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Providence
A dazzling, inventive, and thought-provoking new novel from the ingenious author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon.
Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson are astronauts captaining a new and supposedly indestructible ship in humanity's war against an alien race. Confined to the ship for years, each of them holding their own secrets, they are about to learn there are threats beyond the reach of human ingenuity--and that the true nature of reality might be the universe's greatest mystery.
In this near future, our world is at war with another, and humanity is haunted by its one catastrophic loss--a nightmarish engagement that left a handful of survivors drifting home through space, wracked with PTSD. Public support for the war plummeted, and the military-industrial complex set its sights on a new goal: zero-casualty warfare, made possible by gleaming new ships called Providences, powered by AI.
But when the latest-launched Providence suffers a surprising attack and contact with home is severed, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson must confront the truth of the war they're fighting, the ship that brought them there, and the cosmos beyond.
Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson are astronauts captaining a new and supposedly indestructible ship in humanity's war against an alien race. Confined to the ship for years, each of them holding their own secrets, they are about to learn there are threats beyond the reach of human ingenuity--and that the true nature of reality might be the universe's greatest mystery.
In this near future, our world is at war with another, and humanity is haunted by its one catastrophic loss--a nightmarish engagement that left a handful of survivors drifting home through space, wracked with PTSD. Public support for the war plummeted, and the military-industrial complex set its sights on a new goal: zero-casualty warfare, made possible by gleaming new ships called Providences, powered by AI.
But when the latest-launched Providence suffers a surprising attack and contact with home is severed, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson must confront the truth of the war they're fighting, the ship that brought them there, and the cosmos beyond.
306 pages, Hardcover
First published March 31, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,006 reviews
July 21, 2020
Wow! What a great read. First, I have to preface this review: I’m not by any means an expert in the SciFi genre. I read across all genre’s but mostly dwell in thrillers and mysteries (for obvious reasons). But I do read quite a bit of Scifi. I loved this book and think at the very least it should be nominated for a Hugo.
SciFi has two additional hurdles to make the story work, world building and creativity. Both are a difficult balancing act and Berry does a superb job at it here. This book reminded me of Old Man’s War combined with Fuzzy Nation, Starship Troopers and a bit of 2001 Space Odyssey. This book had everything, world building, creativity and most of all, action. What it did lack though was romance. Could’ve at least used a smidgeon of that.
This story only has four characters, two strong female roles, and two male roles where the characters are flawed.
What worked so well for me was how the author set the conflict with great motivation and verve in three pages. Just that quick Berry had me by the throat pulling me through the text. In the way I deconstruct novels, there are four parts of the story arc, conflict, complication, crisis, conclusion. What was also interesting in this book was how the story slipped too soon into the crisis. I have seen this before and what happens is that the action isn’t sustainable the reader can suffer plot fatigue and get dumped out of the story. Berry meshed or integrated the complication with the crisis and it worked wonderfully. In fact, I’m going to go back and reread it to analyze the structure to see exactly how he pulled it off. Great craft.
If you like a good space opera, this is an excellent one and I highly recommend it.
David Putnam author of the Bruno Johnson series.
SciFi has two additional hurdles to make the story work, world building and creativity. Both are a difficult balancing act and Berry does a superb job at it here. This book reminded me of Old Man’s War combined with Fuzzy Nation, Starship Troopers and a bit of 2001 Space Odyssey. This book had everything, world building, creativity and most of all, action. What it did lack though was romance. Could’ve at least used a smidgeon of that.
This story only has four characters, two strong female roles, and two male roles where the characters are flawed.
What worked so well for me was how the author set the conflict with great motivation and verve in three pages. Just that quick Berry had me by the throat pulling me through the text. In the way I deconstruct novels, there are four parts of the story arc, conflict, complication, crisis, conclusion. What was also interesting in this book was how the story slipped too soon into the crisis. I have seen this before and what happens is that the action isn’t sustainable the reader can suffer plot fatigue and get dumped out of the story. Berry meshed or integrated the complication with the crisis and it worked wonderfully. In fact, I’m going to go back and reread it to analyze the structure to see exactly how he pulled it off. Great craft.
If you like a good space opera, this is an excellent one and I highly recommend it.
David Putnam author of the Bruno Johnson series.
March 6, 2020
I've never read Max Barry before, but after reading Providence, I have become an absolute fan that will be hunting high and low for the rest of his works.
The book is just that good. Fantastic characters, disturbing situations, a slow boil into a fully cooked crew, and layer upon layer of commentary that many of us can take away something new on the same read.
Let's get some specifics in here because while some of the initial setups are somewhat old-hat, the full execution of the tale is extremely effective.
It like sliding down a mountain, slowly picking up speed and rocks and debris until the angle drops suddenly and you find yourself off the ground entirely in a free fall that lasts for the rest of your life.
A vast, impressive ship maintained by an AI runs just about every aspect of a war of annihilation against an alien species nicknamed the Salamanders. The four-person crew on board it is there to give facetime to all of the war-machine back home, sound-and-picture bites and reality-tv post-production values, while on the ship, this AI-picked crew ---pretends--- to be in charge.
Meanwhile, the Providence, the ship itself, goes on through enemy territory, cutting huge swaths through them all, very reminiscent of Ender's Game, but the twist goes in a different direction.
None of this would be a tenth as good as it is without a very firm hand on the writing. We get all four PoVs their personal problems guide most of the novel, but it's really fascinating how THEY ... inevitably... chart the final course... :)
I TOTALLY recommend this book to anyone. It's easily the first, best book to beat this year.
The book is just that good. Fantastic characters, disturbing situations, a slow boil into a fully cooked crew, and layer upon layer of commentary that many of us can take away something new on the same read.
Let's get some specifics in here because while some of the initial setups are somewhat old-hat, the full execution of the tale is extremely effective.
It like sliding down a mountain, slowly picking up speed and rocks and debris until the angle drops suddenly and you find yourself off the ground entirely in a free fall that lasts for the rest of your life.
A vast, impressive ship maintained by an AI runs just about every aspect of a war of annihilation against an alien species nicknamed the Salamanders. The four-person crew on board it is there to give facetime to all of the war-machine back home, sound-and-picture bites and reality-tv post-production values, while on the ship, this AI-picked crew ---pretends--- to be in charge.
Meanwhile, the Providence, the ship itself, goes on through enemy territory, cutting huge swaths through them all, very reminiscent of Ender's Game, but the twist goes in a different direction.
None of this would be a tenth as good as it is without a very firm hand on the writing. We get all four PoVs their personal problems guide most of the novel, but it's really fascinating how THEY ... inevitably... chart the final course... :)
I TOTALLY recommend this book to anyone. It's easily the first, best book to beat this year.
April 16, 2022
When we finally meet alien intelligence, will it be a bunch of Romulans, Klingons, and others who vaguely have human shape but distorted features or will they be so unrecognizable that communication doesn’t seem possible. Providence explores a future where we meet the others and they are nothing like we imagined. More like space-roving salamanders who vomit like fire-breathing dragons and who attack our ships by the thousands.
Providence is the title of the book and the name of the ship, one small ship out in the universe with a crew of four cut off from all contact. And, despite the outward size of the ship, they live in startling claustrophobic conditions. Jackson is the captain. Anders is weapons. Gilly is Intel. Talia is Life (or rather psych). The narrative expertly draws out each complex personality and their interactions. Each is far more than one would initially imagine.
Not only are they essentially marooned out there on a mission to take out Salamanders, but they are in a sense no more than Internet personalities to be broadcast to the billions at home in highly edited clips while the AI or artificial intelligence runs everything and indeed repairs everything.
So although you have echoes of Ender’s Game with the battle with the Unfathomable aliens, you also get Space Odyssey with an oddly intelligent ship, but one that doesn’t talk back to you. Plus you get a play on the power of information control and broadcasting propaganda.
