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The Universe of Xuya
The Waiting Stars
Originally published in The Other Half of the Sky, 2013, edited by Athena Andreadis & Kay T. Holt.
Reprinted in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection, and later in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue #129
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The derelict ship ward was in an isolated section of Outsider space, one of the numerous spots left blank on interstellar maps, no more or no less tantalising than its neighbouring quadrants. To most people, it would be just that: a boring part of a long journey to be avoided–skipped over by Mind-ships as they cut through deep space, passed around at low speeds by Outsider ships while their passengers slept in their hibernation cradles.
Reprinted in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection, and later in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue #129
~~~
The derelict ship ward was in an isolated section of Outsider space, one of the numerous spots left blank on interstellar maps, no more or no less tantalising than its neighbouring quadrants. To most people, it would be just that: a boring part of a long journey to be avoided–skipped over by Mind-ships as they cut through deep space, passed around at low speeds by Outsider ships while their passengers slept in their hibernation cradles.
17 pages, ebook
First published April 23, 2013
About the author
Aliette de Bodard
273 books2,259 followersAliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris. She has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award, a British Fantasy Award and four British Science Fiction Association Awards, and was a double Hugo finalist for 2019 (Best Series and Best Novella).
Her most recent book is Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. She also wrote Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press), a space opera where a sentient spaceship and an upright scholar join forces to investigate a murder, and find themselves falling for each other. Other books include Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and its standalone sequel Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.), fantasy books of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.
Her most recent book is Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. She also wrote Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press), a space opera where a sentient spaceship and an upright scholar join forces to investigate a murder, and find themselves falling for each other. Other books include Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and its standalone sequel Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.), fantasy books of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
June 6, 2017
I loved this SF short story, a Nebula award winner and Hugo nominee. It's free to read online or download on the author's website. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
In this 2013 Nebula award-winning story, set in the 22nd century, Aliette de Bodard weaves together two narratives that at first seem unconnected but in the end, of course, are. The first concerns a woman’s exploration of a derelict spaceship in a graveyard of spaceships in an isolated corner of space controlled by the Outsiders. Lan Nhen’s Vietnamese-descended people build Mind-ships, spaceships powered by the brains and bodies of people who are made a permanent part of their ship, and are loved and revered as such. Lan Nhen is searching for her great-aunt and her ship, who disappeared many years ago. Meantime, on an Outsider planet far away, Catherine and other Dai Viet girls taken away by the Outsiders as children are raised in an institution, told stories of the terrible fate ― being “brood mares for abominations,” i.e., the deformed humans who provide the Minds of the Dai Viet spaceships ― that the Outsider people have rescued them from. It’s a peaceful but melancholy existence for Catherine and her friends, who have a sense of not belonging, elusive memories of a different, less bounded existence, and a yearning for space that the Outsiders refuse to allow them.
It took two readings to fully appreciate The Waiting Stars, but I was increasingly moved and impressed by it as I did so. It’s highly imaginative in its portrayal of two vastly societies who have clashed with each other in war, both believing they are right. The Outsiders, a Caucasian society, are largely well-meaning but fundamentally lacking in understanding of the Dai Viet, resulting in a paternalistic disapproval that they enforce without consent.
This novelette explores themes of imperialism and cultural deprivation, but does so with a grace and subtlety that is too often lacking in speculative fiction. De Bodard’s nuanced writing helps the reader have understanding and even sympathy for characters on both sides. Even if a decision is right, she recognizes the loss that it may bring.
I stumbled across The Waiting Stars in the June 2017 issue of Clarkesworld magazine, which just reprinted it. Somehow I missed this story when it was first published a few years ago, even though it’s a Nebula winner, so I’m deeply grateful to Clarkesworld for bringing it to my belated attention.
June 24, 2024
4.5★
You can read this story on the author's website.
https://www.aliettedebodard.com/short...
It was very satisfying finally getting back to my very long online reading list. For the rest of the year, I'm going to try to make a dent in it.
For me this short story about beings kidnapped as children was so incredibly sad, feeling Catherine's bewilderment at being in a world where they will never be allowed to fit in.
I admired her final choice.
