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lottpoet's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
thewiecz's review against another edition
5.0
This book was unbelievable. The story was amazing. The twists and turns kept surprising. Every time I thought the story was coming to a natural conclusion it picked right back up again! Anne Leckie is an absolute genius when it comes to writing different cultures and how they all interact with each other and how they treat people with regards to gender and gender roles. Everyone should read this book and the imperial radch series.
vickeyfoggin's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the Imperial Radch trilogy and I loved this as well. Unlike Imperial Radch, it's a fun adventure and comedy of manners set in the Imperial Radch universe but in such a galactic backwater that you don't need to have read the other trilogy to understand it. Like a Regency novel the plot is very concerned with issues of inheritance and family connections amongst the quality, but it's set on another planet and involves a daring prison break, some archaeological adventuring, murder most foul and of course some artificial intelligence. The characters are complex and interesting, the story is funny...really a perfect book for me!
confuzzledsheep's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Very Solid work out of Anne Leckie. A good expansion on the universe, particularly from a perspective character that's a relatively normal individual. I wasn't quite as intensely invested as I had gotten with Ancillary Justice & Co. But those books were designed to be a trilogy, and I respect that this book was designed to be an isolated piece.
Solid read, great expansion of world building and societal norm concepts, neat conclusions that felt in line with character motivations.
Solid read, great expansion of world building and societal norm concepts, neat conclusions that felt in line with character motivations.
1848pianist's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
4.75
prested's review against another edition
3.0
Ingray Aughksold isn't favored by her mother and knows that her brother, Danach, is likely to succeed her as a representative.
Still, she decides to put her best effort in the endeavor and comes up with a plan to at least shame her brother if she can't be acknowledge as a potential heir.
She frees a prisoner that's of political interest to her mother, and heads back to Hwae where her careful thought out plan is thrown off when a visiting diplomat is murdered.
Suddenly, Ingray has to deal with a murder and the political ramification of it all while trying to secure her place in her family.
-------------------------
This was a good read! It was difficult at first to get into it, the first 50 pages read a little weird, but after I read a few chapters I got into it.
Ingray was fascinating and she's basically a girl in over her head whose trying to maneuvered her way out of a politically sticky situation.
I was disappointed with the conclusion of this book however.
Nothing really changed for Ingray.
She ended up deciding that her family's treatment of her is how it is and there was nothing she could do about it.
She basically just accepts how her life is, even though she was deeply unhappy about it and how much it stressed her out.
She does nothing about her family situation.
Telling no one of her feelings about her family (there was a implication that she discussed them with her girlfriend) but not a full on discussion and analysis of her family and its toxicity.
I just wish that was more of a focus on the family aspect of her identity.
Everyone is telling her that her family is shitty and she still clings to them because she's terrified to be alone.
She has a found family, but is ultimately separated from them and returns to her family.
It's just so unfortunate that was never fully addressed even though that was a central theme.
The main plot resolved itself nicely but I wish that Leckie went in deeper with the characterization of the cast
Ingray's family's characterization was superficial.
Her mother's absent and demanding, her nuncle is helpful and her brother's an asshole.
The only other detail I know about the Aughksolds' household is that it's toxic, and that her mother and nuncle is aware of that fact but do nothing to fix it.
Tic and Garal characterization wasn't too bad.
I did enjoy the themes of identity and social class that was mixed in throughout.
It's a good book, but there were a few things that were lacking.
Still, she decides to put her best effort in the endeavor and comes up with a plan to at least shame her brother if she can't be acknowledge as a potential heir.
She frees a prisoner that's of political interest to her mother, and heads back to Hwae where her careful thought out plan is thrown off when a visiting diplomat is murdered.
Suddenly, Ingray has to deal with a murder and the political ramification of it all while trying to secure her place in her family.
-------------------------
This was a good read! It was difficult at first to get into it, the first 50 pages read a little weird, but after I read a few chapters I got into it.
Ingray was fascinating and she's basically a girl in over her head whose trying to maneuvered her way out of a politically sticky situation.
I was disappointed with the conclusion of this book however.
Spoiler
Nothing really changed for Ingray.
She ended up deciding that her family's treatment of her is how it is and there was nothing she could do about it.
She basically just accepts how her life is, even though she was deeply unhappy about it and how much it stressed her out.
She does nothing about her family situation.
Telling no one of her feelings about her family (there was a implication that she discussed them with her girlfriend) but not a full on discussion and analysis of her family and its toxicity.
I just wish that was more of a focus on the family aspect of her identity.
Everyone is telling her that her family is shitty and she still clings to them because she's terrified to be alone.
She has a found family, but is ultimately separated from them and returns to her family.
It's just so unfortunate that was never fully addressed even though that was a central theme.
The main plot resolved itself nicely but I wish that Leckie went in deeper with the characterization of the cast
Spoiler
there's not a lot of depth to the characters themselves.Ingray's family's characterization was superficial.
Her mother's absent and demanding, her nuncle is helpful and her brother's an asshole.
The only other detail I know about the Aughksolds' household is that it's toxic, and that her mother and nuncle is aware of that fact but do nothing to fix it.
Tic and Garal characterization wasn't too bad.
I did enjoy the themes of identity and social class that was mixed in throughout.
It's a good book, but there were a few things that were lacking.
centralia's review
1.0
This book was so bad, it's made me rethink my opinion on the Radch trilogy. The trilogy had good worldbuilding and interesting characters with an ending just vague enough that I could pretend they would do something reasonable. In light of Provenance, it seems more likely that the author imagined what would effectively be an AI dictatorship.
