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 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. ( )

Bet my money on a stupid corpse, I lost that
So I ran back to Hwae to get my cash back
E just gotta leave this place with a big bag
So e found the fuckin' spider and e grabbed that
We went down to the ground and we rode there with the freights
Yeah, I hate Danach, let's put him in his place
Me and the corpse, we walked out of the place
Then we took the road back to my place

Stupid Ket, I just fell into some debt
Lost the money in my bank account, oh no
(x4)

Stupid corpse is a vestige faker
Bet my money on Pahlad Budrakim
Go, go, go, go, go so fast now
Go, go, go, go, go so fast now
Racing Danach for Netano
Why am I never getting lucky?
I never have any favor
I never win any favor

Stupid Ket, I just fell into some debt
Lost the money in my bank account, oh no
(x6)

I liked this better the second time. I bumped it up a star. Nice story. ( )

Suspense, Intrigue, and truly alien aliens! Loved how it touched on the events of the Ancillary books but from a unique outside perspective! Loved it! ( )

Torn between 4 and 5 stars---5 for the setting, 4 for the plot.

Sam asked me to describe this, and I said something like "casually queer/trans coming of age murder mystery political intrigue comedy of errors with dysfunctional family dynamics, Really Alien Human Cultures, and Really Alien Aliens."

Normally in political intrigue stories (or even stuff like the Vorkosigan books) I enjoy reading about but can't relate at all to people who Really Grok Political Strategy and are always thinking twelve steps ahead and always have an ulterior motive. (I'd say that's a fair description of Breq and many other characters from [book:Ancillary Justice|17333324], except that Breq thinks she's more of a ruthless logical fiend than she actually is.) Ingray... oh god, do I ever relate to Ingray. (discussion of general thrust of the plot) She tries so hard to be calculating and political, and she's not bad at it because she's had extensive training, but she's never comfortable and sometimes she does things because she cares/sympathizes for people, which she then feels guilty for! Much of the coming-of-age is Ingray discovering that not everyone is as calculating as she was raised and that she doesn't have to live that way either.

Leckie is a genius at worldbuilding, especially coming up with incredibly alien human cultures of the far future, and then showing us that the people inside them are still very relatable human beings. This is my absolute favorite thing in science fiction, and Provenance is a perfect serving. At first I was missing the comfortable familiarity of Radchaai culture (!), but by the end I was feeling comfortably familiar with Hwaeans too. there is a character who is genderqueer even in relation to her own culture that doesn't have a cis male/cis female sex/gender binary!!!!! This is something I have wanted to see since literally forever.

If that wasn't enough, everyone is queer! EVERYONE. IS. QUEER. A bunch of main characters are nemen (Hwaean adult gender along with men and women), and it's like, not a thing at all. Much is left to the imagination about Hwaean family structure, but biological parents aren't an important part of it, and I'm not sure we ever see exactly two people collaborating to raise a child? Lots of parents who are mentioned singly, and one mention of biological parents in the plural.

Just read this fucking book, y'all.

***

On reread, the plot stuff annoyed me more, though I think I was able to puzzle out more of the implications that Leckie doesn't quite put into text. The feeling of struggling to grasp all the possibilities and the politics does make it feel genuine that this is not Ingray's greatest strength or passion, unlike (say) Miles Vorkosigan. ( )

I haven't read the trilogy of books that started the universe of Provenance so I wasn't entirely sure if I would understand what was going on but I didn't have any such issues. ( )