You can read this story on the author's website.
https://www.aliettedebodard.com/short...
It was very satisfying finally getting back to my very long online reading list. For the rest of the year, I'm going to try to make a dent in it.
For me this short story about beings kidnapped as children was so incredibly sad, feeling Catherine's bewilderment at being in a world where they will never be allowed to fit in.
I admired her final choice.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
July 10, 2014
Not sure what to think of this short story/novelette, which was nominated for a Hugo. The Waiting Stars is on the surface a rather traditional space opera, covering ground even hoary old Asimov covered back in the day ("What if the super-advanced expansionistic galactic empire is kind of evil in that they basically roll over everyone in their path, but you're objectively better off being part of said empire?")
The main character was a member of a spacefaring people called the Dai Viet - i.e., Vietnamese, who are pretty much described as Vietnamese, physically and culturally. The Dai Viet apparently integrated their elders' minds in their ships, making them a sort of cyber-dynasty. The "Galactics" who conquered them and put their smashed ships in orbital graveyards are not explicitly said to be of North American/European descent, but it's pretty implicit.
"Catherine" (the name given to a rescued Dai Viet child, raised in a sort of convent by Galactics who "reeducated" her as a good Galactic citizen) has a nice Galactic boyfriend and a nice life on Prime, until her memories of the past start to come back.
This novelette is obviously heavily allegorical, and while there is some spaceship action, de Bodard seems mostly concerned with the emotional impact of Catherine's uncovering of her heritage, her violation, and the extended clans of the Dai Viet.
It's an interesting and clever and resonant story, but the writing was at times confusing. It moves non-linearly and there is not much resolution. I give it 4 stars for imagery and presentation and plot, 3 stars for prose and originality, so overall, 3.5 stars.
The main character was a member of a spacefaring people called the Dai Viet - i.e., Vietnamese, who are pretty much described as Vietnamese, physically and culturally. The Dai Viet apparently integrated their elders' minds in their ships, making them a sort of cyber-dynasty. The "Galactics" who conquered them and put their smashed ships in orbital graveyards are not explicitly said to be of North American/European descent, but it's pretty implicit.
"Catherine" (the name given to a rescued Dai Viet child, raised in a sort of convent by Galactics who "reeducated" her as a good Galactic citizen) has a nice Galactic boyfriend and a nice life on Prime, until her memories of the past start to come back.
This novelette is obviously heavily allegorical, and while there is some spaceship action, de Bodard seems mostly concerned with the emotional impact of Catherine's uncovering of her heritage, her violation, and the extended clans of the Dai Viet.
It's an interesting and clever and resonant story, but the writing was at times confusing. It moves non-linearly and there is not much resolution. I give it 4 stars for imagery and presentation and plot, 3 stars for prose and originality, so overall, 3.5 stars.
February 5, 2019
Oh god but this was beautiful. Beyond The Tea Master and the Detective this may be my favorite Xuya story. I do recommend being familiar with de Bodard’s Vietnamese scifi universe before reading this short story, because it’ll have so much more impact.
July 28, 2014
Aliette de Bodard’s Xuya short fiction continues to be a universe that I enjoy reading but don’t hanker to return to very often. “The Waiting Stars” continues her heavily figurative style of writing, something that doesn’t always work for me. So my feelings about this story are ambivalent: I want to like it, but I also have to admit it doesn’t appeal to my personal aesthetics.
Lan Nhen and her cousin Cuc are on a mission to retrieve a captured Mindship from the Outsiders. But when they finally find her, they stumble into a mystery far larger and more confusing than they expected. The ships are beaming massive amounts of data back to the Outsiders’ homeworld, Prime … and while the ships themselves live, the Minds are conspicuously absent.
On Prime, de Bodard follows tumultuous events in the life of Catherine, a Dai Viet orphan kidnapped at an early age by the Outsiders. Her Otherness in appearance marks her, and she suffers because of how the Outsiders wiped her childhood memories, a process they deemed “necessary”. One by one, Catherine’s peers have been disappearing, committing suicide … not exactly the kind of things that are conducive to a healthy and stable life.
