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A review by shottel
Provenance by Ann Leckie
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Provenance is a very interesting novel, and not just for its compelling and lightning-fast plot or creative sci-fi setting. The structure of the book is different. In high school I learned of the traditional structure of fiction stories: An opening to set things up, a middle where the plot really rolls, a grand climax of action, then a conclusion where things slow down as the ends are tied up. Provenance doesn’t quite do that. Instead it feels more like it snowballs until it slams straight into the ending of wall. The pace gets increasingly frantic as the stakes rise all the way up to the last ten or so pages, and there is no clear point that you can point to while reading it that says “okay, we’re in the climax phase now.” It’s a different, and very pleasant, reading experience.
There are other things that make it interesting. It’s definitely LGBT fiction, depicting a variety of different gender and sexuality regimes. Without spoiling anything, it’s very subtly implied that the main character is an awful judge of character and intention, which contributes to the political mystery that unfolds. The book in general is frequently very understated, from the setting to the characters, but there’s just barely enough to make sure you can realize there’s more than meets the eye. And this is very much a me thing, but I found it significant: The font choice was perfect. The majority of the letters, the normal lowercase ones, are positively generic. But the italics and capitalized letters are quite interesting - something that’s hard to catch from the main text, but fits with the overall mesh of the book: A world of characters who look and act and pretend like everything is fine, but in reality the interesting parts keep forcing through.
The interestingly different structure of the book combined with the positively creative use of sci-fi to depict alternate societies leads me to highly recommend this book.
There are other things that make it interesting. It’s definitely LGBT fiction, depicting a variety of different gender and sexuality regimes. Without spoiling anything, it’s very subtly implied that the main character is an awful judge of character and intention, which contributes to the political mystery that unfolds. The book in general is frequently very understated, from the setting to the characters, but there’s just barely enough to make sure you can realize there’s more than meets the eye. And this is very much a me thing, but I found it significant: The font choice was perfect. The majority of the letters, the normal lowercase ones, are positively generic. But the italics and capitalized letters are quite interesting - something that’s hard to catch from the main text, but fits with the overall mesh of the book: A world of characters who look and act and pretend like everything is fine, but in reality the interesting parts keep forcing through.
The interestingly different structure of the book combined with the positively creative use of sci-fi to depict alternate societies leads me to highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, War, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Deadnaming and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Religious bigotry and Alcohol