Name: Provenance
ISBN: 9780316388634

Ann Leckie

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 Ann Leckie's groundbreaking, NYT bestselling Imperial Radch trilogy, which won the Hugo and Nebula awards. 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.

Provenance

Pedro Figueiredo

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).

Following her record-breaking debut trilogy, Ann Leckie, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke and Locus Awards, returns with an enthralling new novel 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 artifacts 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 her 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.

Natalie

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.

Maggie Gordon

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!

Anna Pinto

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

Ben Nathan

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.

Paige Morgan

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.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL 2018 SHORTLISTED FOR THE LOCUS AWARD 2018 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BSFA (BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION) AWARD 2018 'Excellent' Book Smugglers 'A fitting addition to the Ancillary world' NPR 'Gripping . . . richly detailed and rewarding' SciFiNow 'Thrilling, out-of-this world stuff' Stylist 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.