Paperback, 122 pages
English language
Published Jan. 14, 2019 by JABberwocky Literary Agency.
Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, the appareance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.
A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's …
Welcome to the Scattered Pearls Belt, a collection of ring habitats and orbitals ruled by exiled human scholars and powerful families, and held together by living mindships who carry people and freight between the stars. In this fluid society, human and mindship avatars mingle in corridors and in function rooms, and physical and virtual realities overlap, the appareance of environments easily modified and adapted to interlocutors or current mood.
A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's Child with her.
As they dig deep into the victim's past, The Shadow's Child realises that the investigation points to Long Chau's own murky past--and, ultimately, to the dark and unbearable void that lies between the stars...
It's a short novella with a bit of a convoluted plot and mystery, but I found the characters amazingly fleshed out. There was something almost poetic in the world and the way they all navigate it, not everything is explained or described thoroughly, which leaves questions but also a lot to interpret.
I've been fascinated with sentient space ships for a long time, so I had to read this book. It's an interesting premise and world and I would love to know more about the deep spaces. I'm not sure if this always involves travelling through space from one place to another, or if this is only dimensional. The tea aspect is interesting to me as well. I want to know more about The Shadow's Child, and Long Chau and everything. As far as I understand though, all stories in this universe are standalone. So I don't think there'll ever be more on those two. But maybe more that elaborate on the deep spaces?
I read this on the heels of Citadel of Weeping Pearls, and found this story to be more up my alley. Citadel had gotten me curious about the Xuya universe, but this book told a story that grabbed me more strongly. It packs a lot of nuance and richness into such a short story, and it only has me more curious to see more of what Xuya has to offer.
This was exactly my speed.
Gender-bent, AI-infused, Sherlock Holmes-inspired story steeped (if you'll pardon the tea-based pun) in rich language and culture.
The first novella / short story I've read in the Xuya Universe series - I wanted so much more than a novella here. We've got some Sherlock Holmes in space stuff going on with a space ship that is a tea master and I am here for all of it. There's a huge list of short stories set in this universe and I'm tempted to check them out, but I prefer longer form works where I can get immersed in a story for a longer period of time. I wanted much more of these two characters! It reads like it is the first story and there will be more of them - I hope there are.