De Bodard eschews almost all exposition, really forcing you to pay close attention and study the narrative as it unfolds. The link between Catherine’s story and Lan Nhen’s seems nonexistent until the very end, when things finally become clear. The idea that the Outsiders have somehow embodied these ship Minds in human form and tried to install them into their society is intriguing. It’s not clear from this story whether the Outsider claim that the Dai Viet force their women to give birth to Minds is true, or if it’s true, if they accurately depict the process in their propaganda videos. (Stories like “Shipbirth” clear this up, however, see here.) Clearly Lan Nhen and Cuc consider the ship’s Mind a family member, adding an interesting twist to the idea of blood relations and AI.
“The Waiting Stars” isn’t my favourite Xuya story to date. I still really enjoyed “Immersion” and On a Red Station, Drifting . This also has stiffer competition among this year’s Hugo nominees, so I’m not sure I’ll rank this as highly as it might otherwise deserve. It’s one of those stories where I quite like it from a craftsmanship point of view but wouldn’t necessarily put it in my living room, if you know what I mean.
Lan Nhen and her cousin Cuc are on a mission to retrieve a captured Mindship from the Outsiders. But when they finally find her, they stumble into a mystery far larger and more confusing than they expected. The ships are beaming massive amounts of data back to the Outsiders’ homeworld, Prime … and while the ships themselves live, the Minds are conspicuously absent.
On Prime, de Bodard follows tumultuous events in the life of Catherine, a Dai Viet orphan kidnapped at an early age by the Outsiders. Her Otherness in appearance marks her, and she suffers because of how the Outsiders wiped her childhood memories, a process they deemed “necessary”. One by one, Catherine’s peers have been disappearing, committing suicide … not exactly the kind of things that are conducive to a healthy and stable life.
De Bodard eschews almost all exposition, really forcing you to pay close attention and study the narrative as it unfolds. The link between Catherine’s story and Lan Nhen’s seems nonexistent until the very end, when things finally become clear. The idea that the Outsiders have somehow embodied these ship Minds in human form and tried to install them into their society is intriguing. It’s not clear from this story whether the Outsider claim that the Dai Viet force their women to give birth to Minds is true, or if it’s true, if they accurately depict the process in their propaganda videos. (Stories like “Shipbirth” clear this up, however, see here.) Clearly Lan Nhen and Cuc consider the ship’s Mind a family member, adding an interesting twist to the idea of blood relations and AI.
“The Waiting Stars” isn’t my favourite Xuya story to date. I still really enjoyed “Immersion” and On a Red Station, Drifting . This also has stiffer competition among this year’s Hugo nominees, so I’m not sure I’ll rank this as highly as it might otherwise deserve. It’s one of those stories where I quite like it from a craftsmanship point of view but wouldn’t necessarily put it in my living room, if you know what I mean.
May 14, 2018
Two societies clash in space in this sci-fi short story: the Galactics, based on the Western civilization, and the Dai Viet, modeled on the Asian traditions. There is a huge cultural gap between them, and it doesn’t seem that gap could be bridged. While the Galactics praise individual freedoms, for the Dai Viet, family ties constitute the utmost importance: both the living family members and the dead ones. And for those long-dead great-great aunts, the living Dai Viet people are ready to sacrifice their lives and the lives of their relatives.
It feels obscene for me, but then, I’m a member of the Western civilization, a Canadian. I consider individual freedom the most significant human right. I would wither without it. And probably, just as I don’t understand them, they don’t understand people like me. One of the protagonists of the story, the one on the Dai Viet side of the divide, talks about a man, Jason, who represents the Galactics camp:
“...naïve and frank and so terribly sure of what he wants and what he’s ready to do to get it. Dai
Viet society has no place for people like Jason—who do not know their place, who do not know how to be humble, how to accept failure or how to bow down to expediency.”
Yes, that’s us, the best of us. The definition fits like a glove. I hate dividing the world into ‘us’ and ‘them’, but I’m not sure it would be realistic to assume that we are all the same and value the same things. The cultural upbringing makes us into who we are. Sadly, sometimes people perpetrate unimaginable crimes, do very ugly things, to instill their own values in the ‘others’. I could see that done in this story, and I wonder: how far from real life the author stepped in her science fiction universe. I’m afraid not that far.
