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A review by lanko
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette de Bodard
4.0
A Sci-Fi novella with plenty of interesting ideas.
When Emperors and Empresses die, their memory becomes data and all previous rulers that ever existed serve the new one. So you have this gigantic council composed of past Emperors and Empresses. Also, it doesn't matter how successful or how the ruler died. There was an Emperor who was poisoned at eight and is there in the council. Pretty cool.
Women can give birth to... ships. Yea, seriously. A special type of ship, called Mindship, a ship with consciousness. They are not totally AI, they fully understand emotions and call their mothers and fathers, get angry and fearful, and so on. Of course, they are also very powerful in the Empire's military, though not all of them serve in the army.
The Empire is at the brink of war with another Federation, who just discovered how to hijack a Mindship and strip it of its free will and plan to use that against the Empire.
So starts the story of the Empress who now needs to find the daughter she herself banished and waged war upon, because only she apparently could have weapons to turn the tide of events.
For only ~55 pages, it actually has 4 or 5 POVs, and it was surprising the number of plot lines that happened, are happening and probably will happen.
The names seem Asian, but they don't sound like the usual Japanese/Chinese influence. Seems like they are from Thailand, Indonesia or Vietnam. Since there are multiple POVs, it took me a good awhile to properly remember who was who, specially the secondary characters.
Despite all the tech and war stuff, it actually focused on interpersonal relationships, the Empress and her banished daughter, the ship and its parents, etc. And then when the initial problems apparently get a conclusion and the chaos and challenge is about to start...it ends. I wonder from the description if it's a side story from a larger series.
Overall, a very good story with creative elements. I read it through The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas 2016 Edition, edited by Paula Guran and which I have a copy provided by NetGalley.
When Emperors and Empresses die, their memory becomes data and all previous rulers that ever existed serve the new one. So you have this gigantic council composed of past Emperors and Empresses. Also, it doesn't matter how successful or how the ruler died. There was an Emperor who was poisoned at eight and is there in the council. Pretty cool.
Women can give birth to... ships. Yea, seriously. A special type of ship, called Mindship, a ship with consciousness. They are not totally AI, they fully understand emotions and call their mothers and fathers, get angry and fearful, and so on. Of course, they are also very powerful in the Empire's military, though not all of them serve in the army.
The Empire is at the brink of war with another Federation, who just discovered how to hijack a Mindship and strip it of its free will and plan to use that against the Empire.
So starts the story of the Empress who now needs to find the daughter she herself banished and waged war upon, because only she apparently could have weapons to turn the tide of events.
For only ~55 pages, it actually has 4 or 5 POVs, and it was surprising the number of plot lines that happened, are happening and probably will happen.
The names seem Asian, but they don't sound like the usual Japanese/Chinese influence. Seems like they are from Thailand, Indonesia or Vietnam. Since there are multiple POVs, it took me a good awhile to properly remember who was who, specially the secondary characters.
Despite all the tech and war stuff, it actually focused on interpersonal relationships, the Empress and her banished daughter, the ship and its parents, etc. And then when the initial problems apparently get a conclusion and the chaos and challenge is about to start...it ends. I wonder from the description if it's a side story from a larger series.
Overall, a very good story with creative elements. I read it through The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas 2016 Edition, edited by Paula Guran and which I have a copy provided by NetGalley.