From the ingenious author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon: a brilliant work of science fiction that tells the intimate tale of four people facing their most desperate hour–alone, together, at the edge of the universe.The video changed everything. Before that, we could believe that we were safe. Special. Chosen. We thought the universe was a twinkling ocean of opportunity, waiting to be … of opportunity, waiting to be explored.
Afterward, we knew better.
Seven years after first contact, Providence Five launches. It is an enormous and deadly warship, built to protect humanity from its greatest ever threat. On board is a crew of just four–tasked with monitoring the ship and reporting the war’s progress to a mesmerized global audience by way of social media.
But while pursuing the enemy across space, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson confront the unthinkable: their communications are cut, their ship decreasingly trustworthy and effective. To survive, they must win a fight that is suddenly and terrifyingly real.
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An astonishing novel! Providence is Philip K. Dick and William Gibson fueled by pure adrenaline (with a bit of Spielberg and Ridley Scott thrown in). The brilliant, unstoppable imagination of Max Barry glows on every page of this action-filled, yet emotionally resonant, tale. It will keep you riveted from first page till last. I read in one sitting and I guarantee you’ll do the same.
To me, the most fascinating element of this book is the relationship between humanity and AI’s (Artificial Intelligences).
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.
I could not put Providence down until I’d finished it in one thrilling sitting. This is science fiction at its best — a ship so believably alive and characters so determined, flawed, and compelling that you’ll forget you’re not also part of the crew.
Space opera with an unusual and interesting encounter with aggressive aliens. The science, though, especially as regards interstellar distances and FTL travel, is pretty hopeless.
This was a very depressing book. It was well written. Each character was reasonably well drawn. There was plenty of action, after all, this is a story about interstellar war. However, the characters sometimes felt like innocent bystanders or kidnap victims more than solders – and I think that was intentional. The message seemed to be: the universe is vast and indifferent to humanity. Our pride makes us foolish. We are overmatched, even by our own creations. All of this may be true but it sure makes for depressing stories.
Wonderful. A unique alien race and a creepy look at the future of AIs that are just as alien as the biological kind, if not more so. The story didn’t always go where I expected, but I loved it from beginning to end.
At what point do you have to say that an Artificial Intelligence is human? What makes a human, human anyway? This action-packed adventure explores these deep questions, all the while engaging readers with memorable, sympathetic characters.
“Providence” by Max Barry follows the colossal warship by the same name designed to protect humanity from threats of all kinds. It requires only a crew of four to monitor functions and to report progress on social media. A mesmerized world follows every move of these new space reality show stars.
The point of view changes with each chapter, so readers get to know the crew well and see the world and the associated trauma through their eyes. The pace is slow and calculated at first as readers get to know the crew and learn about the ship and related technology. The tension increases when things start to go wrong, horribly wrong. The crew discovers a startling advisory and a horrible truth about that enemy. Those who were used to being revered social media stars must fight an all too terrifying fight.
Barry created a fictional world with instant appeal; it is mysteriously appealing and strangely real. The characters are complex and yet relatable. The aliens are both terrifying and normal at the same time, allowing readers to both love and hate them. I received a review copy of “Providence” from Max Barry and G.P. Putnam’s Sons. I do not typically read books in this genre, but I was attracted by the premise of this book. I found it compelling, interesting, and thought-provoking
Providence is an absolute treat. Pulls the trick of being both irrepressibly old-school sci-fi and creepingly relevant to the data-driven future.
Action-packed and unsettling, Providence is a sleekly-written parable about the absurdity of war–and the deeply human urge to destroy everything we don’t understand, whether it comes from a distant planet or right here on Earth.