Aliette de Bodard writes beautifully, and her story invokes strong emotions. But I really don’t like where her imagination takes her readers. The universe she created is very alive, very detailed, and absolutely alien to anyone raised in the Western belief system. I wouldn’t want to live in the Dai Viet world.
It feels obscene for me, but then, I’m a member of the Western civilization, a Canadian. I consider individual freedom the most significant human right. I would wither without it. And probably, just as I don’t understand them, they don’t understand people like me. One of the protagonists of the story, the one on the Dai Viet side of the divide, talks about a man, Jason, who represents the Galactics camp:
“...naïve and frank and so terribly sure of what he wants and what he’s ready to do to get it. Dai
Viet society has no place for people like Jason—who do not know their place, who do not know how to be humble, how to accept failure or how to bow down to expediency.”
Yes, that’s us, the best of us. The definition fits like a glove. I hate dividing the world into ‘us’ and ‘them’, but I’m not sure it would be realistic to assume that we are all the same and value the same things. The cultural upbringing makes us into who we are. Sadly, sometimes people perpetrate unimaginable crimes, do very ugly things, to instill their own values in the ‘others’. I could see that done in this story, and I wonder: how far from real life the author stepped in her science fiction universe. I’m afraid not that far.
Aliette de Bodard writes beautifully, and her story invokes strong emotions. But I really don’t like where her imagination takes her readers. The universe she created is very alive, very detailed, and absolutely alien to anyone raised in the Western belief system. I wouldn’t want to live in the Dai Viet world.
June 19, 2021
i read this while i was deep in the weeds of my dissertation, and y'all i really need to get into aliette de bodard's work because this was gooooooood. a lovely short story about spaceships, diaspora, and cultural assimilation that examines and challenges the inherent colonial assumptions in typical spacefaring sci-fi tropes. i loved it.
May 1, 2021
Aliette de Bodard has penned a truly wonderful and near-perfect story here. Characters, plot, language, ending... everything is as good as it can possibly be. An unforgettable jewel belonging to the Xuya universe, this work deserves to be savoured and cherished with time and love.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
May 4, 2014
AWESOME. Literally. That an author can pack so much information and emotion into a tiny, tiny little story fills me with awe. This is a familiar science fiction standard, re-imagined so freshly, with so many layers and so much depth and intimacy... I love this so much.
March 6, 2019
“Now she was older; old enough to have seen enough things to freeze her blood; old enough to plot her own foolishness, and drag her cousin and her great-great-aunt into it. Older, certainly. Wiser, perhaps; if they were blessed enough to survive.”
Meh. This tale illustrates why winning a Hugo or Nebula is no guarantee of a good story. Not bad, but not that good. Reads like one of those short stories authors rip off to include in anthologies in order to promote their greater series set in the same universe.
“Hey, cousin. Missed me?” “As much as I missed a raging fire.”
Manages to include the required cliché: “Lan Nhen let out a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding.”
“You should have killed us … when you took us from our parents.” “We don’t kill. What do you think we are, monsters from the fairytales, killing and burning everyone who looks different? Of course we’re not like that.” “You erased our memories.” “We had to. They’d have killed you, otherwise.”
Meh. This tale illustrates why winning a Hugo or Nebula is no guarantee of a good story. Not bad, but not that good. Reads like one of those short stories authors rip off to include in anthologies in order to promote their greater series set in the same universe.
“Hey, cousin. Missed me?” “As much as I missed a raging fire.”
Manages to include the required cliché: “Lan Nhen let out a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding.”
“You should have killed us … when you took us from our parents.” “We don’t kill. What do you think we are, monsters from the fairytales, killing and burning everyone who looks different? Of course we’re not like that.” “You erased our memories.” “We had to. They’d have killed you, otherwise.”