The writing, in any event, is superb and it all works as good storytelling that just draws the reader in, interspersing hectic battle scenes with more contemplative moments as these characters develop. What a thrill ride!
Providence is the title of the book and the name of the ship, one small ship out in the universe with a crew of four cut off from all contact. And, despite the outward size of the ship, they live in startling claustrophobic conditions. Jackson is the captain. Anders is weapons. Gilly is Intel. Talia is Life (or rather psych). The narrative expertly draws out each complex personality and their interactions. Each is far more than one would initially imagine.
Not only are they essentially marooned out there on a mission to take out Salamanders, but they are in a sense no more than Internet personalities to be broadcast to the billions at home in highly edited clips while the AI or artificial intelligence runs everything and indeed repairs everything.
So although you have echoes of Ender’s Game with the battle with the Unfathomable aliens, you also get Space Odyssey with an oddly intelligent ship, but one that doesn’t talk back to you. Plus you get a play on the power of information control and broadcasting propaganda.
The writing, in any event, is superb and it all works as good storytelling that just draws the reader in, interspersing hectic battle scenes with more contemplative moments as these characters develop. What a thrill ride!
March 23, 2020
Providence explores the themes of contact with hostile alien species, (mis)communication, compatibility, complimentarity of our relationships, social media, propaganda and our growing reliance on AI and automated systems.
There are only four characters (although you could also add the ship and the aliens to the character count) and we see their distinct personality, history, and eventual growth, as the author has endless surprises in store for them and the reader.
The story was unpredictable in a good way and I really couldn't guess how it was going to end until the last page.
Utterly absorbing and wickedly entertaining, Providence was an unexpected treat, and I am certainly going to check out more books by Max Barry.
Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam's sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
There are only four characters (although you could also add the ship and the aliens to the character count) and we see their distinct personality, history, and eventual growth, as the author has endless surprises in store for them and the reader.
The story was unpredictable in a good way and I really couldn't guess how it was going to end until the last page.
Utterly absorbing and wickedly entertaining, Providence was an unexpected treat, and I am certainly going to check out more books by Max Barry.
Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam's sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
March 30, 2020
This might be a case of "this reader is too dumb for this book" because I have no idea what I just read.
This is a story almost completely set in space, featuring four humans who are responsible for an AI ship as it travels through space to eradicate an alien species that had previously attacked one of their exploratory crews. This story really does feel like being in a bubble because for all that they spend two years in space, traveling and manning the ship that is killing these hives of alien things, you feel very removed from it. In that sense, Barry did well at expressing the lack of need of human involvement in the war. The crew, Life, Intel, Weapons, etc, are all just there to monitor what the ship is doing. The ship, as we hear often, is smarter than them. They just have to let it do what it does best.
Throughout their time on board, we do learn about the strange personalities aboard the ship, each unique, but also, like.. I never liked any of them? Maybe we weren't supposed to. Maybe they were just meant to exist. But I think I kept waiting for more. I wanted, or rather expected, something to happen and it never did. Maybe that is what makes this unique, that lack of something, or maybe it doesn't. I don't know. Again, maybe I’m just too dumb for this.
There were a few discussions built into this story, about war propaganda, our society's reliance on technology, and more, and I've come to expect that from Barry, but in a more satirical, clever, or even funny, way. This didn't feel like any of that. Ultimately this wasn't engaging, it was just kind of.. rote. This doesn't feel like anything special or typical of the author's brand and I guess that's fine. I just wouldn't have requested it had I known that.
This is a military/space adventure story set in the near future that definitely has unique elements, and I'm sure some readers will enjoy, but for me it will ultimately be forgettable. And I'm just glad it didn't take too long to get through. Can't say I would recommend.
1.5 stars
** I received an ARC from Edelweiss and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
This is a story almost completely set in space, featuring four humans who are responsible for an AI ship as it travels through space to eradicate an alien species that had previously attacked one of their exploratory crews. This story really does feel like being in a bubble because for all that they spend two years in space, traveling and manning the ship that is killing these hives of alien things, you feel very removed from it. In that sense, Barry did well at expressing the lack of need of human involvement in the war. The crew, Life, Intel, Weapons, etc, are all just there to monitor what the ship is doing. The ship, as we hear often, is smarter than them. They just have to let it do what it does best.
Throughout their time on board, we do learn about the strange personalities aboard the ship, each unique, but also, like.. I never liked any of them? Maybe we weren't supposed to. Maybe they were just meant to exist. But I think I kept waiting for more. I wanted, or rather expected, something to happen and it never did. Maybe that is what makes this unique, that lack of something, or maybe it doesn't. I don't know. Again, maybe I’m just too dumb for this.
There were a few discussions built into this story, about war propaganda, our society's reliance on technology, and more, and I've come to expect that from Barry, but in a more satirical, clever, or even funny, way. This didn't feel like any of that. Ultimately this wasn't engaging, it was just kind of.. rote. This doesn't feel like anything special or typical of the author's brand and I guess that's fine. I just wouldn't have requested it had I known that.
This is a military/space adventure story set in the near future that definitely has unique elements, and I'm sure some readers will enjoy, but for me it will ultimately be forgettable. And I'm just glad it didn't take too long to get through. Can't say I would recommend.
1.5 stars
** I received an ARC from Edelweiss and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
April 12, 2020
The author seemed to want to write a book about manufactured heroes or maybe about the dangers of artificial intelligence. These aren’t bad ideas for a science fiction book, but they were not handled very well or with much depth in this book. Four people are sent on a 4 year mission aboard a spaceship controlled by AI. Their goal is to destroy every single alien (called salamanders) they encounter, despite the fact that the salamanders do not appear to be a current threat to Earth. The word “genocide” is brought up, but no one seems concerned about it.
The first 3/4 of the book consisted of backstories of the 4 crew members (none of whom seemed even remotely intelligent or competent) and repetitive encounters with the salamanders. While the salamanders seemed to be learning from the encounters, they still always lost. I didn’t care about the characters and, since they didn’t seem to be serving a higher purpose, I started to root for the salamanders. At the end of the book, there were hordes of salamanders and, for the very first time, one of the humans actually tried to communicate with one. Amazingly he succeeded in a matter of hours. I don’t know what a linguist would make of this. Too little too late. The whole thing felt like a very cheesy TV show
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
The first 3/4 of the book consisted of backstories of the 4 crew members (none of whom seemed even remotely intelligent or competent) and repetitive encounters with the salamanders. While the salamanders seemed to be learning from the encounters, they still always lost. I didn’t care about the characters and, since they didn’t seem to be serving a higher purpose, I started to root for the salamanders. At the end of the book, there were hordes of salamanders and, for the very first time, one of the humans actually tried to communicate with one. Amazingly he succeeded in a matter of hours. I don’t know what a linguist would make of this. Too little too late. The whole thing felt like a very cheesy TV show
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
January 3, 2021
What did I just read? Don't get me wrong, I liked it and had a hard time putting it down, but it was just so...unexpected?
This is my first book by Max Barry, so maybe his stuff is all like this? The book at the end is just not what I was thought it would be at the start.
The beginning of the book sets things up almost like a Becky Chambers parody, with each character such an exaggerated version of their archetype they are almost caricatures, and whose job is to kill all aliens rather than hugging them. Then everything starts to change direction and the story becomes something both familiar yet completely not.
With spare prose and straightforward storytelling that somehow twists itself in surprising ways, Providence is a book to flat out read and then ponder what just happened.
This is my first book by Max Barry, so maybe his stuff is all like this? The book at the end is just not what I was thought it would be at the start.
The beginning of the book sets things up almost like a Becky Chambers parody, with each character such an exaggerated version of their archetype they are almost caricatures, and whose job is to kill all aliens rather than hugging them. Then everything starts to change direction and the story becomes something both familiar yet completely not.
With spare prose and straightforward storytelling that somehow twists itself in surprising ways, Providence is a book to flat out read and then ponder what just happened.
