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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I'm so glad for goodreads, because before starting this review, I didn't realize "On a Red Station, Drifting" was a part of a larger de Bodard series, the Xuya universe. I think the story works fine as a standalone but it is nice to know that bits and pieces might be picked up in other stories; things unresolvable in the space of a novella might come back.
I listened to the audiobook because it's done by Emily Woo Zeller and once you find a good reader, you have to follow them. She's very good at voices as well! A light quibble in that I occasionally had trouble noticing that there was a POV switch; the text usually made it pretty clear, given that Linh and Quyen have very different opinions and priorities, but I had a few moments of "what who?"
I thought the story was interesting, the conflicts well-developed, the emotional journeys of the characters (internally) a pleasure to follow - the grief and powerlessness of Linh followed by her stubbornness (for good or for ill); the insecurity of Quyen paired with her desperation to get things right when resources are running through her fingers.
Highlights: Poetry Dinner (REVENGE poetry); imagery; strong sense of culture and guiding principles that people move with or rankle under. The symbolism (related to the imagery). I like when the conflict and the plot is guided by subtle movements and images.
Lowlights: The emotional journey between the two leads (Quyen and Linh) wasn't as fluid as their own internal journeys; they both see each other so strongly as the villain, which is great, but I feel like it needed more setup? They see each other as so flat, when we have their full internality? I'm not sure.
I listened to the audiobook because it's done by Emily Woo Zeller and once you find a good reader, you have to follow them. She's very good at voices as well! A light quibble in that I occasionally had trouble noticing that there was a POV switch; the text usually made it pretty clear, given that Linh and Quyen have very different opinions and priorities, but I had a few moments of "what who?"
I thought the story was interesting, the conflicts well-developed, the emotional journeys of the characters (internally) a pleasure to follow - the grief and powerlessness of Linh followed by her stubbornness (for good or for ill); the insecurity of Quyen paired with her desperation to get things right when resources are running through her fingers.
Highlights: Poetry Dinner (REVENGE poetry); imagery; strong sense of culture and guiding principles that people move with or rankle under. The symbolism (related to the imagery). I like when the conflict and the plot is guided by subtle movements and images.
Lowlights: The emotional journey between the two leads (Quyen and Linh) wasn't as fluid as their own internal journeys; they both see each other so strongly as the villain, which is great, but I feel like it needed more setup? They see each other as so flat, when we have their full internality? I'm not sure.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Are not friends and sworn brothers as important as blood-brothers? A true friend will know your heart, and hear the roar of running waters and the distant wind over the mountains in the song of your zither, without any need for you to speak aloud.
There is a thing that happens to me quite often while reading Aliette de Bodard's book... I latch onto the wrong thing! This book is perfectly fine and quite good, possibly great, but... for some reason my brain was in a mystery setting and once the mem-plants disappeared I had my conspiracy hat on wondering what could have happened, who else could have been involved and... yeah, that wasn't what this book wanted me to focus on! I'm wondering if it's a spoiler to tell you that stuff is more or less what it seems to be at the beginning. What happened isn't really the question, the question is... well, saying "why?" would also be misleading... This book is interested in characters and the way their personalities clash and the plot is more about uncovering and showing different aspects of those people than it is about what's actually happening. Which won't be for everyone, but I loved it (when I stopped focusing on my theories!). Anyway, part of me thinks that this book could have pulled what it was doing while also adding/strengthening the mystery part, but... that's just what I want not what the book was going for in the first place.
Anyway, so moving on from that, this book has two POV characters Quyen and Lady Linh, both of whom are very different from one another, don't particularly like each other, make mistakes, but also are relatable in a lot of ways.
The book starts with Lady Linh arriving on Prosper station which is inhabited by her distant relatives. Linh is in some sense a war refugee but she is also considered traitor by the Empire for publishing a memo that criticized Emperor's actions or lack thereof. For me, Linh was hard to like in places, she is highly educated and as a result holds higher position in society than most/all inhabitants of Prosper station. She is very aware of that and acts and thinks accordingly. But the strength of her character and her willingness to call-out wrong behaviour in people more powerful than her is something to be admired.
"Child?" the Honoured Ancestress said. The transce-link was tinged with sadness, like unshed tears. "Will you find it, daughter? It... it means much to me."
"Daughter. The emphasis was unmistakable. Quyen thought of herself a decade ago: a frightened young girl just off the ship, praying that her husband would be kind; and of the strange sheen rising around her, the all-encompassing embrace that took her in, and asked nothing back. Nothing, save her love and piety; and were they not such a small price to pay?
Quyen on the other hand, I loved. Although she is currently (more or less) leading the Prosper station it's not something that she was raised and educated to do. She was a "lesser" partner in her marriage (something that's not related to gender but education and what we might call academic excellence, although it also has some cultural specifics), but when most of the "greater" partners from Prosper station left to take their place in war and didn't come back this responsibility fell to her.