Provenance follows exclusively upper-class characters, specifically a struggling nepo baby, as they naviagte politics within their government. I don't really remember the plot. It ends with a hostage situation that the state authorities ultimately resolve. Forgive my lack of an original review, but this goodreads review by Rory summed it up for me perfectly,
Provenance follows exclusively upper-class characters, specifically a struggling nepo baby, as they naviagte politics within their government. I don't really remember the plot. It ends with a hostage situation that the state authorities ultimately resolve. Forgive my lack of an original review, but this goodreads review by Rory summed it up for me perfectly,
"Tension free tale of a posh rich girl with no self esteem and her cop gf. Every character is some kind of space aristo, normal people don't seem to exist, and any narrative momentum is constantly undercut by Leckie restating her own points over and over...And of course the sensible authorities save the day and the status quo is preserved (maybe with some incremental democratic reform on the horizon-spicy!)..."
I'll read just about any space opera with lesbians, but not if they hit me with the fucking cop girlfriend. Just for doing that, I'm changing my two-star review to one star. Fuck that. Whoever you are, Rory, thank you for your review
I'll read just about any space opera with lesbians, but not if they hit me with the fucking cop girlfriend. Just for doing that, I'm changing my two-star review to one star. Fuck that. Whoever you are, Rory, thank you for your review
meghaha's review against another edition
3.0
This was a bit disappointing. It's not that Provenance is a bad book (it's actually pretty decent), I just have really high, perhaps unrealistic expectations for books by Ann Leckie. I still think about how much I liked Ancillary Justice from time to time, and I read it three years ago. Of course, the rest of the Imperial Radch trilogy didn't quite match up to Leckie's spectacular debut and this latest book is more of the same in that it's decent and capably written but nothing special. Ancillary Justice was special and I keep hoping Leckie will produce something like it again and so far she hasn't. Perhaps I should just accept decent is what I can get from Leckie so that I can enjoy her books as they are rather than yearn for what they aren't.
I'll admit I read Provenance very quickly and it was a smooth, easy read, which is great because I haven't finished a novel in a few weeks. However, there was something quite off-center about the plot and the main character, Ingray. I don't know how to explain it. I don't want to say it was too-small concerns within a wider, more interesting conflict, but that's how it came off. I mean, I appreciate that Ingray is insecure, I quite like books that focus on character development, and she does need to establish her identity as it relates to family, which is a perfectly worthy theme. But I just kind of thought the whole sibling rivalry thing was a bit uninteresting, and some incidents felt sort of unbalanced in the scope of the expansiveness of the world-building that included several planets, and political conflicts between multiple societies and species. In some ways I felt like this book should've been Young Adult and would have been better if Leckie had decided that and picked up some of the conventions of the genre, as I feel like this had a strong coming-of-age center, but was struggling to see itself as such.
I don't know. Something was just off. I wish I had a stronger sense of the Tic or Garal (blank faces to me) or of any of the supporting characters. Ingray's doubts and fears and kindness and mess-ups did feel authentic to me, so that's something.
I'll admit I read Provenance very quickly and it was a smooth, easy read, which is great because I haven't finished a novel in a few weeks. However, there was something quite off-center about the plot and the main character, Ingray. I don't know how to explain it. I don't want to say it was too-small concerns within a wider, more interesting conflict, but that's how it came off. I mean, I appreciate that Ingray is insecure, I quite like books that focus on character development, and she does need to establish her identity as it relates to family, which is a perfectly worthy theme. But I just kind of thought the whole sibling rivalry thing was a bit uninteresting, and some incidents felt sort of unbalanced in the scope of the expansiveness of the world-building that included several planets, and political conflicts between multiple societies and species. In some ways I felt like this book should've been Young Adult and would have been better if Leckie had decided that and picked up some of the conventions of the genre, as I feel like this had a strong coming-of-age center, but was struggling to see itself as such.
I don't know. Something was just off. I wish I had a stronger sense of the Tic or Garal (blank faces to me) or of any of the supporting characters. Ingray's doubts and fears and kindness and mess-ups did feel authentic to me, so that's something.
justabean_reads's review against another edition
4.5
I can see why this was a surprising shift in tone for people going in expecting more of the Ancillary trilogy. It also doesn't have the cool multiplicity of points of view aspect we got with Breq, and the gender stuff in the empire was replaced by other gender stuff. But there's more aliens, so for me it balanced out in the end.
I really enjoyed another outing in the universe with (at least initially) slightly lower stakes. I was describing it as "delightful buddy comedy about a dumb fuck aristocrat's daughter and the rando non-binary criminal she picked up along the way, attempting to do crime" and that more or less sums it up, with "and accidentally interplanetary shenanigans" and "cute f/f romance" towards the end. Competence porn this was not, but I liked being on the trip with someone whose skill set was not at all matched to the situation in which she placed herself, but who more or less figured how to make it work anyway. I liked that it was mixed on the value of loyalty to a family that probably isn't all that loyal back, and trying to navigate toxic relationships. I might have lost track of some of the plotting and counter plotting towards the end there, but it had all the action adventure and fun aliens that the first ones did.
Very much enjoyed, looking forward to my library someday getting Translation State on audio.
I really enjoyed another outing in the universe with (at least initially) slightly lower stakes. I was describing it as "delightful buddy comedy about a dumb fuck aristocrat's daughter and the rando non-binary criminal she picked up along the way, attempting to do crime" and that more or less sums it up, with "and accidentally interplanetary shenanigans" and "cute f/f romance" towards the end. Competence porn this was not, but I liked being on the trip with someone whose skill set was not at all matched to the situation in which she placed herself, but who more or less figured how to make it work anyway. I liked that it was mixed on the value of loyalty to a family that probably isn't all that loyal back, and trying to navigate toxic relationships. I might have lost track of some of the plotting and counter plotting towards the end there, but it had all the action adventure and fun aliens that the first ones did.
Very much enjoyed, looking forward to my library someday getting Translation State on audio.
eleanora's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5