June 12, 2014
This short (nominated for the 2014 Hugo for novelette) was hard to follow at first, the plot not telegraphed early on--which threw me off since it's a short work. Fortunately, the author is able to say a lot in few words, and the story begins to blossom when we meet Catherine, who is stuck in an institution, the circumstances unclear as to why she's there or why she yearns to travel out into space. At the same time Lan and her cousin Cuc work to rescue their family spaceship from the Outsiders, who've captured the ships and the Minds that power them. De Bodard weaves a compelling story as we attempt to understand the mystery of Catherine's situation and also the interesting culture of Lan and Cuc. I finished the story feeling like there's so much potential in the world-building--the shortness of "The Waiting Stars" was a disappointment because there was still so much to learn about these fascinating people (not necessarily a bad thing!).
April 4, 2019
Lan Nhen, her cousin Cuc, and a mindship, The Cinnabar Mansions, set out to rescue, or perhaps merely salvage, another mindship, The Turtle's Citadel, lost years previously in a conflict with Outsiders.
Meanwhile, Catherine, Johanna, and other young Dai Viet women on the planet Prime, students at the Institution, are trying to learn to fit in properly in a culture they weren't born to. They are short and dark compared to the locals, and they struggle with memories they're told they don't have. They can't remember anything before about age three due to the traumatic events, they're told.
Gradually, we understand that Lan Nhen considers the Mind of The Turtle's Citadel her great-aunt, and Catherine remembers, dimly but increasingly certainly, a very different body than the one she now inhabits.
This is a very good, intriguing story, with an unexpectedly bittersweet ending.
Recommended.
Meanwhile, Catherine, Johanna, and other young Dai Viet women on the planet Prime, students at the Institution, are trying to learn to fit in properly in a culture they weren't born to. They are short and dark compared to the locals, and they struggle with memories they're told they don't have. They can't remember anything before about age three due to the traumatic events, they're told.
Gradually, we understand that Lan Nhen considers the Mind of The Turtle's Citadel her great-aunt, and Catherine remembers, dimly but increasingly certainly, a very different body than the one she now inhabits.
This is a very good, intriguing story, with an unexpectedly bittersweet ending.
Recommended.
June 11, 2017
The copy I read was part of Galactic Empires, edited by Neil Clarke. Waiting Stars is a novelette about what happens when one culture meets another culture. Especially about the winners and losers. And it reminded me of what happened to Native Americans, when their children were taken and sent to school. At the school, they were not allowed to speak their Native language nor keep Native customs. The whole idea was to conquer the Native Americans by preventing the older generation from passing on their culture to the younger generation. Very much a brute force approach.
Now I want to read more Dai Viet Empire series works (whether short fiction or full novels). Yeah, Vietnamese space opera! This series has Mind-ships (humans who control the ship, rather than an AI). I very much enjoyed this Waiting Stars story and now I want to read On A Red Station Drifting!
Now I want to read more Dai Viet Empire series works (whether short fiction or full novels). Yeah, Vietnamese space opera! This series has Mind-ships (humans who control the ship, rather than an AI). I very much enjoyed this Waiting Stars story and now I want to read On A Red Station Drifting!
May 19, 2014
This story started off slow for me. It jumps between two, seemingly unrelated, points of view. But then, as the story begins to weave itself together you start to realize the connection.
I guessed the ending before it happened, but the moment I guessed it was still incredibly powerful. It was an excellent twist, and came unexpectedly.
This story is definitely worthy of its recent Nebula win.
I guessed the ending before it happened, but the moment I guessed it was still incredibly powerful. It was an excellent twist, and came unexpectedly.
This story is definitely worthy of its recent Nebula win.
June 7, 2014
Well-written and thought-provoking novelette looking at themes of imperialism and cultural deprivation. Not familiar with the setting, though I understand it's one the author has written in before, but it's interesting and attractive. The cast of characters are roughly sketched rather than well-drawn, a function of the length and the need to get two parallel narratives into that space, but this is a minor criticism. Worthy nominee for the Hugos, for sure.
December 10, 2019
Fascinante la Mente, muy interesantes las relaciones entre civilizaciones y unas relaciones familiares de las que quiero saber más.
August 11, 2024
I wish this was longer, the idea is so cool
November 10, 2019
BOOK CLUB #1
Garbage. Complete and utter garbage. Not a single redeeming quality.
Garbage. Complete and utter garbage. Not a single redeeming quality.