March 24, 2021
In this novel Providence is the name of a class of space warships that have a small crew and are mostly controlled by AI. This isn’t a HAL type AI, it doesn’t talk but it makes pretty much all the decisions (any it lets the crew make probably don’t matter!). The four crew are the captain, Jackson, a veteran and survivor of a previous space battle that was a disaster; Anders is the weapons guy and a bit of a psycho; Gilly is intel and not military, and finally Beanfield, she is Life, essentially she’s a psychologist trying to keep everyone’s mental health okay. AI was used to choose the crew too.
Now generally speaking space war sci-fi isn’t really my thing, I’m not into weapons, or battle tactics or any of that sort of stuff. Initially I thought this was heading in a Starship Troopers way, the aliens they are fighting are called Salamanders (not as catchy as bugs!) but quite quickly it becomes more about the psychology of the crew. They have to make “clips”, videos of their mission to send back home and it becomes clear that that’s their primary role, as publicity for the war.
I found this book totally absorbing and really enjoyed it. It’s different to the other two books of the author that I have read, Jennifer Government which I loved and Lexicon, this one is probably a bit more traditional sci-fi than the other two.
Now generally speaking space war sci-fi isn’t really my thing, I’m not into weapons, or battle tactics or any of that sort of stuff. Initially I thought this was heading in a Starship Troopers way, the aliens they are fighting are called Salamanders (not as catchy as bugs!) but quite quickly it becomes more about the psychology of the crew. They have to make “clips”, videos of their mission to send back home and it becomes clear that that’s their primary role, as publicity for the war.
I found this book totally absorbing and really enjoyed it. It’s different to the other two books of the author that I have read, Jennifer Government which I loved and Lexicon, this one is probably a bit more traditional sci-fi than the other two.
November 9, 2019
A while back I randomly thought about Max Barry, checked out his website and was delighted to learn that he had a new book due out in 2020. I was even more delighted to find this book months in advance on Netgalley. Because I’m a fan, I absolutely adore Barry’s books, I’ve read all he’s written and he isn’t exactly prolific, so this was something of an event. It’s also why this was something of a disappointment. Since I downloaded Providence based on Barry’s name alone without doing any preliminary research, I pretty much expected…well, more of the same on par with his other work. Clever, socially relevant satires taking on corporate world, science advancements or both. But Providence is a different beast altogether. In fact, it’s pretty much a straight up science fiction novel. Almost a military sci fi, actually, which is some of my least favorite science fiction. The title refers to the type of spaceship, spacewarship, that is utilized by Earthlings to fight the aliens. That’s right, an intelligent lifeforms are finally detected out there in the boundless mysterious universe and people just can’t wait to eliminate them all. To that end, teams are sent out into space in ships powered and controlled by AI, teams that are largely unnecessary and mainly serve as a PR promotion to put a friendly face on the war effort. Obviously, this isn’t very empowering for the team members, certainly not enough to sustain them for a four year mission, not really worth dying for. Makes the battle for survival, that follows a major technical snafu, all the more challenging. But also, does provide an opportunity for some last minute altruism and heroic displays. So you have all the classic science fiction elements, aliens, spaceships, AI. Not quite Star Wars, but, you know, wars in the stars. And it’s all reasonably entertaining and well written. The characters are pretty well developed, which is important for an essentially character driven story. The pacing is dynamic, the book reads very quickly. But…but…there’s nothing really special about it. And there’s nothing really Max Barry about it. Anyone might have written this. It isn’t especially memorable in any way, not like other Barry plots one can fondly recollect years after reading them. It’s just…there. That’s where the disappointment comes in. And sure, science fiction is popular and probably an easier sell than a satire and Barry has obviously had this story in him for a long time, going by the afterword and sure, technically it’s nice when the author tries new genres, showcasing range and versatility, but for a reader, nay, for a fan, Providence leaves a lot to be desired. Why leave a niche one excels at to be average at something other, however popular that something other might be. Some authors can do that. Blake Crouch went from thrillers to writing some really great sci fi. This, though, wasn’t quite like that. Still perfectly readable and plenty entertaining, imaginative and featuring great aliens effects, but just not quite as good as it by all rights should have been. Basically a case of mismanaged expectations. A personal thing. User mileage may vary. It’s still a fun ride, either way. Thanks Netgalley.
March 19, 2020
Opening with a tense second-person prologue describing a disastrous first contact encounter, Providence promises way more than Max Barry seems interested in delivering.
The story coasts for awhile on the harder SF details of its premise, but it becomes frustrating as Barry delves into the backstories of his four characters. The COMPLETE backstories. And after the crew is stranded on an alien planet, the novel becomes downright tedious. The back half of the book is a series of extended action scenes with an infinite number of aliens literally spewing out of holes on the ground. It felt like reading an anime.
Barry has always been a frustrating satirist. His twists here on big budget sci-fi tropes seem too knowing, preposterous, and too slight. (One of the first reveals will be familiar to anyone who read Hugh Howey's Silo series. And it begs the question, "If this, then WHY?") It's your basic "Bureaucracy sure is full of flaws, huh?" clichés applied to science fiction, and none of it is sharp enough to be entertaining.
I should have known from the description that this was going to be one of those "sad people are sad in space" books, but the opening gave me hope. Unfortunately, aside from the prologue (and the admittedly satisfying conclusion to the climax), Providence is a frustrating misfire. I'm all for unlikable protagonists, but despite the lengthy info dumps we get on this ship's sad crew, they just never seemed real enough to be anything but annoying. I cared more about the ship itself than anything else in this book.
The story coasts for awhile on the harder SF details of its premise, but it becomes frustrating as Barry delves into the backstories of his four characters. The COMPLETE backstories. And after the crew is stranded on an alien planet, the novel becomes downright tedious. The back half of the book is a series of extended action scenes with an infinite number of aliens literally spewing out of holes on the ground. It felt like reading an anime.
Barry has always been a frustrating satirist. His twists here on big budget sci-fi tropes seem too knowing, preposterous, and too slight. (One of the first reveals will be familiar to anyone who read Hugh Howey's Silo series. And it begs the question, "If this, then WHY?") It's your basic "Bureaucracy sure is full of flaws, huh?" clichés applied to science fiction, and none of it is sharp enough to be entertaining.
I should have known from the description that this was going to be one of those "sad people are sad in space" books, but the opening gave me hope. Unfortunately, aside from the prologue (and the admittedly satisfying conclusion to the climax), Providence is a frustrating misfire. I'm all for unlikable protagonists, but despite the lengthy info dumps we get on this ship's sad crew, they just never seemed real enough to be anything but annoying. I cared more about the ship itself than anything else in this book.
May 25, 2020
Not much happening in this book and also there is not much to think about after finishing it. Utterly forgettable. After excellent Lexicon this one is kinda letdown.
March 4, 2020
Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by AB Endacott
Having just read a couple of decidedly underwhelming sci-fi books, I was excited to come to Providence. I was reasonably certain that Barry wasn’t going to disappoint me as his 2013 novel Lexicon was—and still is—one of the most original pieces of science fiction writing I have read. I was not disappointed. Set in a future where humanity has made first contact with a hostile alien species, the story focuses on four people who crew a new ship with top of the line AI as they are sent in to deep space on a two year mission.
Barry creates a narrative the unfolds in incremental pieces in a psychological slow-drip. The story’s opening contains a number of questions that I was so desperate to have answered that I found myself at 12:30am having to pry myself away from the book so that I could be functional at work the next day. Those meta questions (for example, what exactly is the nature of the AI that runs the ship?) are complimented beautifully by the personal mysteries, the questions surrounding each of the four characters who eventually all have chapters from their own perspectives. The motivations of the four for joining the war effort and signing on to the crew of the Providence (genuine idealism, curiosity about the unknown) become poignant dramatic foils and compliments to the overarching story of the ship going deeper and deeper into uncharted territory to kill the dreaded salamanders.
