Max Barry

I found Providence by Max Barry an interesting read, a science fiction story about space combat, aliens, survival and getting along with one’s fellow space warriors. As a heavily armed “Providence” spaceship heads into deep space for a two year stint battling an alien race of salamander type creatures we find out that there is only a small crew of four people. We quickly learn that the AI of the ship makes all the decisions and the people are simply along for media coverage.

After a series of successful engagements, the ship heads deep into enemy territory and a number of things go awry. The ship’s AI experiences a slight malfunction, the crew are stressed and having a difficult time with both the situation and each other, and the enemy is experimenting with different attack methods. Now struggling to survive and about to lose the ship, the last third of the book is rife with tension, action and surprises.

My one complaint about the book was that I found the characters to be rather tiresome. I don’t mind reading about characters that I dislike, but there were times with these characters that I wanted to bump their heads together. Perhaps that was the author’s intention and meant to add to the claustrophobic atmosphere and the feeling of isolation. I haven’t read very many military space operas so for me, Providence was original, intense and compelling.… (mais)

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Providence for free to review, I also bought a copy during it's release.


Max Barry's Providence is an interesting read. At points it feels almost disappointing, but not because it is poorly written. On the contrary, It's interesting because as Speculative Fiction, it raises a good number of questions, and provides a very real answer to those questions.

I went into the novel expecting a cinematic sci-fi story, this is not that novel. Honestly, given Mr. Barry's past work, that was my own fault. He delivered a story consistent with his style of writing.

Throughout the novel, I found myself wanting to feel emotional attachments to the characters; Gilly, Beanfield, Anders, and Jackson. I wanted to like them as fantasy heroes. However, That is simply not who they are. They are humans, with different pasts chosen to do a job for their military. They are less the traditional Sci-fi/fantasy hero and more of a realistic everyday hero. You like or dislike their personalities, but you don't get to love them.

As a reader, I became fascinated with the same interests as Gilly. What are these Salamanders? How do they Operate? Why is the human race at war with them? Barry's novel gives you very real answers without building extensive sci-fi lore. I felt very much the same way with Beanfield's motivations, What is the ship and it's AI? Who are these people she is in charge of keeping alive? The novel answers to those questions but, only gives you a small taste of fantasy.

I think the best way you sum up my feelings towards how the novel addresses its biggest questions, would be to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want... but you get what you need."

I enjoyed reading Providence, and I would definitely recommend it to others. I'm not going to pretend it would ever reach my Top 3 favorites. It is a well-executed, believable novel, with human characters who are just dealing with/ or avoiding dealing with the situations they encounter. It is slow to start, but during its climax and you almost feel obligated to know how it ends.… (mais)