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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
I quite enjoyed this book, overall!
I'm writing this review two months after reading it, so don't remember a lot of the details, but I still love Ann Leckie's worldbuilding, but how she doesn't let all of the worlds/alien races, etc. overwhelm what is at core a story about people, flawed but good people.
As I recall Ingray was kind of dumb throughout, with moments of intelligence occasionally peeking through, which was both frustrating and endearing in an, 'oh, Ingray' kind of way. As indicated above I enjoyed the relationships she had with her family (particularly her mother and nuncle, and the complex web of actions and presentations of emotion (or lack thereof) between them. I also appreciated that in the end she realized that her so detested brother actually was a better fit to be heir, but that didn't mean she had to be magnanimous, and she was quite willing to let him stew in the knowledge that it was only because of her that he got his position, and negotiate some benefits from it for herself (if I recall correctly). Ingray's little romance was also quite cute, and made me appreciate that she didn't automatically get together with the male lead.
The mystery of what was going on with the aliens and their motivations was also interesting, as was the exploration of their culture and its obsession with their (from all outside perspectives) useless cultural artifacts. That also had resonance with what we consider important on earth, based on history or who has touched something (allegedly - it's more the story that matters than facts, cf saint relics), etc.
Overall, I enjoyed the jaunt back in the Imperial Radch universe, and it was fun getting nuggets of background consequences, from the original trilogy, of intergalactic negotiations happening due to AIs wanting to be considered a new intelligent race.
I'm writing this review two months after reading it, so don't remember a lot of the details, but I still love Ann Leckie's worldbuilding, but how she doesn't let all of the worlds/alien races, etc. overwhelm what is at core a story about people, flawed but good people.
As I recall Ingray was kind of dumb throughout, with moments of intelligence occasionally peeking through, which was both frustrating and endearing in an, 'oh, Ingray' kind of way. As indicated above I enjoyed the relationships she had with her family (particularly her mother and nuncle, and the complex web of actions and presentations of emotion (or lack thereof) between them. I also appreciated that in the end she realized that her so detested brother actually was a better fit to be heir, but that didn't mean she had to be magnanimous, and she was quite willing to let him stew in the knowledge that it was only because of her that he got his position, and negotiate some benefits from it for herself (if I recall correctly). Ingray's little romance was also quite cute, and made me appreciate that she didn't automatically get together with the male lead.
The mystery of what was going on with the aliens and their motivations was also interesting, as was the exploration of their culture and its obsession with their (from all outside perspectives) useless cultural artifacts. That also had resonance with what we consider important on earth, based on history or who has touched something (allegedly - it's more the story that matters than facts, cf saint relics), etc.
Overall, I enjoyed the jaunt back in the Imperial Radch universe, and it was fun getting nuggets of background consequences, from the original trilogy, of intergalactic negotiations happening due to AIs wanting to be considered a new intelligent race.
I'm glad I went into this knowing that while Provenance is set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch Trilogy it's definitely separate from the story in every way. I'm also glad I took a break in between reading the trilogy and this because I feel like jumping straight in I would have tried comparing it a bit too much. I liked that this was even set in a different area of the universe and highlighted some of the other cultures other than the Radchaai--it definitely fleshed out the world building here quite a bit.
This was a pretty slow-moving book filled with politics intrigue. I did really enjoy Ingray, though. It's not often you see such an emotional protagonist and she felt very realistic. The pronoun swapping in here threw me off and I definitely preferred just the all-female pronoun usage of the Radchaai as it made it a lot easier to read versus the gender neutral terms used in here. Still, I do like that this universe takes on different ways to handle gender pronouns and I did get less distracted by it as I carried on.
This was a pretty slow-moving book filled with politics intrigue. I did really enjoy Ingray, though. It's not often you see such an emotional protagonist and she felt very realistic. The pronoun swapping in here threw me off and I definitely preferred just the all-female pronoun usage of the Radchaai as it made it a lot easier to read versus the gender neutral terms used in here. Still, I do like that this universe takes on different ways to handle gender pronouns and I did get less distracted by it as I carried on.
Despite being set in the same universe as Ancillary Justice, this book did not delve into any of the deep issues surrounding identity and consciousness that the first 3 books did. Just a pretty standard scifi story involving family and politics. It was ok.
This story is a detour from the pervious 3 with different characters but set in the same world. It took a minute to catch onto that, and was hopeful that they would meet up at some point but they don't and that was fine. A fun story and interesting, enjoy this world and look forward to reading the next one!
Still an extremely enjoyable novel, though I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the Ancillary Justice trilogy—probably because this novel’s focus is so much smaller. Still an excellent Ann Leckie novel, however; all the wit and clever dialogue and understated characters are here and are still a joy to read.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book didn't grab me the way the Ancillary Justice trilogy did. The pacing felt slow and the plot felt a little too repetitive.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
it's weird to me that this book was written after the Radch trilogy, knowing how great those book are (especially the first and third). Even if we were to consider Provenance as a YA (which is not stated), I'd say it has some minor details that make it not that great, even if the overall story makes up for it.
Solid return to a familiar universe from an interesting new perspective. There were a few places that were a little repetitive, but overall very enjoyable.
just want to give ingray a big warm hug. also the radchaai obsession (and pretension) with tea is just perfect.