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atlastheninth's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I'd say this book is world-builing first, plot second and characters last. And the world building is superb, I absolutely adore it. But I'm a character first kind of person so I was left a bit wanting :(
bogwitchreads's review against another edition
2.75
The concept of this sounds so bonkers I was excited to read this, and I really wanted to love it, but alas, I just did not care about anything that happened in this book. In fairness to it, I read it immediately after a book I wound up loving an unhinged amount, and I always struggle with the next book I read after those sorts of favorites. Maybe if I read it at a different time, I would have enjoyed this the way I wanted to. Honestly, though, I'm not entirely convinced I would.
The main thing is the timeline felt so weird. At one point, Xich Si said she loved Rice Fish, and out loud I shouted "where?" I could have sworn it had only been like a week, based on how it felt to me, but then it turned out it had been several months? I don't mind relationships that develop quickly, but it just didn't feel like they ever really liked each other.
In general, I just really struggled to get invested, which also makes it hard to analyze anything about it. Did the politics make sense? Were the character arcs consistent? Who knows? Not me. There were things I enjoyed (I genuinely loved the attention given to the characters' language and how they addressed everyone, and the concept is so fun), and I'm not necessarily opposed to reading another Aliette de Bodard book because maybe it was just my mood, or maybe it was just this book, but man, I did not enjoy my experience here.
The main thing is the timeline felt so weird. At one point, Xich Si said she loved Rice Fish, and out loud I shouted "where?" I could have sworn it had only been like a week, based on how it felt to me, but then it turned out it had been several months? I don't mind relationships that develop quickly, but it just didn't feel like they ever really liked each other.
In general, I just really struggled to get invested, which also makes it hard to analyze anything about it. Did the politics make sense? Were the character arcs consistent? Who knows? Not me. There were things I enjoyed (I genuinely loved the attention given to the characters' language and how they addressed everyone, and the concept is so fun), and I'm not necessarily opposed to reading another Aliette de Bodard book because maybe it was just my mood, or maybe it was just this book, but man, I did not enjoy my experience here.
scorpling's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
A way too slow start which make me almost not want to finish reading, so I procrastinated reading it. After being done with the first half, the book got quite alright.
timinbc's review against another edition
4.0
If you haven't read anything else in the Xuya setting, it might be a good idea to get a short story or The Tea Master and the Detective first. But not essential.
And it's a mindship book, so there are three stars before I even start.
Warnings: (a) this is a tough setting and tough things happen. (b) Not for the first time in Xuya, everyone's pronoun seems to be she/her. We are never quite sure whether this is just the inverse of our own 1950s use of "he" for a generic human, or the tip of the iceberg of a world where childbirth, sex, and gender are done/viewed very differently. Not even a they/them, as I recall.
I have read some of the less positive comments here, and I see where they are coming from. But I choose to think AdeB did all this on purpose and go with the benefit of the doubt. For example, yes,
Xich and Fish hook up far too quickly. After reading the rest of the story, I think it's because they were both desperately needy but didn't realize it yet. Their logic circuits argued against the hookup but the inner brains knew.
And ripping Xich out of her life? For me, AdeB did a good job of establishing that both characters have found themselves suddenly in a total change of situation where status quo is just gone forever. We can see that for many people in this world, this will happen several times - if they survive.
Likewise, AdeB has created a system that's temporarily stable under tension, but not permanently, and shows us exactly what might tear it apart, and how. I especially like the way we see several of the pirates (and the Censor) admitting that they could see the unsustainability of their life situation, but couldn't see a way out of it.
Does the Censor - originally shown as a Mean, Nasty, fundamentalist but later as something else -represent us, as AdeB gives the "there's a way out of this" decision to her?
So ... they fall in love (of course) and there's a crisis-and-it-looks-as-if-it's-all-over (of course, c'mon, it's a romance!) and then a resolution at below the earlier boiling point. I liked the way that went, with each of them learning how and why they weren't emotionally ready to commit, and recognizing/accepting their needs.
I'm a mid-70's white male, I've read thousands of SF books (many in the old sexist shoot-em-up mode) and perhaps dozens of romances. But I liked this one for the romance. The SF is great (if a little handwavey) in the setting, but the plot is generic and vague -- and that's exactly what was needed so the story stays about the people.
The cover is great, but reminds us that for all the elegance of AdeB's frequent and detailed descriptions, they aren't (for me anyway) easy to visualize. How big are the bots? What do they do? How many does each person have? How about a novella with illustrations?
I really like the idea that a mindship/shipmind can be a 99.99% human AND a giant computerized system at the same time. We gots avatars and instances and holograms and zillions of bots, and I suspect AdeB's decision to skim over the details is a smart one, because one touch of that swamp's gonna drag us all down.
