Provenance

C’est peut-être dur de comparer Provenance à la trilogie du Radch impérial, mais c’est ce que je n’ai pas pu m’empêcher de faire. Provenance n’est pas désagréable à lire, le problème est qu’il ne s’y passe pas grand-chose. Pas strictement en termes d’action — pleins de choses arrivent dans Provenance — mais en termes d’action qui laisse une impression. Provenance raconte des humains (et quelques non-humains) qui ont une histoire, des problèmes, des enjeux personnels, et les péripéties qu’ils vivent. Somme toute le côté SF de ce roman est accessoire, il ne sert qu’à mettre en guise de décor une culture exotique, que ce soit en termes de cellules familiales ou de genre.

Il est difficile de ne pas comparer ça à la trilogie qui précède où l’univers, loin d’être un décor, semble être le cœur. Bien sûr, cette trilogie raconte l’histoire d’individualités, mais ces individualités se définissent par leur lutte au sein d’une société totalitaire à la fois effrayante et fascinante, ou par leur nature même (d’IA). Les romans introduisent et existent par un ensemble d’idées philosophiques qui, pour moi, font son caractère fascinant.

En tant que lecteur, je suis donc un peu déçu, même si je reste à ma place de lecteur — je n’aurais pas pu écrire un roman à moitié aussi bon que Provenance. J’ai un souvenir indélébile des premiers romans d’Ann Leckie, mais je ne sais pas si cela tient avant tout à mes obsessions personnelles ou bien à une qualité propre à ceux-ci. En tout cas, j’espère que le miracle se reproduira avec Translation State qui devrait sortir cette année.

Should I be controversial? I'm going to be controversial. Ann Leckie is the best sci-fi author of the past two decades. Am I well rounded in sci-fi authors of the past two decades? No. But being uninformed won't stop me from sharing my opinion!

Provenance is the culmination of the best parts of the Ancillary trilogy. Political intrigue, fantastic world building, expertly woven exposition, complex characters and motivations... it's all there. Leckie is very much comparable to Le Guin in that her best sci-fi stories are not overly packed with action sequences or even adventure, but rather espionage, diplomacy, and complex politics. It makes the universe she has built feel alive and dynamic.

As usual, this story is jam packed with allegory. From land ownership claims, gender identity, deadnaming, and the constitution, this book truly has it all. However, I never felt like any of these parallels were too shallow or not developed fully.

If there's only one criticism I can think of (which is the case for Ancillary as well), it's that her characters are generally without flaw. The good characters are always the heroes that often know exactly what to do or what to say in the moment and they usually have little development over the course of the story. They're so easily... lovable. But, this is something I can look over because because I want to, so there.

I loved [b: Ancillary Justice|17333324|Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)|Ann Leckie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397215917s/17333324.jpg|24064628] and recommended it left and right so if you like AJ you'll probably like this one which is set in the same universe - different corner, new characters, same-but-different-pronoun-shuffle.

In this corner of the universe there's a set of three star-systems the Omkem, Hwae and Tyr that are at slight (as in not war) odds with each other. Ingray is the foster daughter of Netano Aughskold an influential politician of Hwae. On a quest to impress Netano, Ingray travels to Tyr on a mysterious errand that goes off the rails about right from the start.

This is a tale of lies, politics, growing up and of how we define who we are. On Hwae people define themselves by their connection to history through vestiges (we'd call them souvenirs or mementos) they collect signed cards from important events or people to prove their own importance. The Omkem who need access to Hwae to get to the rich trading system of Tyr, dispute Hwae'en history. And maybe just maybe a lot of the most famous "vestiges" aren't quite what they seem.

With the odds stacked against her, in a society codified in ways that may be strange to us Earthlings, Ingray navigates this at times convoluted plot despite a strong case of impostor syndrome. Along the way she finds unexpected love, allies and aliens...

This story deepens our window into the world outside of the Radch empire and gives clues to at least one of the alien races that are part of the big treaty with the Presger: the Geck. The world building is fantastic and Ingray is a protagonist I loved to read, persisting despite her own misgivings against her family, and even the whole of her planet.

While I liked the use of only female pronouns in the Radch trilogy, here it gets much more complicated. Sometimes normal pronouns are used and sometimes gender-hiding abbreviations "E", "Eir" "Em" ... I never figured out the actual significance of when Ingray used which pronoun. Also I really dislike stuff I have trouble pronouncing in my head. So the pronouns and the Hwae and the Omkem didn't help.

So should you read this? If you're a fan of this universe already and want more of it: go. If you haven't read [b: Ancillary Justice|17333324|Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)|Ann Leckie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397215917s/17333324.jpg|24064628] and its sequels start there.