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A review by nghia
Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard
4.0
I have a bumpy relationship with de Bodard's novellas (I haven't read any of her full books yet). She's basically the only person regularly writing any Vietnamese-inspired genre fiction, so that's a big plus. And I almost always like her ideas. But I often find the execution a bit lacking. Especially most of the things around relationships, which often feel rushed and forced, without the depth that makes them feel real. [b:Fireheart Tiger|53317495|Fireheart Tiger|Aliette de Bodard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1613123818l/53317495._SY75_.jpg|81650778] was pretty bad on this front, for instance.
Seven of Infinities is an example where everything works. The relationship feels more natural. When two strangers spend only a few hours/days together it is always hard to swallow it as "true love". Here it comes across more as mutual attraction, "hey, they're pretty interesting", yeah let's explore a relationship and see where it goes. Which works.
This is set in her Xuya universe, a science fictional future where Chinese and Vietnamese empires took over the world in an alternate history and eventually launched space empires. The most interesting part of it is how she laces traditional Confucian ancestor worship with high-tech: what if you could get copies of your important ancestors digitally implanted in your brain so they could offer advice?
There's a kind of murder-mystery in Seven of Infinities but it isn't really the focus. This isn't a whodunnit. The murder is just what shakes up the status quo and gets our two characters -- both of them stuck in a life that they've convinced themselves they're actually happy with -- to begin to reevaluate and question what kind of life and future they actually want for themselves.
Seven of Infinities is an example where everything works. The relationship feels more natural. When two strangers spend only a few hours/days together it is always hard to swallow it as "true love". Here it comes across more as mutual attraction, "hey, they're pretty interesting", yeah let's explore a relationship and see where it goes. Which works.
This is set in her Xuya universe, a science fictional future where Chinese and Vietnamese empires took over the world in an alternate history and eventually launched space empires. The most interesting part of it is how she laces traditional Confucian ancestor worship with high-tech: what if you could get copies of your important ancestors digitally implanted in your brain so they could offer advice?
There's a kind of murder-mystery in Seven of Infinities but it isn't really the focus. This isn't a whodunnit. The murder is just what shakes up the status quo and gets our two characters -- both of them stuck in a life that they've convinced themselves they're actually happy with -- to begin to reevaluate and question what kind of life and future they actually want for themselves.