Provenance by Ann Leckie

Provenance by Ann Leckie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jacket Blurb: Following her record-breaking debut trilogy, Ann Leckie, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke and Locus Awards, returns with a thrilling new story of power, theft, privilege and birthright.

A power-driven young woman has just one chance to secure the status she craves and regain priceless lost artefacts prized by her people. She must free their thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned.

Ingray and her charge will return to their home world 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, her family and her world, before they are lost to her for good.

Read for December book group. Read as an audio book.

I greatly enjoyed this latest installment by Ann Leckie. I read her first three books several years ago and loved the world building, the characters and the aliens. Especially the aliens.

This one was no different - I loved the world building, the characters and the aliens. The plot flowed steadily along, pulling me with it. At first I wasn't sure about the narration, but came to enjoy the different intonations for each being and her enunciation. Absolutely delightful.

This isn't to say I didn't have a few quirks - Ingray is so very naive and frequently had me rolling my eyes in disbelief. Where the reader is quickly figuring things out, she always seemed to be a step behind. Perhaps on purpose? I don't know, but she wasn't my favorite character despite being the main character. In fact, I think I liked just about everyone else better.

This is about politics. Alien politics, planetary politics, adjoining Gate politics, ruling family politics, and internal family politics. There are layers and layers of interlaced intrigue that somehow, Ingray seems to stumble through basically unscathed with a little help from her friends.

The ending, while satisfactory, felt a bit incomplete as if a couple of plot threads weren't quite tied up. I have mixed feeling on the romantic pairings, or perceived romantic pairings, after all the politics because it made the book feel like a romance, which it wasn't.

Recommended, especially if you've already read her first three books. You'll probably quite enjoy a return to this Universe.



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