What was particularly delightful about the meta story is that it could be many things. It could be a story about touching the unknown. It could be a story about what drives four very different people to take a claustrophobic, socially isolated two year mission (certainly, there isn’t enough money in the world to compel me to do that). It could be a story that offers a scathing critique on the machinery of war; how it’s perpetuated due to the financial interests of certain stakeholders, how it is ‘sold’ to an otherwise war-weary public, how there is a certain senselessness to it after a while. It could be a story that is about the intersection of all of these things. The multifaceted strands of Barry’s story make it thought provoking without being taxing in large part due to writing.
Interestingly, there are echoes of Ender’s Game in the story (although without the side serve of homophobia that haunts Orson Scott Card’s name); the sense of disconnection from the terrifying salamanders – the alien enemy – as they are slaughtered by the Providence is emphasised by the fact that we know very little about them and they are thoroughly demonised as an existential threat to humanity without clear basis for this claim. It’s this which led me to feel the novel’s primary focus was about war more so than anything else. While we do learn a bit more about the salamanders as the novel nears its conclusion, it’s never enough to understand them, which keeps the mystery alive and keeps them a menacing force, drawing on the Lovecraftian tradition in leaving the most terrifying monsters the ones only partially glimpsed. The way in which Barry depicts them is a testament to his skill as a writer and the fact that he really knows his craft.
Providence is one of the most original conceits I’ve encountered in quite some time. Barry provides a setting that is so authentic that it vividly captures the intense atmosphere of four people living on top of one another, struggling to understand what exactly they’re doing and why they’re doing it. This intensity grips the reader form the get-go. The narrative unfolds in unexpected ways, yet the ending has been clear all along, especially if you listen to the character whose voice we first hear and thus, who we trust the most, Gilly. Perhaps that’s what makes it such a great book – the fact that the answer is there all along, but, like the other crew members of the Providence, the reader doesn’t want to buy in to it.
Thrilling in truly every sense of the word, Providence is a triumph that grabs you with mystery, tension, and great writing, and won’t let you go until the last page.
Having just read a couple of decidedly underwhelming sci-fi books, I was excited to come to Providence. I was reasonably certain that Barry wasn’t going to disappoint me as his 2013 novel Lexicon was—and still is—one of the most original pieces of science fiction writing I have read. I was not disappointed. Set in a future where humanity has made first contact with a hostile alien species, the story focuses on four people who crew a new ship with top of the line AI as they are sent in to deep space on a two year mission.
Barry creates a narrative the unfolds in incremental pieces in a psychological slow-drip. The story’s opening contains a number of questions that I was so desperate to have answered that I found myself at 12:30am having to pry myself away from the book so that I could be functional at work the next day. Those meta questions (for example, what exactly is the nature of the AI that runs the ship?) are complimented beautifully by the personal mysteries, the questions surrounding each of the four characters who eventually all have chapters from their own perspectives. The motivations of the four for joining the war effort and signing on to the crew of the Providence (genuine idealism, curiosity about the unknown) become poignant dramatic foils and compliments to the overarching story of the ship going deeper and deeper into uncharted territory to kill the dreaded salamanders.
What was particularly delightful about the meta story is that it could be many things. It could be a story about touching the unknown. It could be a story about what drives four very different people to take a claustrophobic, socially isolated two year mission (certainly, there isn’t enough money in the world to compel me to do that). It could be a story that offers a scathing critique on the machinery of war; how it’s perpetuated due to the financial interests of certain stakeholders, how it is ‘sold’ to an otherwise war-weary public, how there is a certain senselessness to it after a while. It could be a story that is about the intersection of all of these things. The multifaceted strands of Barry’s story make it thought provoking without being taxing in large part due to writing.
Interestingly, there are echoes of Ender’s Game in the story (although without the side serve of homophobia that haunts Orson Scott Card’s name); the sense of disconnection from the terrifying salamanders – the alien enemy – as they are slaughtered by the Providence is emphasised by the fact that we know very little about them and they are thoroughly demonised as an existential threat to humanity without clear basis for this claim. It’s this which led me to feel the novel’s primary focus was about war more so than anything else. While we do learn a bit more about the salamanders as the novel nears its conclusion, it’s never enough to understand them, which keeps the mystery alive and keeps them a menacing force, drawing on the Lovecraftian tradition in leaving the most terrifying monsters the ones only partially glimpsed. The way in which Barry depicts them is a testament to his skill as a writer and the fact that he really knows his craft.
Providence is one of the most original conceits I’ve encountered in quite some time. Barry provides a setting that is so authentic that it vividly captures the intense atmosphere of four people living on top of one another, struggling to understand what exactly they’re doing and why they’re doing it. This intensity grips the reader form the get-go. The narrative unfolds in unexpected ways, yet the ending has been clear all along, especially if you listen to the character whose voice we first hear and thus, who we trust the most, Gilly. Perhaps that’s what makes it such a great book – the fact that the answer is there all along, but, like the other crew members of the Providence, the reader doesn’t want to buy in to it.
Thrilling in truly every sense of the word, Providence is a triumph that grabs you with mystery, tension, and great writing, and won’t let you go until the last page.
January 13, 2021
3.5*
This is not what I expected... Barry gives us what seems to be a typical space opera, but in fact something very different.
The narrative starts with the public launching of a new type of spaceship, with advanced A.I., sent on a four-year mission to help in the war against an alien race. On board, a crew of four, each seemingly portraying the stereotypical traits of their roles. At first, all seems to be developing as planned, until, naturally, it doesn’t.
I had several theories in mind while reading this, wondering what the author was doing, but he kept surprising me. Several reviews have labelled this book thought-provoking, and it was, but perhaps not in the way you expect
Although I read this rather fast, there was an aspect of the narrative that kept me distant from it, impeding me from fully enjoying it . Still, a very interesting read.
This is not what I expected... Barry gives us what seems to be a typical space opera, but in fact something very different.
The narrative starts with the public launching of a new type of spaceship, with advanced A.I., sent on a four-year mission to help in the war against an alien race. On board, a crew of four, each seemingly portraying the stereotypical traits of their roles. At first, all seems to be developing as planned, until, naturally, it doesn’t.
I had several theories in mind while reading this, wondering what the author was doing, but he kept surprising me. Several reviews have labelled this book thought-provoking, and it was, but perhaps not in the way you expect
Although I read this rather fast, there was an aspect of the narrative that kept me distant from it, impeding me from fully enjoying it . Still, a very interesting read.
March 28, 2020
I just finished Providence by Max Barry, kindly given to me by NetGalley in exchange for a honest review, and I really enjoyed the book. The writing is smooth, the characters are carefully, slowly and artfully revealed, and the plot kept me turning the virtual pages.
The true story is disguised within a typical humans-must-kill-all-the-hostile-creepy—aliens-to-survive plot. This book has much more to say beyond the (enjoyable) adventure piece. There is irony and truth about war and the stories we tell ourselves. Any other details would be spoilers. I highly recommend this book for a fun read as well as an interesting, if cynical, take on how humans perceive themselves and others and the narratives they develop.
Here’s a quote I liked:
You know that a lot of what you’re told isn’t the plain truth- and not lies, either, but rather satisfying stories wrapped around cold facts. Everyone understands that you only get to see the best side of these things... But so what? People don’t care about cold facts. You don’t want a universe of absent gods. You want meaning and purpose.
4.5 stars
The true story is disguised within a typical humans-must-kill-all-the-hostile-creepy—aliens-to-survive plot. This book has much more to say beyond the (enjoyable) adventure piece. There is irony and truth about war and the stories we tell ourselves. Any other details would be spoilers. I highly recommend this book for a fun read as well as an interesting, if cynical, take on how humans perceive themselves and others and the narratives they develop.
Here’s a quote I liked:
You know that a lot of what you’re told isn’t the plain truth- and not lies, either, but rather satisfying stories wrapped around cold facts. Everyone understands that you only get to see the best side of these things... But so what? People don’t care about cold facts. You don’t want a universe of absent gods. You want meaning and purpose.
