Reviews

The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard

thedisreputabledog's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

emilyrandolph_epstein's review against another edition

5.0

A brilliant reimagining of Sherlock Holmes wherein Holmes is a woman and Watson is a female sentient space ship. De Bodard's prose is lush and vivid and her characterization is perfection. I hope we get to see more of this particular pair of partners in detection.

rosieclaverton's review against another edition

4.0

Gorgeous novella inspired by Holmes & Watson and East Asian traditions. The worldbuilding feels effortless and isn't overexplained. I devoured it.

mary_soon_lee's review against another edition

4.0

"The Tea Master and the Detective" is one of the six nominees for the 2018 Nebula Award in the novella category. It's an elegant variation on Holmes and Watson set in a science fiction future, where Holmes is a woman and Watson a shipmind. I found the central character (the shipmind) both sympathetic and engaging, the Vietnamese cultural elements pleasing, and the whole story a most agreeable diversion. It didn't rivet me, but it entertained me very well. Recommended.

N.B. I have long been partial to characters who are brainships/shipminds, from my first exposure via Helva in Anne McCaffrey's "The Ship Who Sang," through to Ann Leckie's "Ancillary Justice." I was therefore very happy to discover that two of this year's Nebula novella nominees involve such characters, the other one (ART) being found in Martha Well's marvellous "Artificial Condition."

anast1650's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

_ash0_'s review against another edition

3.0

I loved the world, the setting and the characters. I wish it were longer as there was not much time for world building due to which a lot of things left unexplained. I liked the characters too. I expected the characters to resemble those from Sherlock Holmes but not to this much extent. Long Chau is exactly like Sherlock in terms of everything and Dr Watson is a mind ship who has suffered trauma in the past where her entire crew got killed. The case that they solve looked pretty trivial but I hope we get to see more of these characters. I wasn’t that impressed with the writing style though.

monkeyreader's review

mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

raekit's review

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

4.75

showell's review

3.0

BookRiot describes this book as "basically space Sherlock Holmes where the ship is Dr. Watson," and that seems largely accurate. (link to BookRiot's review: https://bookriot.com/?p=250958)

However, this book had a lot of world-building and as a result, a less meaty mystery than I usually like. That said, I'm glad I read it, and would read more of them if de Bodard decides to write them. The premise is pretty great, and now that the bulk of the world-building is done, future books might have more room to develop the mystery side of things.

istaisa's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25