(If you already saw this… I somehow overwrote a previous post instead of posting a new post when I posted this the first time…)
Having finished the Imperial Radch trilogy readalong in February this year, the Sci-Fi Month crew is continuing in September with the other books set in the Imperial Radch world, starting with Provenance.
Each week, one of our lovely hosts will be posting questions that everyone can respond to as well:
Week 1/36 | Annemieke @A Dance With Books
Week 2/37 | Imyril @There Is Always Room for One More
Week 3/38 | Mayri @The BookForager
Week 4/39 | Nicole @Bookwyrm Knits
Without further ado, let’s take a look at my thoughts for week 1!
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. THIS IS NOT A SPOILER-FREE POST. SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE MAIN TRILOGY AND PROVENANCE UP TO CHAPTER 5 POSSIBLE!
General Thoughts
I’m enjoying the story so far and although Ingray didn’t appeal to me as a main character right away, she is growing on me.
This weeks questions come from Annemieke @A Dance With Books. As with the previous round of this read-a-long, I’m trying to give my raw thoughts on this, so I’m holding off on reading any other posts until I’ve posted mine – so my thoughts may change depending on what other people suggest!
Well hello. Let’s start with purchasing another human being? What do you think of Ingray so far?
I think her characterisation is a bit inconsistent at the moment – supposedly power-driven and willing to purchase a human, but also almost bursting into tears and spilling the truth very quickly when asked by the Captain. I think this is likely intentional and reveals how Ingray is trying to be someone she is not at the beginning of the book.
Captain Uisineand is an interesting character. What do you make of him and his connection to the Geck? Are we going to see him agian?
It’s really interesting to learn more about the different ways humans live outside of the Radch, and especially in non-human run worlds, so I definitely hope we get to see more of him. I get the feeling that maybe he specifically is quite important to the Geck – and not just the ship that he stole from them.
Do you think we will see Tir Siilas and the facilitator again (if not in this book, than in another?)
I think we’ll probably be seeing Tir Sillas again in this book as they seem to be somewhat politically involved in the situation – and maybe the facilitator, although not necessarily.
Who is Garal really do you think?
I get the impression that e isn’t who Ingray was trying to buy (I don’t think e’s lying) but that potentially e has a more influential background than e was letting on? What kind of background that is, though, I’m not sure yet. I like em(?) as a character so far though.
We travel to Hwae and get a small look at the station and Ingray’s family. What do you make of it so far?
It’s not very familial, is it? I think it’s an interesting world, where everyone is so hooked on these ‘vestiges’. They seem to have a pretty different way of organising family and society – although not as different as the Omkem, who I definitely want to learn more about. I am a little confused by how the pronouns work in this non-Radch space generally – most seem to go by e/eir but the some are she? And what the significance of ‘declaring’ an adult name is. Hopefully these things will become clearer as we keep reading.
Where there familiar things that you remember from the previous trilogy that struck you in this first part?
I think probably the obvious one is that this is set just after the events of Ancillary Mercy after Breq etc. called a conclave to discuss the inclusion of AI in the Presger treaty. This is set in a rather separate part of the universe, but we can see how the political implications of those events are affecting this part of the world as well, which is really cool – this was perhaps the part of the original trilogy I was hoping to get more information on eventually, so I hope we get to sort of track the process of the petition in the background of this story.
And that’s it for week 1 of the read-along! I’m now off to go and read everyone else’s answers!
Keira x
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