4.5 stars
January 3, 2022
I don’t write reviews.
If you are one who reads my thoughts, you know that I don’t dig hard science fiction. Luckily, Barry balanced this out and didn’t try to get into the ‘hows’ of space travel and machinery. Instead, the AI ship, the war and the technology serve as the backdrop for the characters to face their fears and try to make a difference in an uncaring and often, inhuman, universe.
I enjoy the “solitary person against the unknown” trope. I guess to me it’s not a trope, it’s life.
If you are one who reads my thoughts, you know that I don’t dig hard science fiction. Luckily, Barry balanced this out and didn’t try to get into the ‘hows’ of space travel and machinery. Instead, the AI ship, the war and the technology serve as the backdrop for the characters to face their fears and try to make a difference in an uncaring and often, inhuman, universe.
I enjoy the “solitary person against the unknown” trope. I guess to me it’s not a trope, it’s life.
October 13, 2021
My first book by this author and I enjoyed it. It's 4 stars instead of 5 because I wanted more answers than I got about the alien species.
April 24, 2020
I've mostly enjoyed Max Barry's earlier novels for the great ideas and surprising treatments. I know he can write an action-packed thriller, but I'm less interested in thriller mechanics. Providence is quite a commitment to high space opera (which I'm not into), though it's packed with intriguing ideas worked out in thoughtful ways (our relationship with artificial intelligence, tragic and catastrophic miscommunication, how large institutions serve mostly themselves, etc). The aliens here are really pretty alien.
About 2/3rd's of the way through, I started to skim sentences and paragraphs. From the nadir of despair, Barry is able to construct a somewhat redemptive (?) ending. Fascinating ideas fly thick and fast (like those salamanders); Barry's critical eye is always scrutinizing the stream and drawing disturbing parallels with what's going on around us. But you really have to enjoy somewhat all the small arms fire, futuristic medical technology, alien engagements, challenges of stomping through the rocks on a high G planet etc.
I really enjoyed Barry's last novel Lexicon despite all the thriller action, because the ideas were so thrilling and much more grounded in my selfish world. Providence unfortunately was a less rewarding journey.
About 2/3rd's of the way through, I started to skim sentences and paragraphs. From the nadir of despair, Barry is able to construct a somewhat redemptive (?) ending. Fascinating ideas fly thick and fast (like those salamanders); Barry's critical eye is always scrutinizing the stream and drawing disturbing parallels with what's going on around us. But you really have to enjoy somewhat all the small arms fire, futuristic medical technology, alien engagements, challenges of stomping through the rocks on a high G planet etc.
I really enjoyed Barry's last novel Lexicon despite all the thriller action, because the ideas were so thrilling and much more grounded in my selfish world. Providence unfortunately was a less rewarding journey.
July 14, 2025
The premise sounds great, and it has some elements of other first contact stories I really like, but this one gives the characters and the overall story a pretty shallow treatment that left me unsatisfied.
February 26, 2024
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Another solid story from Max Barry, who I had never heard of before reading his equally strong Jennifer Government. With Providence, Barry gives us a 21st Century update on old-school science fiction, the type that plows right past the impossible physics of wormhole-type “skipping” and instantaneous communications between Earth and deep space so it can get right to the meat of the story - space war against lizard/bug alien hordes!
Barry avoids one of the dumbest and most common mistakes in such tales – the unbridgeable gap between unevolved and uncommunicative alien critters who basically run around naked going ”Ack! Ack!” (or in this case, "Pak! Pak!"), yet have somehow still developed the advanced space and weapons technologies to pose a threat to the galaxy – by keeping his “salamanders” decidedly low- or even no-tech. They are simply a primitive but murderous race whose hives float through space destroying whatever they come across. As such, these are no “different-but-equal-and-so-we-only-have-to-understand-them” insectoids (as in Ender’s Game or the film “Alien Mine”); no, these are the “so-different-we-need-to-destroy-them-all” kind found in “Starship Troopers,” “Independence Day,” and the “Alien” movies.
Unlike Jennifer's large and globe-hopping cast, Providence's enormous yet claustrophobic ship holds a crew of just four, whose personalities, behaviors and backstories continue to develop throughout the book in ways that are both believable and yet ultimately surprising. The unnamed ship* itself serves as the book’s fifth main character – but to say more would have to include major spoilers.
While not contributing anything genuinely new to the genre – seriously, how often can that still be done? - Providence, like Jennifer, was an exciting, escapist and unputdownable joyride. Highly recommended for fans of Star Trek, Star Wars and other “pew! pew!” sci-fi.
RE-READ UPDATE: After a few disappointing space operas recently, I very much wanted to read something I knew would be good, and this book DID NOT DISAPPOINT. In fact, I liked it even better this time around; and so going against my normal rule I'm actually bumping it up to the full five. Not only was it a straight-up (if old school) page turner, but the character development was really well planned out, so that . A real tour de force of anticipatory - but not clumsily foreshadowed - plotting. Just outstanding.
_________________________________
* Unlike what some reviews claim, the ship is not named "Providence;" it is one of several "Providence-class" ships built to defeat the salamanders. Pak! Pak!!
Barry avoids one of the dumbest and most common mistakes in such tales – the unbridgeable gap between unevolved and uncommunicative alien critters who basically run around naked going ”Ack! Ack!” (or in this case, "Pak! Pak!"), yet have somehow still developed the advanced space and weapons technologies to pose a threat to the galaxy – by keeping his “salamanders” decidedly low- or even no-tech. They are simply a primitive but murderous race whose hives float through space destroying whatever they come across. As such, these are no “different-but-equal-and-so-we-only-have-to-understand-them” insectoids (as in Ender’s Game or the film “Alien Mine”); no, these are the “so-different-we-need-to-destroy-them-all” kind found in “Starship Troopers,” “Independence Day,” and the “Alien” movies.
Unlike Jennifer's large and globe-hopping cast, Providence's enormous yet claustrophobic ship holds a crew of just four, whose personalities, behaviors and backstories continue to develop throughout the book in ways that are both believable and yet ultimately surprising. The unnamed ship* itself serves as the book’s fifth main character – but to say more would have to include major spoilers.
While not contributing anything genuinely new to the genre – seriously, how often can that still be done? - Providence, like Jennifer, was an exciting, escapist and unputdownable joyride. Highly recommended for fans of Star Trek, Star Wars and other “pew! pew!” sci-fi.
RE-READ UPDATE: After a few disappointing space operas recently, I very much wanted to read something I knew would be good, and this book DID NOT DISAPPOINT. In fact, I liked it even better this time around; and so going against my normal rule I'm actually bumping it up to the full five. Not only was it a straight-up (if old school) page turner, but the character development was really well planned out, so that . A real tour de force of anticipatory - but not clumsily foreshadowed - plotting. Just outstanding.
_________________________________
* Unlike what some reviews claim, the ship is not named "Providence;" it is one of several "Providence-class" ships built to defeat the salamanders. Pak! Pak!!
April 1, 2020
An engrossing character study in a sci-fi setting, where the endlessly intriguing spaceship the characters travel on is the real alien.
Humanity has made first contact with an alien species referred to as 'salamanders', and it did not go well. The salamanders, your typical insect-like, seemingly hiveminded alien, attacked a small human crew and obliterated them.
What follows is a war between humanity and the salamanders - completely fought in outer space, with human starships hunting and exterminating the aliens, as much a constant PR exercise as an actual armed conflict.
Earth is now building humongous city-sized spaceships, the model Providence. The ship is controlled by a hyperintelligent AI, that barely seems to acknowledge its crew's existence. The AI pilots the ship, anticipates attacks, and basically does everything. Its decisions are lightning fast, and based on ridiculous amounts of information, which basically makes it impossible for its human crew to understand the AI's 'thinking'.
