Provenance
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4.1 • 222 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An ambitious young woman has just one chance to secure her future and reclaim her family's priceless lost artifacts in this stand-alone novel set in the world of the award-winning, New York Times bestselling Imperial Radch trilogy.
Though she knows her brother holds her mother's favor, Ingrid is determined to at least be considered as heir to the family name. She hatches an audacious plan -- free a thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned, and use them to help steal back a priceless artifact.
But Ingray and her charge return to her home to find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating interstellar conflict. Together, they must make a new plan to salvage Ingray's future and her world, before they are lost to her for good.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The action in Provenance unfolds in the same galaxy as Ann Leckie’s best-selling Ancillary trilogy but centres on a different planet. To secure her position as heir to her family’s power and impress her mother, young Ingray decides to recover stolen ancestral relics, but her hastily assembled plan quickly goes awry. Leckie is as skilled at intimate family conflict as sweeping world-building. While Provenance has plenty of propulsive space drama, it’s also a sensitive examination of a young woman’s journey toward belonging and self-worth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hugo- and Nebula-winner Leckie returns to the universe of her bestselling Imperial Radch trilogy with this standalone SF thriller styled as a space opera of manners. Ingray Aughskold is determined to outdo her conniving brother and impress their demanding mother enough to be named her heir, even if that means gambling everything Ingray has. She leaves her home planet to break a famous thief out of prison and get help in a scheme to blackmail her mother's primary political opponent. But when the person she retrieves denies being the person she wants, her rash plan starts to fall apart. Matters are made worse by the fanatical pursuit of the distressingly odd ambassador of the alien Geck. Though full of the charm and wit characterizing Leckie's other works, including delightful appearances by a Radch ambassador and tantalizing hints about the upcoming conclave, this novel nevertheless doesn't quite have the depth and richness Leckie fans might expect. It's primarily an optimistic coming-of-age story, and it stumbles on some false promises along the way.
Customer Reviews
Stand Alone Novel in the Imperial Radch Series
“Provenance” is a stand-alone novel in Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch Series, and shows a completely different side to this complex and interesting universe.
It only peripherally involves the culture and civilization of the Radch, which were the stars of the original trilogy. Instead, this novel focuses primarily on three independent human cultures. However, we actually get to meet representatives of one the two alien civilizations, the Geck. While they are not the focus of the novel, we learn something about their civilization.
The protagonist of this novel is Ingray, who is a young woman who is not particularly tall, nor particularly thin. She is rather cunning though. She has a foster brother, and their sibling rivalry is next level. They are literally competing to replace their mother, Netano Aughskold, in their society. She is a resident of Hwae, which is an advanced civilization occupying an Earth-like world and having an orbital stations and a space elevator. The Hwae also have a fixation on Vestiges which are historic mementos of their lives and those of their forbearers. They have a complicated political system, and it interacts with those of the nearby systems. One of these, Tyr, is where the novel begins. Ingray is trying to carry out an audacious plan to bring back a notorious criminal sentenced to “Compassionate Removal.”
This novel is definitely different from the original trilogy, but I found it interesting on its own. Like the other independent Imperial Radch novel, “Translation State” it shows anther part of this very compelling literary universe. I’m hoping Ms. Leckie has more stories to tell us in this setting.
I may be a sucker for this type of story
Set in the same universe as Leckie’s Ancillary novels, but with a very different viewpoint character and different stakes. I’m not entirely sure whether to call it a “standalone” (a philosophical question that could be debated endlessly) given that Provenance benefits heavily from background knowledge from the Ancillary trilogy, but the plot is self-contained and the central characters have no overlap.
This is, in some ways, a coming of age story in which a protagonist from a privileged (if not secure) background struggles to find her path forward. In common with the third volume of the Ancillary books, it reminds me strongly of the folk tale motif “six go through the world” where the protagonist gradually gathers a posse of allies, largely by simply being a good, ethical person. I may be a sucker for that type of story. The gradual (and sometimes confusing) build-up of tensions, mysteries, and perils pays off with a fast-paced and satisfying climax. Bonus points for casual and positively-portrayed queerness of several types.
Thoroughly Enjoyed This
I’m so glad Leckie wasn’t done with this Universe, and it was nice seeing it from a different angle. I wasn’t sure about it when I started it but sure enough, she sucked me right in. Leckie’s world building is so detailed and interesting, and her characters always feel real to me. Can’t wait for her next one!