Reviews

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette de Bodard

cinnamonandpancakes's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I didn't find this story very gripping, which is probably why it took me quite so long to finish it, despite it being a fascinating mystery. That being said, being more gripping would probably take away from the style and story being told. Some stories are by nature slow and this is one of them. I personally would have preferred more worldbuilding but I don't think that's necessarily a flaw, just a personal preference.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicide, and Death of parent

A parent is emotionally neglectful of a child. Past forced pregnancy.

slipstream's review

4.0

Not as good as some of the other Xuya stories, but still quite good

jjreads331's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

houdini117's review

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

adi_greif's review against another edition

4.0

Refreshing sci-fi with female leads, interesting concept for what makes intelligent spaceships. Mostly a discussion of loss.

lauralauralaura's review

4.0

I fell hard down the rabbit hole of de Bodard's Xuya Universe this weekend. These novellas go down smooth. This is the one with the crazy time travel and the intergalactic war.

a_h_haga's review against another edition

1.0

Review written on my phone, so sorry for any mistakes.

I picked this one up because I've heard a lot of good about the author. Unfortunatly, she wasn't for me. Her writing style was, for me, messy and a bit all over the place. There were way too many characters, and I didn't have time to connect or care about any of them. If she'd dropped 1 or 2 of the POVs, that might have been different.

As it was, I thought the story was too long and not interesting.

dreamreader's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

manolitagafotas's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

daelly's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0