Each Providence carries a crew of four - a captain, an Intel person, a Weapons person and a Life person (basically an onboard psychologist). A truly great detail of the Providence ships is that they are enormous, but the actual corridors and spaces for the crew are tiny and cramped. If you are claustrophobic, this might not be the book for you (or might exactly be the book for you, we all work in different ways..).
The Providence of this book is sent into the Violet Zone (or VZ) for six months, where it is impossible to make contact with Earth. What follows is a wonderful character study, where a crew that has been assembled by yet another AI, wrestles with their own demons, and the slow realisation that they have to trust the choices their gigantic star destroyer makes, or perhaps not trust them at all.
If all of this makes you think of John Carpenter's Dark Star - I'm right there with you. Other easy film references are of course Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I enjoyed the book immensely, it is beautifully written, well paced, and I would've enjoyed it even more if the last quarter didn't refocus away from the strange ship, and became more of a war story (albeit with weird aliens). I thought it was refreshing to see the aliens of the book as more or less incidental background noise, with the AI-driven existence of the crew being the much more alien world. I just wish it stayed that way longer.
(Kindly received an ARC from G.P. Putnam's Sons through Edelweiss)
Humanity has made first contact with an alien species referred to as 'salamanders', and it did not go well. The salamanders, your typical insect-like, seemingly hiveminded alien, attacked a small human crew and obliterated them.
What follows is a war between humanity and the salamanders - completely fought in outer space, with human starships hunting and exterminating the aliens, as much a constant PR exercise as an actual armed conflict.
Earth is now building humongous city-sized spaceships, the model Providence. The ship is controlled by a hyperintelligent AI, that barely seems to acknowledge its crew's existence. The AI pilots the ship, anticipates attacks, and basically does everything. Its decisions are lightning fast, and based on ridiculous amounts of information, which basically makes it impossible for its human crew to understand the AI's 'thinking'.
Each Providence carries a crew of four - a captain, an Intel person, a Weapons person and a Life person (basically an onboard psychologist). A truly great detail of the Providence ships is that they are enormous, but the actual corridors and spaces for the crew are tiny and cramped. If you are claustrophobic, this might not be the book for you (or might exactly be the book for you, we all work in different ways..).
The Providence of this book is sent into the Violet Zone (or VZ) for six months, where it is impossible to make contact with Earth. What follows is a wonderful character study, where a crew that has been assembled by yet another AI, wrestles with their own demons, and the slow realisation that they have to trust the choices their gigantic star destroyer makes, or perhaps not trust them at all.
If all of this makes you think of John Carpenter's Dark Star - I'm right there with you. Other easy film references are of course Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I enjoyed the book immensely, it is beautifully written, well paced, and I would've enjoyed it even more if the last quarter didn't refocus away from the strange ship, and became more of a war story (albeit with weird aliens). I thought it was refreshing to see the aliens of the book as more or less incidental background noise, with the AI-driven existence of the crew being the much more alien world. I just wish it stayed that way longer.
(Kindly received an ARC from G.P. Putnam's Sons through Edelweiss)
December 3, 2019
"Providence"
Written by Max Barry
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia
A fascinating and charming read by a new-to-me author, "Providence" is a survival story, telling of the crew of Providence 5, a battle ship in space. The story is fictional, but there are many elements of this story that feel very realistic.
Providence 5, with its crew of Captain Jocelyn Jackson, Gilly, Beanfield, and Anders, are in space to stop salamanders, six-legged slimy aliens that "huk", which is spitting out material that can mangle matter, especially from the human body. The salamanders live in hives on planets and moons but are cloned from their 'queen'. Our ensemble of tough and interesting characters must save themselves, when after shutting down the too protective and powerful AI on their ship, must fight to survive.
The writing style in "Providence" is informative, yet succinct. In creating a fast-paced novel, the uses quick and deliberate dialogue, which feels highly realistic. The characters each have interesting qualities, and we even have the semblance of a "final girl" trope that occurs often in science fiction and horror. I truly loved the characters and the technology. There is a strong and important development of character development, especially with Gilly.
A fascinating element of this story is the communication between the salamanders and Gilly. This is easily the best section of the story, feeling reminiscent to a favorite of mine, "Arrival".
I do admit that there is a bit of a slow start, but this proves important for exposition about the interstellar transportation, technology, the salamanders, and the characters.
With many heart-pounding scenes and a phenomenal third act, I truly think this is a fantastic book. I do hope that this becomes a popular read for years to come. This would be a fantastic film. A wonderful interstellar adventure and survival story is precisely the novel I needed to read. I highly recommend this novel and author. Those who enjoy "Alien", "Arrival", "Interstellar", "Gravity", and "The Martian".
I received a complimentary advance edition of this novel in exchange for reading and review purposes. Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton.
Written by Max Barry
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia
A fascinating and charming read by a new-to-me author, "Providence" is a survival story, telling of the crew of Providence 5, a battle ship in space. The story is fictional, but there are many elements of this story that feel very realistic.
Providence 5, with its crew of Captain Jocelyn Jackson, Gilly, Beanfield, and Anders, are in space to stop salamanders, six-legged slimy aliens that "huk", which is spitting out material that can mangle matter, especially from the human body. The salamanders live in hives on planets and moons but are cloned from their 'queen'. Our ensemble of tough and interesting characters must save themselves, when after shutting down the too protective and powerful AI on their ship, must fight to survive.
The writing style in "Providence" is informative, yet succinct. In creating a fast-paced novel, the uses quick and deliberate dialogue, which feels highly realistic. The characters each have interesting qualities, and we even have the semblance of a "final girl" trope that occurs often in science fiction and horror. I truly loved the characters and the technology. There is a strong and important development of character development, especially with Gilly.
A fascinating element of this story is the communication between the salamanders and Gilly. This is easily the best section of the story, feeling reminiscent to a favorite of mine, "Arrival".
I do admit that there is a bit of a slow start, but this proves important for exposition about the interstellar transportation, technology, the salamanders, and the characters.
With many heart-pounding scenes and a phenomenal third act, I truly think this is a fantastic book. I do hope that this becomes a popular read for years to come. This would be a fantastic film. A wonderful interstellar adventure and survival story is precisely the novel I needed to read. I highly recommend this novel and author. Those who enjoy "Alien", "Arrival", "Interstellar", "Gravity", and "The Martian".
I received a complimentary advance edition of this novel in exchange for reading and review purposes. Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton.
January 15, 2021
3.5 stars.
July 9, 2020
Space, man. And spacemen. And spacewomen. Astronauts, I guess. Are they still astronauts if they're going out to space to kill stuff? Seems like the difference between being a "sailor" and a "Navy SEAL." But I've almost exhausted my military knowledge outside of the Pacific theater of WWII, so I'll stop. Yes, I've entered the life phase critical to every aging man: a fascination with some specific portion of WWII. Like a first pimple and losing your hair, it's a developmental phase. They should have some kind of bar mitzvah for a guy when he checks out more than one book at a time about WWII "frog men."
This is a good one. If you like shit like The Martian or Interstellar, maybe some Starship Troopers, you'll like this shit, too. Sorry to say "shit" so much. I don't mean it's shitty, I mean it's "stuff." But I like the word "shit" more than "stuff."
I had a history teacher who was obsessed with the word "stuff." Maybe because history is mostly about the quest for stuff. And people were always "doing stuff."
Funny story about this history teacher: At my high school, they used to do a feature in the school paper called something like "junkyard treasures." These were profiles of the crappiest cars in the lot and the students who drove them. My brother and I shared a car that was profiled in Junkyard Treasures, and I can say I considered it an honor.
This teacher's car was ALSO profiled in Junkyard Treasures, the best part being a hole in the floor near one of the back seats. If you sat in the back, you could sort of just watch the road go by. This can't possibly be safe, but I rode home from high school once in a Volkswagen Beetle that had something wrong with the gas tank, and gasoline soaked into the carpet somewhere. The fumes were thick, even with the windows down.
You were kind of part of a club if you had a shitty car.
