A review by flying_monkey
Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight by Aliette de Bodard

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

De Bodard is one of the most interesting contemporary SFF writers. Her stories tend to be highly influenced by her part-Vietnamese heritage and are also queer and feminist, although not always in obvious ways. This is a collection of stories, most set in her Xuya universe, which sees a Vietnamese / Chinese civilization which relies on cooperation with intelligent ships that are (literally) born to Xuya women, up against the growing threat of a growing WASPy empire, which disapproves of AI and particularly, these living ships. There are also a couple of stories set in her Fallen Angels universe in which Paris is occupied by warring factions of, well, fallen angels. These ones aren't so much to my taste, but they are still well-written.