I call on the SF community to appoint a couple of superstars to sit down together and write "From R U R to R2D2 to Rice Fish," the Mindship story. Reference will be made the The Ship Who Sang,, HAL, Neal Asher (with a cameo by Spider the war drone), Anne Leckie's Breq, and nearly all the work of Iain M. Banks. The documentary will be supported by short stories and novellas, and then by a blockbuster called "Mindship College," at which Headmaster Breq and her faculty identify candidates and take them through becoming a shipmind.
Hmm, maybe not deBodard AND Leckie together; we might well find out that Dark Matter is just tea.
Anyway, I liked this a lot. But opinions are divided. Why not go see for yourself?
And it's a mindship book, so there are three stars before I even start.
Warnings: (a) this is a tough setting and tough things happen. (b) Not for the first time in Xuya, everyone's pronoun seems to be she/her. We are never quite sure whether this is just the inverse of our own 1950s use of "he" for a generic human, or the tip of the iceberg of a world where childbirth, sex, and gender are done/viewed very differently. Not even a they/them, as I recall.
I have read some of the less positive comments here, and I see where they are coming from. But I choose to think AdeB did all this on purpose and go with the benefit of the doubt. For example, yes,
Xich and Fish hook up far too quickly. After reading the rest of the story, I think it's because they were both desperately needy but didn't realize it yet. Their logic circuits argued against the hookup but the inner brains knew.
And ripping Xich out of her life? For me, AdeB did a good job of establishing that both characters have found themselves suddenly in a total change of situation where status quo is just gone forever. We can see that for many people in this world, this will happen several times - if they survive.
Likewise, AdeB has created a system that's temporarily stable under tension, but not permanently, and shows us exactly what might tear it apart, and how. I especially like the way we see several of the pirates (and the Censor) admitting that they could see the unsustainability of their life situation, but couldn't see a way out of it.
Does the Censor - originally shown as a Mean, Nasty, fundamentalist but later as something else -represent us, as AdeB gives the "there's a way out of this" decision to her?
So ... they fall in love (of course) and there's a crisis-and-it-looks-as-if-it's-all-over (of course, c'mon, it's a romance!) and then a resolution at below the earlier boiling point. I liked the way that went, with each of them learning how and why they weren't emotionally ready to commit, and recognizing/accepting their needs.
I'm a mid-70's white male, I've read thousands of SF books (many in the old sexist shoot-em-up mode) and perhaps dozens of romances. But I liked this one for the romance. The SF is great (if a little handwavey) in the setting, but the plot is generic and vague -- and that's exactly what was needed so the story stays about the people.
The cover is great, but reminds us that for all the elegance of AdeB's frequent and detailed descriptions, they aren't (for me anyway) easy to visualize. How big are the bots? What do they do? How many does each person have? How about a novella with illustrations?
I really like the idea that a mindship/shipmind can be a 99.99% human AND a giant computerized system at the same time. We gots avatars and instances and holograms and zillions of bots, and I suspect AdeB's decision to skim over the details is a smart one, because one touch of that swamp's gonna drag us all down.
I call on the SF community to appoint a couple of superstars to sit down together and write "From R U R to R2D2 to Rice Fish," the Mindship story. Reference will be made the The Ship Who Sang,, HAL, Neal Asher (with a cameo by Spider the war drone), Anne Leckie's Breq, and nearly all the work of Iain M. Banks. The documentary will be supported by short stories and novellas, and then by a blockbuster called "Mindship College," at which Headmaster Breq and her faculty identify candidates and take them through becoming a shipmind.
Hmm, maybe not deBodard AND Leckie together; we might well find out that Dark Matter is just tea.
Anyway, I liked this a lot. But opinions are divided. Why not go see for yourself?
ribbenkast's review against another edition
The SciFi book club I am in picked this out and I really wanted to like it. Because I talked to friends who already finished it, I went in expecting more of a romance with a SciFi backdrop instead of a full SciFi book but even that couldn't really save it.
The pacing was off from the get go, the romance wasn't slow burn but instead just long winded. I gathered that the author has other books in this setting, but the setting does nothing for the plot. The fact that Rice Fish is not human doesn't seem to matter at all. This book and setting has so many interesting things to explore, even in terms of romance, which are immediately skipped over for a generic romantasy plot.
For two days I dreaded picking up this book wishing I was reading anything else. And maybe I stopped digging right before I hit diamonds. And sorry to my friends who did enjoy it, but life's too short to read books you don't enjoy. So I'm skipping this one.
The pacing was off from the get go, the romance wasn't slow burn but instead just long winded. I gathered that the author has other books in this setting, but the setting does nothing for the plot. The fact that Rice Fish is not human doesn't seem to matter at all. This book and setting has so many interesting things to explore, even in terms of romance, which are immediately skipped over for a generic romantasy plot.
For two days I dreaded picking up this book wishing I was reading anything else. And maybe I stopped digging right before I hit diamonds. And sorry to my friends who did enjoy it, but life's too short to read books you don't enjoy. So I'm skipping this one.
rororollinginthedeep's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
littlelynn's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
jgilge's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Found myself bored and unable to connect or get into the book at all