Anyway, one day my brother drove us to school, and he left the headlights on all day. We got a few blocks from school before the car died at a stoplight. This teacher, the one with the hole in the floor, drove up in his car, and he asked if we needed help. We already had someone coming, and I said something like, "Can I even ride in your car? I don't want to fall through the floor?" And he said, "At least mine runs!" and laughed when he drove off.
It might've been insulting to say what I said to that teacher, so if you're out there, Mr. Shaw, I just want to apologize, and if it makes you feel better, I'm rocking a 20 year-old car these days. Most of the windows don't work. The door handles break frequently. The other day the A/C button just FLEW off.
What I like about Max Barry's last couple books is that he has an engineer's understanding of machines and AI, and he has a poetic way of putting you in the shoes of characters. I was trying to think of a transition from personal story back to the book, but fuck it, who cares? It's a book review, not a rollercoaster. We can just completely change directions, your neck is still intact.
This is a good one. If you like shit like The Martian or Interstellar, maybe some Starship Troopers, you'll like this shit, too. Sorry to say "shit" so much. I don't mean it's shitty, I mean it's "stuff." But I like the word "shit" more than "stuff."
I had a history teacher who was obsessed with the word "stuff." Maybe because history is mostly about the quest for stuff. And people were always "doing stuff."
Funny story about this history teacher: At my high school, they used to do a feature in the school paper called something like "junkyard treasures." These were profiles of the crappiest cars in the lot and the students who drove them. My brother and I shared a car that was profiled in Junkyard Treasures, and I can say I considered it an honor.
This teacher's car was ALSO profiled in Junkyard Treasures, the best part being a hole in the floor near one of the back seats. If you sat in the back, you could sort of just watch the road go by. This can't possibly be safe, but I rode home from high school once in a Volkswagen Beetle that had something wrong with the gas tank, and gasoline soaked into the carpet somewhere. The fumes were thick, even with the windows down.
You were kind of part of a club if you had a shitty car.
Anyway, one day my brother drove us to school, and he left the headlights on all day. We got a few blocks from school before the car died at a stoplight. This teacher, the one with the hole in the floor, drove up in his car, and he asked if we needed help. We already had someone coming, and I said something like, "Can I even ride in your car? I don't want to fall through the floor?" And he said, "At least mine runs!" and laughed when he drove off.
It might've been insulting to say what I said to that teacher, so if you're out there, Mr. Shaw, I just want to apologize, and if it makes you feel better, I'm rocking a 20 year-old car these days. Most of the windows don't work. The door handles break frequently. The other day the A/C button just FLEW off.
What I like about Max Barry's last couple books is that he has an engineer's understanding of machines and AI, and he has a poetic way of putting you in the shoes of characters. I was trying to think of a transition from personal story back to the book, but fuck it, who cares? It's a book review, not a rollercoaster. We can just completely change directions, your neck is still intact.
August 2, 2022
Q: Did the main starship have a name? If so, I somehow missed it, although some other Providence-class ships were named.
A: Thanks to GR user Gobi, who said author Max Barry said in an interview ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN3fJ... , around time 4:35) that the main ship
REVIEW: Compared to Barry's Jennifer Government (below 1 star for me), PROVIDENCE is great literature. Succeeds as an escapist space adventure, though it's barely deeper than a comic book.
RATING: 2.85 stars overall, with some 4-star moments. Bumped to 3 because Barry somehow made this silly, but not always too silly. As another review said, it's a "B" movie feel (not necessarily a bad thing).
BEST CHARACTER: The one who said exactly two words, and is in the best scene in the story.
BONUS POINTS FOR:
++ Barry is not afraid to damage his characters.
++ You get all this:
A few details, some nitpicks. May contain a mild/moderate spoiler:
A: Thanks to GR user Gobi, who said author Max Barry said in an interview ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN3fJ... , around time 4:35) that the main ship
REVIEW: Compared to Barry's Jennifer Government (below 1 star for me), PROVIDENCE is great literature. Succeeds as an escapist space adventure, though it's barely deeper than a comic book.
RATING: 2.85 stars overall, with some 4-star moments. Bumped to 3 because Barry somehow made this silly, but not always too silly. As another review said, it's a "B" movie feel (not necessarily a bad thing).
BEST CHARACTER: The one who said exactly two words, and is in the best scene in the story.
BONUS POINTS FOR:
++ Barry is not afraid to damage his characters.
++ You get all this:
A few details, some nitpicks. May contain a mild/moderate spoiler:
March 2, 2025
I'm gonna Puk you up.
I read somewhere that this was Space Opera, and yet, not once did a fat lady with a space helmet with horns on it, sing an aria from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. I was sorely disappointed. Yes, if you're wondering: I had never heard of Space Opera before. Unbelievable, hey?
This is about a hive-mind horde of resin-laden clone aliens who are wandering the galaxy, destroying anything they come into contact with. They are DNA programmed to do their "thing" and that's about it. They're a bit like Daleks. No...they're a LOT like daleks, 'cept they say, "Puk" instead of "Exteeeerrrrminate". Who sent them? We never find out.
Being somewhat averse to our own destruction of good old Earth, we send out huge battleships of our own to wipe out the little salamanders. The behemoth space ships are run by super-intelligent AI's (sadly without cool names like, "Mother" or "Hal" or "Computer"). Perhaps for publicity purposes, we man our Providence ships with just four human crew. Makes for good character development - and there's plenty of that. In fact, I thought the characters were a bit overdeveloped.
So there you have it! Battles ensue. Much blowing shit up happens. Aliens are turned to goo. What more could you want? The science wasn't too bad, but there were mistakes. The salamander's weapon was that they could each spit out a singularity which destroyed everything it contacted. If the salamanders spit had a singularity in it, how could they contain one in their bodies? Why didn't they disappear up their own bum holes?
There might have been a bit of "appropriation" going on too. Gilly's attempts at communication with the salamanders was humorous. Also, Gilly being held captive by resin covered walls seemed an idea poached from the Alien movie series.
Anyway, it's beer o'clock and I'm thirsty. So this is a good read if not a bit overlong. I liked it about 4 and a bit stars worth I reckon.
I read somewhere that this was Space Opera, and yet, not once did a fat lady with a space helmet with horns on it, sing an aria from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. I was sorely disappointed. Yes, if you're wondering: I had never heard of Space Opera before. Unbelievable, hey?
This is about a hive-mind horde of resin-laden clone aliens who are wandering the galaxy, destroying anything they come into contact with. They are DNA programmed to do their "thing" and that's about it. They're a bit like Daleks. No...they're a LOT like daleks, 'cept they say, "Puk" instead of "Exteeeerrrrminate". Who sent them? We never find out.
Being somewhat averse to our own destruction of good old Earth, we send out huge battleships of our own to wipe out the little salamanders. The behemoth space ships are run by super-intelligent AI's (sadly without cool names like, "Mother" or "Hal" or "Computer"). Perhaps for publicity purposes, we man our Providence ships with just four human crew. Makes for good character development - and there's plenty of that. In fact, I thought the characters were a bit overdeveloped.
So there you have it! Battles ensue. Much blowing shit up happens. Aliens are turned to goo. What more could you want? The science wasn't too bad, but there were mistakes. The salamander's weapon was that they could each spit out a singularity which destroyed everything it contacted. If the salamanders spit had a singularity in it, how could they contain one in their bodies? Why didn't they disappear up their own bum holes?
There might have been a bit of "appropriation" going on too. Gilly's attempts at communication with the salamanders was humorous. Also, Gilly being held captive by resin covered walls seemed an idea poached from the Alien movie series.
Anyway, it's beer o'clock and I'm thirsty. So this is a good read if not a bit overlong. I liked it about 4 and a bit stars worth I reckon.