June 3, 2014
The Waiting Stars tells two stories. One is of two girls growing up in an orphanage, with no memories of their past. The second tells of an attempt to reach a derelict ship. As the novelette continues, the two storylines are drawn together.
I really enjoyed The Waiting Stars, and this is mostly due to the sympathetic cast of characters. I instantly felt for Catherine, and her feeling that she didn't belong. It took me a little longer into Lan Nhen's storyline, but once I did I was completely drawn into her quest. There are some worldbuilding elements here that are quiet neat. Apparently, this takes place in a universe that the author, Aliette de Bodard, has written in before, but I have never experienced. I like this version of sentient ships, and the two different societies presented here. I saw the ending coming, but still felt that it was emotionally impactful.
The Waiting Stars is short, but powerful. I hope to read more fiction by de Bodard in the future.
I really enjoyed The Waiting Stars, and this is mostly due to the sympathetic cast of characters. I instantly felt for Catherine, and her feeling that she didn't belong. It took me a little longer into Lan Nhen's storyline, but once I did I was completely drawn into her quest. There are some worldbuilding elements here that are quiet neat. Apparently, this takes place in a universe that the author, Aliette de Bodard, has written in before, but I have never experienced. I like this version of sentient ships, and the two different societies presented here. I saw the ending coming, but still felt that it was emotionally impactful.
The Waiting Stars is short, but powerful. I hope to read more fiction by de Bodard in the future.
August 10, 2014
I haven't read anything by Aliette de Bodard before, but I thought this was an excellent short story and I think I'll definitely try to hunt down more of her work. There do seem to be enough plot ideas to justify a longer story, but I think it does work well enough at the shorter length and it does manage to introduce a couple of interesting competing civilisations and a few good characters. There is some interesting ambiguity about the morality of what different characters are trying to do, they are all entirely convinced they are doing the right thing and while in some cases they have clearly ended up doing something indefensible it is debatable whether the other side are entirely in the right either.
October 21, 2015
Part of two small side-quests this year, to read all of the nominees for the short story and novelette categories for the Nebulas and the Hugos last year. Nominated for both in the novelette category, "The Waiting Stars" won the Nebula and was my pick for the Hugo.
This is two stories, only it's not. You realize that through a slow reveal that becomes obvious about 3/4 through the tale, then it's just a matter of how we'll get there and what emotions will the author pull from us on the way. It's often interesting when someone stretches the definition of family in SF. This was a rather cool thought experiment and I wonder how much more the author has written in this universe. I'd like to see more. (Note: there is more, just look for "The Universe of Xuya".)
This is two stories, only it's not. You realize that through a slow reveal that becomes obvious about 3/4 through the tale, then it's just a matter of how we'll get there and what emotions will the author pull from us on the way. It's often interesting when someone stretches the definition of family in SF. This was a rather cool thought experiment and I wonder how much more the author has written in this universe. I'd like to see more. (Note: there is more, just look for "The Universe of Xuya".)
April 18, 2016
This is my favourite of the stories I have read this year so far. Beautiful and subversive.
It features the vast spaciness and expansive imagination I love so much in Space Opera, technological societies in which anything is possible, limitless freedom, action and suspense. But wrapped in this optimistic format is a hard lesson about consent and identity, about love between quite different life forms and about hard choices. Leading a normal, happy life or embracing your nature, hard as it may be? This question very much spoke to me.
As an aside, it also got me interested in Vietnamese history. There is an entire world waiting for me about which I knew hardly anything. So exciting!
It features the vast spaciness and expansive imagination I love so much in Space Opera, technological societies in which anything is possible, limitless freedom, action and suspense. But wrapped in this optimistic format is a hard lesson about consent and identity, about love between quite different life forms and about hard choices. Leading a normal, happy life or embracing your nature, hard as it may be? This question very much spoke to me.
As an aside, it also got me interested in Vietnamese history. There is an entire world waiting for me about which I knew hardly anything. So exciting!
June 1, 2014
I am debating on this one. The writing was killer and the appearance of so many well-rounded, female characters in a work of this length (and in science fiction, no less) was not lost on me. Maybe I am missing a bit of the background, the WHY of the story, from not reading anything else by this author. If so, that is the only thing that is holding me back from wholly enjoying this. I found myself mulling it over long after finishing the story, which is always the mark of a successful shorter work.
