it.
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LibraryThing member macha
charming, but slight compared to the trilogy it follows.
LibraryThing member santhony
Having read the author’s Imperial Radch trilogy, and enjoying it quite a bit, I was happy to order this follow up novel, which is set against the same backdrop. I can only say that I was terribly disappointed. The single word that I would use to describe this work is “tedious”. Repeatedly,
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the reader encounters very long stretches in which very little, or nothing happens. And when it does, it tends to be inconsequential. This is simply an overlong, boring book with little to recommend it. Show Less
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2018)
Audie Award (Finalist — Science Fiction — 2018)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2018)
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — Novel — 2017)
Otherwise Award (Long list — 2017)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017-09-26
Physical description
448 p.; 6.38 inches
ISBN
9780316388672