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fridge_brilliance 's review for:

Provenance by Ann Leckie
5.0

It’s a book with a heart in such a good place, and a cast that you just want to hug forever and let them marathon trashy movies together and buy each other crappy intergalactic souvenirs. It’s also a book about families, and chosen identities, and being a decent person. Also, SUPER CUTE DID I MENTION?

Featuring but not limited to:
-- Growing up in a political household
-- Growing up a chronic Hufflepuff in a political household
-- Crappy (also very likely fake) souvenirs as religious foundation of a society
-- Alien fish people who can’t human for shit but care a whole goddamn lot
-- Tragically misplaced Noble and Civilized Raadchai person who just Wants A Cup of Tea and suffers among Barbarians
-- Multiple fake identities
-- A ship full of crooks (if you're a crook and I'm a crook then who the fuck is flying the plane?)
-- Spider mechs that are basically like sooties froms Spirited Away except somewhat more useful
-- Respectful gender gimmicks that for a change don’t blow your brain completely
-- Double dating
-- Walking into and out of kidnapping on both ends of the process
-- Murder mysteries
-- Noodle shops so good you set alerts for when they are open

So, if any of this appeals to you, read and enjoy! For I sure did :)

I would say it’s more accessible than the Ancillary books, overall, and much cozier -- yes, it takes the coziness up another notch, cross-cultural murder mysteries and diplomatic maneuvering and all -- and yet I would probably advise against using it as a gateway into Ann Leckie. Mostly because having a look at Raadchai after you’ve gotten to know them from a trilogy set heavily in Raach space makes their cameo here so much more hilarious. And, I guess, the main trilogy explains the set-up with aliens and intergalactic treaty better. So I’d say at least read Ancillary Justice first, if you really want to jump the queue with Provenance, and then enjoy the rest.