I also found her relationship with Honoured Ancestress especially touching. Hounoured Ancestress is the name of the mind of Prosper station and her relationship with Quyen was beautiful, but also something in danger due to malfunctions that shouldn't be possible for mindships.
In the end, I feel like I wasn't always on the same wavelength with this one. I had a couple of "what are you trying to say?!" moments, but I don't really want to held it against this book, because I feel like this is at least partially because as I already said at the beginning, I was focusing on wrong aspects in the first half and also because these types of questions are re-read material!
Overall, I do agree with the opinion that this is a good place to start with the Xuya Universe, a lot of worldbuilding is laid here, things are explained and there are only two POVs to follow without any more complicated structure. This probably isn't my personal favourite, I still think that some of the short-stories in this universe are the strongest, but it is pretty good. Definitely will be re-reading in the future!
P.S. In case you finished the book and are dissatisfied with the place we abandoned Lady Linh's story, pick up The Citadel of Weeping Pearls, you will learn what happened there!
BRed at WBtM: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First line:
Linh arrived on Prosper Station blown by the winds of war, amidst a ship full of refugees who huddled together, speaking tearfully of the invading armies: the war between the rebel lords and the Empire had escalated, and their war-kites had laid waste to entire planets.
Nominated for multiple industry awards, "On a Red Station, Drifting" is worthy indeed of the accolades it's received. Brilliant Vietnamese-tinged space opera filled with an empire at war with rebellious generals, sentient space stations that house the memories of revered ancestors, and poet-administrators gifted with ancestor implants. The characters are complex, the plot is intricate, and there are apparently many, many short stories that work together to create this elaborate universe.
I'm beyond pleased to have found this author. Very recommended.
Second read, 23 February 2025
Just as powerful as before, but perhaps even better, as now I am much more familiar with Bodard's style of writing, her character relationships, and her sense of wonder and grief and familial piety that seems to infuse everything she writes, whether it's a magical Paris or a futuristic Viet society in space. This is a great novella to start her Universe of Xuya stories.
Linh arrived on Prosper Station blown by the winds of war, amidst a ship full of refugees who huddled together, speaking tearfully of the invading armies: the war between the rebel lords and the Empire had escalated, and their war-kites had laid waste to entire planets.
Nominated for multiple industry awards, "On a Red Station, Drifting" is worthy indeed of the accolades it's received. Brilliant Vietnamese-tinged space opera filled with an empire at war with rebellious generals, sentient space stations that house the memories of revered ancestors, and poet-administrators gifted with ancestor implants. The characters are complex, the plot is intricate, and there are apparently many, many short stories that work together to create this elaborate universe.
I'm beyond pleased to have found this author. Very recommended.
Second read, 23 February 2025
Just as powerful as before, but perhaps even better, as now I am much more familiar with Bodard's style of writing, her character relationships, and her sense of wonder and grief and familial piety that seems to infuse everything she writes, whether it's a magical Paris or a futuristic Viet society in space. This is a great novella to start her Universe of Xuya stories.
On a Red Station, Drifting is an interesting novella set in the Xuya universe which has a ton of stories set in it including The Tea Master and the Detective which I've read previously. While the focus is on one space station slowly going to rack and ruin you can feel there has been a vast amount of world-building in the background; thankfully the story itself is self-contained enough that I didn't feel like I didn't understand anything despite only reading one other story in the universe.
The reason the story is so good is how different it s to anything else I've read in the genre. There is a vast war going on but rather than focusing on the battle the book focuses on those left behind. The refugees and those people trying to hold everything together while the best and brightest are ff fighting.
Like the other Aliette de Bodard books I've read the world is filled with interesting eastern culture that is used really effectively to flesh out the characters and drive the central conflict of the book.
On a Red Station, Drifting is a small but powerful story in the Xuya universe that starts slowly but really creeps up on you; by the end you'll be dying to find out more about this fascinating world.
The reason the story is so good is how different it s to anything else I've read in the genre. There is a vast war going on but rather than focusing on the battle the book focuses on those left behind. The refugees and those people trying to hold everything together while the best and brightest are ff fighting.
Like the other Aliette de Bodard books I've read the world is filled with interesting eastern culture that is used really effectively to flesh out the characters and drive the central conflict of the book.
On a Red Station, Drifting is a small but powerful story in the Xuya universe that starts slowly but really creeps up on you; by the end you'll be dying to find out more about this fascinating world.
This was really good, I flew through it, and it also confirms that I love Emily Woo Zeller as an audiobook narrator
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really engaging family dynamics, fascinating hints at power/technology/social development in this far future vision. I enjoyed the different perspectives presented and the way they played off each other.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a complex tale of political and familial intrigue set on a distant space station, part of an empire that encompasses many inhabited worlds and space outposts. The characters are interestingly of Vietnamese descent. Frankly, I had a hard time following the plot; I don’t know if this is part of a series or a novel excerpt, but there seemed to be background information that was missing. The writing style is excellent.