A review by laurareads87
A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

 A Fire Born in Exile is the latest installment in Aliette de Bodard’s Xuya Universe series, a collection of works of varying lengths set in a Vietnamese-inspired space opera future where sentient mindships and humans live as family. Having previously enjoyed quite a few works from this universe and having seen this novel described as “a sapphic Count of Monte Cristo set in space,” I was very excited to pick this up. 
The worldbuilding in this series is consistently excellent, and while the works share a setting they do function as standalones so there is no need to have read prior Xuya installments to enjoy this novel, which may be my favourite in the series thusfar. A Fire Born in Exile combines mastermind scheming, revenge plots, shifting motivations, complicated familial relationships, and a fantastic cast of characters. 
Thank you to the author, Independent Publishers Group, JAB Books, and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC for review. 
Content warnings: violence, torture (not graphic / off page), war (background context / off page), emotional abuse 
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