Provenance

How it reads

Provenance is science fiction (space opera, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in an invented world, in the future, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are identity and family. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. The ending resolves happily. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.