August 30, 2015
The issue I have with any story where two seemingly disparate narratives are being told simultaneously is that one of the main concerns of the mind becomes ‘how are they connected?’ Plot, character, all the other myriad of elements which make up a successful short story lose some of their importance as one tries to work out the mystery at the dead centre.
I suppose this tale isn’t too hard to figure out, but I’m not going to hold that against it, as once the central conceit is solved it makes room for an affecting and sad galaxy-spanning yarn.
I suppose this tale isn’t too hard to figure out, but I’m not going to hold that against it, as once the central conceit is solved it makes room for an affecting and sad galaxy-spanning yarn.
February 4, 2016
Start slow, but builds to thought provoking commentary on the morality of an imperial culture imposing its morality on its conquests.
July 13, 2014
Another great story from Bodard.
July 26, 2014
This was a very melancholy story. It left me on such a strange note that I with just one reading am hard pressed to figure out what to think about it.
February 11, 2018
I think it was a good idea with some nice bits, but I didn't like the underdeveloped worldbuilding and rush pace.
May 6, 2020
You can find this free to read at Aliette's website.
Another Nebula, Locus and Hugo finalist from Aliette, and having just finished reading it one can see why it was a finalist: very good indeed.
But quickly back to our previous two books, The Weight of a Blessing and Memorials , where i was utterly confused as to what any of it had to do with the Xuya universe, well, in this story they kind of join up a bit. The Galactics from our previous two books have been shooting up mind ships from the Vietnamese and taking them away and putting them in a grave yard in space, and this is the story of one the families of one of those mind ships going to reclaim their relative. The book begins with a lot of unknowns for a lot of people, memories missing, ships missing, ship minds damaged or dead, places in the galaxy that the Vietnamese aren't allowed because they're Galactic territory but they're only filled with shot down mind ships.
As the story goes on, things reveal themselves and gain focus until everyone in the story and you, the reader, realises the truth.
Like those previous two books which were great to read in and of themselves, this is likewise, a brilliant read; but -- and it's a big fat BUT -- who are these Galactics? Where did these Galactics come from? What's their place in all of this story? Why are they so against the mind ships and the Vietnamese? Me thinks there are some books that need writing explaining this. Or maybe things will be revealed as we read the last few books of Xuya?
That all said, we're now off to read A Slow Unfurling of Truth .
Another Nebula, Locus and Hugo finalist from Aliette, and having just finished reading it one can see why it was a finalist: very good indeed.
But quickly back to our previous two books, The Weight of a Blessing and Memorials , where i was utterly confused as to what any of it had to do with the Xuya universe, well, in this story they kind of join up a bit. The Galactics from our previous two books have been shooting up mind ships from the Vietnamese and taking them away and putting them in a grave yard in space, and this is the story of one the families of one of those mind ships going to reclaim their relative. The book begins with a lot of unknowns for a lot of people, memories missing, ships missing, ship minds damaged or dead, places in the galaxy that the Vietnamese aren't allowed because they're Galactic territory but they're only filled with shot down mind ships.
As the story goes on, things reveal themselves and gain focus until everyone in the story and you, the reader, realises the truth.
Like those previous two books which were great to read in and of themselves, this is likewise, a brilliant read; but -- and it's a big fat BUT -- who are these Galactics? Where did these Galactics come from? What's their place in all of this story? Why are they so against the mind ships and the Vietnamese? Me thinks there are some books that need writing explaining this. Or maybe things will be revealed as we read the last few books of Xuya?
That all said, we're now off to read A Slow Unfurling of Truth .
November 6, 2019
This is why scifi exists! I've been waiting all my life for stories like this. Utterly beautiful and heartbreaking detailing the horrendous practice white people have done of taking children from their families and trying to distill a hatred and ignorance of their own culture wrapped up in a beautiful sci-fi setting. Highly recommended.
This story is free on her website http://aliettedebodard.com/short-stor...
This story is free on her website http://aliettedebodard.com/short-stor...
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