Akiva Reads

by Ann Leckie

Torn between 4 and 5 stars---5 for the setting, 4 for the plot.

Sam asked me to describe this, and I said something like "casually queer/trans coming of age murder mystery political intrigue comedy of errors with dysfunctional family dynamics, Really Alien Human Cultures, and Really Alien Aliens."

Normally in political intrigue stories (or even stuff like the Vorkosigan books) I enjoy reading about but can't relate at all to people who Really Grok Political Strategy and are always thinking twelve steps ahead and always have an ulterior motive. (I'd say that's a fair description of Breq and many other characters from [b:Ancillary Justice|17333324|Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)|Ann Leckie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397215917s/17333324.jpg|24064628], except that Breq thinks she's more of a ruthless logical fiend than she actually is.) Ingray... oh god, do I ever relate to Ingray. (discussion of general thrust of the plot) She tries so hard to be calculating and political, and she's not bad at it because she's had extensive training, but she's never comfortable and sometimes she does things because she cares/sympathizes for people, which she then feels guilty for! Much of the coming-of-age is Ingray discovering that not everyone is as calculating as she was raised and that she doesn't have to live that way either.

Leckie is a genius at worldbuilding, especially coming up with incredibly alien human cultures of the far future, and then showing us that the people inside them are still very relatable human beings. This is my absolute favorite thing in science fiction, and Provenance is a perfect serving. At first I was missing the comfortable familiarity of Radchaai culture (!), but by the end I was feeling comfortably familiar with Hwaeans too. <3 <3 <3

Genders! GENDERS. The Hwaean system is great, and reminded me how much I like modified Spivak pronouns, but the thing I loved even more is there is a character who is genderqueer even in relation to her own culture that doesn't have a cis male/cis female sex/gender binary!!!!! This is something I have wanted to see since literally forever.

If that wasn't enough, everyone is queer! EVERYONE. IS. QUEER. A bunch of main characters are nemen (Hwaean adult gender along with men and women), and it's like, not a thing at all. Much is left to the imagination about Hwaean family structure, but biological parents aren't an important part of it, and I'm not sure we ever see exactly two people collaborating to raise a child? Lots of parents who are mentioned singly, and one mention of biological parents in the plural.

Just read this fucking book, y'all.

On reread, the plot stuff annoyed me more, though I think I was able to puzzle out more of the implications that Leckie doesn't quite put into text. The feeling of struggling to grasp all the possibilities and the politics does make it feel genuine that this is not Ingray's greatest strength or passion, unlike (say) Miles Vorkosigan.