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A review by elusivity
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
4.0
A pastiche of Sherlock Holmes and Watson in space-faring Asian-inspired empire. Vietnamese, in this case. In this world, space travel occurs via deep space, a place of unreality that ships travel through that skips through time and distances in normal space. Shipminds, human mind-equivalent of AI, can drive through it, but humans require carefully-created teas that manipulated their personality /emotions in order to help them endure the trip.
The tea master is a shipmind, The Shadow's Child, who suffered a trauma in deep space and could not return to it, even to make some real money for her own repairs. Long Chau, the logical but socially awkward consulting detective, pays for her services for a trip into deep space to find a body that shouldn't have been there.
This story was quite enjoyable, with tantalizing hints into the Xuya universe. I look forward to finding out more about it.
The tea master is a shipmind, The Shadow's Child, who suffered a trauma in deep space and could not return to it, even to make some real money for her own repairs. Long Chau, the logical but socially awkward consulting detective, pays for her services for a trip into deep space to find a body that shouldn't have been there.
This story was quite enjoyable, with tantalizing hints into the Xuya universe. I look forward to finding out more about it.