Provenance

I didn't find it Ancillary-grade. With that out of the way, I couldn't put it down; lots of action in-between the exploration of another of her universe's races' way of life - Leckie's humans are alien af (and speaking of, there is also a nice glimpse of the Geck).

This book. I’d been waiting for Provenance to come out and then when it did, I was so slammed by work that I didn’t get a chance to read it until Thanksgiving and that ain’t right. But read it I did and then I was very sad when it was over. "I do not want to be out of the world, it is terrible to be out of the world." (p. 294) Ingray is one of three foster children raised by Netano Aughskold and she’s in fierce competition with her brother Danach to be named heir. Ingray is from a public creche—an orphan, essentially—while Danach was born to one of the other prominent families on Hwae. Ingray knows that she doesn’t have much chance of being named her mother’s heir, but she has to make one final try. Her plan’s quite simple. She's going to smuggle a notorious thief named Pahlad Budrakim out of ”Compassionate Removal” (it’s not), and convince em to show her where e hid the irreplaceable Garseddai artifacts that e stole from eir foster father. Of course, this requires all of Ingray’s money and if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll be destitute. But she also doesn’t feel as if she has any other choice, either.Read the rest at Pretty Terrible.

Ann Leckie is back! Provenance is in the same universe as the Ancillary series, but features a different cast of characters on a different world. There's a lot more subtle humour to this one, playing on the comedy of the strange etiquette and politics of the worlds that Leckie creates. The character building is less robust than the Ancillary books, but the people we are reading are fleshed out enough to be interesting. The real key to Provenance is the world that Leckie has built. It as just as well-constructed and detailed as the rest of Leckie's work, and provides a fascinating backdrop to a story of political and family intrigue. Despite not being quite as awesome as the original trilogy, Provenance is a great addition to the universe!

I've read this without reading the Imperial radch series, and I kept thinking I was missing something...

Really smart, fun book. The characters were interesting and had lots of depth. I thought that the story would go one way and it would consistently (and pleasantly) go in another. I will also add that I wasn't a fan of Ancillary, as it felt more clever than good to me, and this was so good that I'm happy to know it's not her writing that I don't like, but just that series.

Delightful, in a different way than the Ancillary trilogy, and giving us a new view into a different part of that universe. For me, the common thread is that both the trilogy and this book are about people who want to get things done, and the stories are about the messy context of them trying to accomplish their goals. That’s probably not for everyone, but for me, it’s catnip, and I’m so glad these books exist.

I've read this without reading the Imperial radch series, and I kept thinking I was missing something...