June 15, 2020
I see what was trying to be done here, I really do. I just didn't think it was an overly effective way of handling it, and Starship Troopers translated it better. Military science fiction is a beast all of its own, driven by a total lack of conscience and awareness as to the sentience of aliens. I was disappointed by the characters (again, I know they were satire, but they weren't precisely the most developed of satirical people). The plot follows the typical 'sent by the company, the company doesn't care, oh no, aliens' plotline, and I really wanted to be surprised by something, but there was nothing that took it in a different direction, and it was such a shame. I felt there was just such a lack of substance, but it will appeal to two types of people- the ones who just want to enjoy a rollicking shoot-'em-up, and those who can look at this book and see that there's a level of satire there.
Sadly, for me, this one ends up reading like one of the Star Trek episodes you remember to forget on rewatch, with no long-lasting implications.
Sadly, for me, this one ends up reading like one of the Star Trek episodes you remember to forget on rewatch, with no long-lasting implications.
January 3, 2021
This book another Do You Dream of Terra-Two?. The characters were immature and annoying - despite being specially selected for a small, isolated and important mission. Not worth my time to finish it.
November 26, 2020
They'd been chosen by a sophisticated and demanding software-guided selection process. His presence wasn't an accident. He was where he was supposed to be.What could possibly go wrong? After all, according to the epigram with which Max Barry's 2020 novel Providence begins,
—p.17
Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident it has suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option.
—John Flavel
And, after all, Providence is a huge and heavily-armed warship, one of the newest and proudest in Earth's spacefaring fleet. Controlled by an inscrutable AI, the best that corporate Earth can provide, Providence needs no assistance for its mission: to carry the war to the equally-inscrutable salamanders that murdered the crew of the Coral Beach as their first act in human space, and later committed the atrocities of Fornina Sirius.
Even so, there they are, its four human crew: Jolene Jackson (survivor of that latter salamander engagement), Talia Beanfield (popular Life officer—catch her on social media!), Paul Anders (weapons expert, gorgeous but a sloppy eater, only slightly unhinged) and Isiah "Gilly" Gilligan (introverted expert in all things tech), who are carried along as Providence penetrates deep into salamander territory.
In the unforgettable words of pioneering pilot (and, let us never forget, West Virginian) Charles E. Yeager, our heroes are, basically, "spam in a can." And yet... these four humans are the focus of Providence. Redundant as they appear, they must have something going for them.
*
Max Barry is an Australian, and Providence does contain a few hints of its Australian origin—but, honestly, not many, and none that interrupt the flow. Mostly, I noticed the repetition of the word "judder" (instead of "shudder").
*
I can understand why some readers were frustrated with Max Barry's Providence. Murderous aliens, harsh combat-training camps and gigantic interstellar warships signal a certain strain of SF, a traditional sort of soi-disant "hard" science fiction—triumphalist and colonial—that often gets called Campbellian. But... this is not that narrative.
It takes awhile to get there, but this is a Max Barry novel—and probably not one that Campbell would have been at all happy with.
It took me very little time to zip through Providence, despite distractions from work and, y'know, a global pandemic, and perhaps that speed helped me overlook some of its flaws. Ultimately, though, Barry does provide a satisfying and—dare I say it?—even triumphant payoff for all of the angst and short-circuited military adventurism.
In Providence, Max Barry may not be saying what everyone wants to hear... but he's still worth listening to.
July 2, 2024
Providence is a class of AI driven interstellar ships, with a seemingly dysfunctional crew of four, on a mission for the complete genocide of an alien race, and the novel is way better than it seems from this entirely correct description.
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La Providence è una classe di navi interstellari guidate dall'intelligenza artificiale, con un equipaggio apparentemente disfunzionale di quattro persone, in missione per il completo genocidio di una razza aliena, e il romanzo è decisamente migliore di quanto sembri da questa descrizione del tutto corretta.
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La Providence è una classe di navi interstellari guidate dall'intelligenza artificiale, con un equipaggio apparentemente disfunzionale di quattro persone, in missione per il completo genocidio di una razza aliena, e il romanzo è decisamente migliore di quanto sembri da questa descrizione del tutto corretta.
April 13, 2020
I could almost give this book one stars because I'm so furious at it. I spent the first feeling that particular brand of disappointment that comes from being let down by a book you were really excited for. Barry's last novel, Lexicon, absolutely blew me away with it's clever plot and deeply engaging characters, and I had high hopes for Providence.
And while it appeared I was still going to get a clever plot here, a clever plot is poor consolation when it comes with flat characters. And time-skips. I hate time-skips, and I especially hate time-skips in an already fairly short standalone. Do you know how hard it is to form an attachment to characters when you're leaping forward a few years every couple of pages? It's especially irksome here because we have four strangers alone on a spaceship and we don't get to see any bonding or significant moments between them.
It also doesn't help that the two POVs are from Gilly, who relates far better than machines or people, and Beanfield, who has an incredibly cynical view of her comrades.
Except. Here's the thing. I didn't know she was being cynical! Gilly barely has the words to relate to his shipmates as people so there's no help from that corner, so the only view we get of the other two characters, Jackson and Anders, is from her. And she paints them as shallow, flat and unreliable.
Until, at the halfway point, we get POVs from Jackson and Anders. This is where, finally, 52% in, that there's are real, complex, engaging characters who are a delight to spend time with. Learning this sheds new light on Beanfield's cynicism towards everyone and makes her more interesting in hindsight, if I'd known this from the start I would have enjoyed her a lot more.
I would have enjoyed everything a lot more if I could have enjoyed the characters the whole way through instead of just the last stretch. Anders is fantastic, twisted and loyal in his own peculiar way, with an incredibly entertaining streak of pure sarcasm. Jackson, the ship's captain, is deeply empathetic and feels so much more than she lets on.
But like I said, by the time we actually get to know them the plot has kicked up another notch and things are barelling towards the end so there's no time to really enjoy it. The time-skips also stop at this point. So really it's a deeply flawed half paired with a genuinely fantastic part, and it's frustrating in that it all could have been avoided with a more even share of POVs.
Like, your characters been people the reader can actually root for shouldn't be a twist saved for the back end of your book.
People who don't place so much importance in characters will probably like this a lot, because the plot is really clever and does some interesting things.
And while it appeared I was still going to get a clever plot here, a clever plot is poor consolation when it comes with flat characters. And time-skips. I hate time-skips, and I especially hate time-skips in an already fairly short standalone. Do you know how hard it is to form an attachment to characters when you're leaping forward a few years every couple of pages? It's especially irksome here because we have four strangers alone on a spaceship and we don't get to see any bonding or significant moments between them.
It also doesn't help that the two POVs are from Gilly, who relates far better than machines or people, and Beanfield, who has an incredibly cynical view of her comrades.
Except. Here's the thing. I didn't know she was being cynical! Gilly barely has the words to relate to his shipmates as people so there's no help from that corner, so the only view we get of the other two characters, Jackson and Anders, is from her. And she paints them as shallow, flat and unreliable.
Until, at the halfway point, we get POVs from Jackson and Anders. This is where, finally, 52% in, that there's are real, complex, engaging characters who are a delight to spend time with. Learning this sheds new light on Beanfield's cynicism towards everyone and makes her more interesting in hindsight, if I'd known this from the start I would have enjoyed her a lot more.
I would have enjoyed everything a lot more if I could have enjoyed the characters the whole way through instead of just the last stretch. Anders is fantastic, twisted and loyal in his own peculiar way, with an incredibly entertaining streak of pure sarcasm. Jackson, the ship's captain, is deeply empathetic and feels so much more than she lets on.
But like I said, by the time we actually get to know them the plot has kicked up another notch and things are barelling towards the end so there's no time to really enjoy it. The time-skips also stop at this point. So really it's a deeply flawed half paired with a genuinely fantastic part, and it's frustrating in that it all could have been avoided with a more even share of POVs.
Like, your characters been people the reader can actually root for shouldn't be a twist saved for the back end of your book.
People who don't place so much importance in characters will probably like this a lot, because the plot is really clever and does some interesting things.
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