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A review by chirson
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
4.0
I received the ebook ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a review.
This is a Sherlock Holmes in space. Sherlock is a woman, and Watson is a spaceship (or, more precisely, the organic mind of one). When I first heard of this, I was quite interested to see the result, and I was right to be curious. The idea is fascinating, and it is mostly done justice. The worldbuilding in particular was engrossing and beautifully rendered; there are quite a few passages about the deep space that were both poetic and evocative. There was just something about the style that appealed to me, that I connected with on the level of language. In addition, I found the characters to be constructed with care and attention. This short novella offers glimpses into them, but these glimpses are enough to make one feel for the characters.
In short: four stars on science fiction front, four stars on writing of characters. The only complaint I have is that this didn't really have a "working" mystery. I don't remember original Sherlock Holmes novels and stories well enough to compare, but here there's a lot about the world that the reader doesn't know (particularly one like me, who hasn't read any other Xuya novels) and not much by way of clues or misdirections. We don't know things and then we learn them; not much space for making guesses. (And the other minor mystery is pretty obvious.)
But this may be simply an issue for me, or for a first part of a potential new series. Either way, I enjoyed a lot about the reading and would quite like to read more of Xuya at some point.
This is a Sherlock Holmes in space. Sherlock is a woman, and Watson is a spaceship (or, more precisely, the organic mind of one). When I first heard of this, I was quite interested to see the result, and I was right to be curious. The idea is fascinating, and it is mostly done justice. The worldbuilding in particular was engrossing and beautifully rendered; there are quite a few passages about the deep space that were both poetic and evocative. There was just something about the style that appealed to me, that I connected with on the level of language. In addition, I found the characters to be constructed with care and attention. This short novella offers glimpses into them, but these glimpses are enough to make one feel for the characters.
In short: four stars on science fiction front, four stars on writing of characters. The only complaint I have is that this didn't really have a "working" mystery. I don't remember original Sherlock Holmes novels and stories well enough to compare, but here there's a lot about the world that the reader doesn't know (particularly one like me, who hasn't read any other Xuya novels) and not much by way of clues or misdirections. We don't know things and then we learn them; not much space for making guesses. (And the other minor mystery is pretty obvious.)
But this may be simply an issue for me, or for a first part of a potential new series. Either way, I enjoyed a lot about the reading and would quite like to read more of Xuya at some point.