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tahnok's review against another edition
4.0
Kinda cozy feeling, liked the characters, plot felt a bit slow but I didn't mind
forroan's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
2.75
I usually love Leckie books so I was sure I would love this one too but I was really disappointed by it. I liked the characters and the plot on the surface, but I just never felt fully connected with either. It just felt a little all over the place and convoluted when I think it could’ve been simplified to spend more time with each character.
directorpurry's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
e_oneita's review against another edition
4.0
Although not as brilliant, nor as epic, as the Ancillary series, Provenance is still funny, powerful, and lush. I would recommend it to anyone.
timinbc's review against another edition
2.0
OK, I knew going in that we weren't going to get Breq kicking butt all over the universe. But a "cozy space mystery", as someone put it? And one that feels suspiciously like a YA?
Let's start with a spoiler, shall we?
That said ....
(0) I hate "plucky girl" plots. I will accept Flavia de Luce (for example) because her pluck is not her defining characteristic. Ditto Breq, and Cordelia Vorkosigan, and many other female leads. But Ingray (pig Latin for "ring"?) pretty much has only her pluck. And maybe the ability to do the old trick where she says. "but that means ..." and another character launches into several pages of exposition, the kind that other authors handle with "as you know, Bob"
(1) I never bought the concept of "vestiges" being so important.
(2) You can't mention hatpins so often and so obviously, and then never explain them. They are a McGuffin, they are Chekhov's gun. Near the end, some characters treat the hatpins as if they were very special ... but no.
(3) WHOSE SHOES WERE THEY? Or did the hatpins transform into shoes? Is the mech's cabinet some kind of transmogrification box?
(3a)
(4) If you take out the endless cups of serbat and the weeping or almost-weeping or trembling, this book is a %#$@ novelette! I couldn't remember how to spell "serbat" so I looked, and I kid you not, I opened the book at random and there it was on both facing pages.
(5) Is it a decent mystery? Well, I suppose, if you like the kind of mystery in which things unfold VERY slowly and in excruciating detail and complexity. If you like protocols and treaties and discussions thereof, and endless recycles of stiff-backed officials who you KNOW aren't going to stop our plucky heroine but have to take up six pages not doing it, and eight or nine repetitions of how important the vestiges are.
(6) Is this a thoughtful examination of relationships and power and expectations? Well, it tries to be, and if the other stuff doesn't bother you as it did me, then maybe it does it reasonably well.
(7) There's perhaps a good character hidden in there behind all the self-doubt, and it's expressed well near the end, when a character says that as soon as she has a quick panic she'll come up with something brilliant. There will be another Ingray book, and perhaps six of them, and we can only hope. I suspect we're going to see Ingray as Miles Vorkosigan and Nuncle Lak as Simon Illyan; that would be fun. And if she meets Breq, well now we're cooking with gas.
Let's start with a spoiler, shall we?
Spoiler
Here at Christmas pantomime season, I can't be the only one who read "of course, I'll never be Netano" and instantly thought "OH YES YOU WILL!"That said ....
(0) I hate "plucky girl" plots. I will accept Flavia de Luce (for example) because her pluck is not her defining characteristic. Ditto Breq, and Cordelia Vorkosigan, and many other female leads. But Ingray (pig Latin for "ring"?) pretty much has only her pluck. And maybe the ability to do the old trick where she says. "but that means ..." and another character launches into several pages of exposition, the kind that other authors handle with "as you know, Bob"
(1) I never bought the concept of "vestiges" being so important.
(2) You can't mention hatpins so often and so obviously, and then never explain them. They are a McGuffin, they are Chekhov's gun. Near the end, some characters treat the hatpins as if they were very special ... but no.
(3) WHOSE SHOES WERE THEY? Or did the hatpins transform into shoes? Is the mech's cabinet some kind of transmogrification box?
(3a)
Spoiler
and how did who get the vestiges during the VERY brief blackout? Did one of the mechs transmogrify into Galak and back? Is Tic such a good mech driver that a mobile doormat is suddenly agile and deft? Did the prolocutor ship the stuff into the mech?(4) If you take out the endless cups of serbat and the weeping or almost-weeping or trembling, this book is a %#$@ novelette! I couldn't remember how to spell "serbat" so I looked, and I kid you not, I opened the book at random and there it was on both facing pages.
(5) Is it a decent mystery? Well, I suppose, if you like the kind of mystery in which things unfold VERY slowly and in excruciating detail and complexity. If you like protocols and treaties and discussions thereof, and endless recycles of stiff-backed officials who you KNOW aren't going to stop our plucky heroine but have to take up six pages not doing it, and eight or nine repetitions of how important the vestiges are.
(6) Is this a thoughtful examination of relationships and power and expectations? Well, it tries to be, and if the other stuff doesn't bother you as it did me, then maybe it does it reasonably well.
(7) There's perhaps a good character hidden in there behind all the self-doubt, and it's expressed well near the end, when a character says that as soon as she has a quick panic she'll come up with something brilliant. There will be another Ingray book, and perhaps six of them, and we can only hope. I suspect we're going to see Ingray as Miles Vorkosigan and Nuncle Lak as Simon Illyan; that would be fun. And if she meets Breq, well now we're cooking with gas.
p25n's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
wifflywaffles's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
bulwark's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sydneysghost's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
FINALLY some Geck realness…..
Maybe a bit too clunky and heavy handed for my liking, but Leckie’s seemingly endless ability to invent wild family/political structures is always fascinating.
Maybe a bit too clunky and heavy handed for my liking, but Leckie’s seemingly endless ability to invent wild family/political structures is always fascinating.