A review by kiyajade
The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

A poorly executed Sci-Fi. Here are just a few of my issues:

Xích Si is a bot maker, brought into the main plot because of her expertise. Bots are present throughout the story, crawling all over people and ‘helping them’ but their uses (and limitations) are not defined. Xích Si’s expertise is also never truly defined; shouldn’t her bots be somehow superior to the people around her to demonstrate the so called expertise?

The world building was extremely lacking. I felt as though I had missed the first episode of a series, thrown into a quickie wedding that had both of our main characters catching feelings for each other by page 27. One succinct opening chapter could have set the world up so much better. 

Xích Si is told when she joins Rice Fish, that this is her new life and her 6 year old daughter cannot be a part of it. She has already come to terms with this and accepts that she will watch her daughter from afar but as soon as her daughter is in danger… yea bring her aboard, no worries. Huh?

…overuse of the word demonstrably.

The term ‘centiday’ introduced on page 250 and used multiple times in the following 10 pages when time seemed relevant enough to the author to be measured?

The sentient ship, Rice Fish, feels immense pain when the ship is hit. Why has she been programmed to feel injury as pain? What mechanisms are causing that? She can also cry?