Tea is also part of the gift-giving end of Radchaai culture. You’re right, it’s not part of basic rations, and it’s in a lot of cases a powerful reason for wanting more than just those basic necessities. I think of tea in Radch space as being one of those “essentials” that’s actually an extra–a baseline requirement and indication of civility and civilization that actually isn’t truly freely available to all citizens. Can you talk about the classes of tea culture? In Ancillary Justice, tea is sometimes a staple, sometimes a luxury item – for instance, citizens relying on the baseline free supplies from the Radchaai don’t get tea, or not very good tea. Her first book, Ancillary Justice, won the 2014 Nebula Award, the 2013 BSFA Award, and the Arthur C. We are pleased to have Ann Leckie as our guest for Cooking the Books. James Nicoll observed that the plot is largely driven by 'angling for advantage in the next election', and compared it to the works of CJ Cherryh (albeit with 'more transparent' prose and a protagonist who was 'not chronically sleep-deprived'), and correctly predicted that it would be a nominee for the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel.Guest Post: Cooking the Books with Ann Leckie

Īt the Guardian, Adam Roberts considered the novel to be 'intricately, if linearly and rather shallowly, plotted', with Ingray being a 'likeable heroine, but not a terribly remarkable one', while at National Public Radio, Genevieve Valentine described it as a cozy mystery that 'makes (.) a fitting addition to the Ancillary world' (while conceding that Provenance 's characters 'do not possess the immediate power of Breq', the protagonist of the Ancillary novels). Publishers Weekly lauded its 'charm and wit', but faulted it for not 'quite hav(ing) the depth and richness Leckie fans might expect'. Kirkus Reviews praised the book as 'more Leckie to love', and described its theme as 'what binds children to their families', while noting that the title 'Provenance' has multiple meanings – not only the provenance of antiquities, but also the question of 'where people come from and how it made them what they are'. As well, a Radchaai character plays a role. When Ingray Aughskold pays to have a convicted criminal released from prison, as part of a complex plot involving forgery and stolen antiquities, she rapidly finds herself drawn into a much more serious plot involving murder and angry aliens.Įarly in the narrative there is a mention of the treaty, concluded at the end of Ancillary Mercy, between newly independent AI's and the mysterious alien Presger civilization. Although it is set in the same universe as her 2013 Ancillary Justice and its sequels, it is not itself a sequel.

Provenance is a 2017 science fiction novel by Ann Leckie.

Ann leckie books