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The Universe of Xuya #Starsong
Anthology of European SF
EUROPA SF and International Speculative Fiction (ISF) launch a digital-format Anthology of European SF, comprising twelve SF writers from eight European countries. Well-known names as Ian R. MacLeod, Hannu Rajaniemi, Aliette de Bodard, Jetse de Vries together with rising stars from various parts of Europe.
132 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 24, 2020
Another worthy international anthology. I even found a new author I'll be watching out for--Vladimir Arenev--so I count it as a win. :)
The stories that particularly won me over are here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
The stories that particularly won me over are here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
August 7, 2015
This review is STRICTLY for Aliette de Bodard's story, Starsong. That story, part of her Xuyan universe, is the reason I sought out this anthology and the only story I read from it.
The Xuyan stories I've read to date have mainly concerned the Xuyan and Mexican societies, both of which have some rigid societal rules, particularly when it comes to race (though, to be fair, from the one line mention in The Lost Xuyan Bride, the truncated U.S. seems to be much the same); this story delves more deeply into that racial divide through Axatl, a Chinese girl growing up in Mexica.
The story is as excellent as the other Xuyan stories, but this one struck especially hard for me, as a biracial person growing up in the fraught racism of the U.S. Axatl's discomfort with her own identity, how that twists around through a teenage rejection and a more adult acceptance feels very personal, even as Axatl's day to day reality is very different from mine. It is the human heart at the center of de Bodard's stories.
And, it seems to be the genesis of the human heart at the center of the mindships featured in later stories, which was an interesting and unexpected bonus.
A coming of age story...IN SPACE!
The Xuyan stories I've read to date have mainly concerned the Xuyan and Mexican societies, both of which have some rigid societal rules, particularly when it comes to race (though, to be fair, from the one line mention in The Lost Xuyan Bride, the truncated U.S. seems to be much the same); this story delves more deeply into that racial divide through Axatl, a Chinese girl growing up in Mexica.
The story is as excellent as the other Xuyan stories, but this one struck especially hard for me, as a biracial person growing up in the fraught racism of the U.S. Axatl's discomfort with her own identity, how that twists around through a teenage rejection and a more adult acceptance feels very personal, even as Axatl's day to day reality is very different from mine. It is the human heart at the center of de Bodard's stories.
And, it seems to be the genesis of the human heart at the center of the mindships featured in later stories, which was an interesting and unexpected bonus.
A coming of age story...IN SPACE!
November 15, 2014
3.5 stars really, only falling short of four because—while universally interesting and well crafted—nothing really stuck with me after reading it (except perhaps "Big Bing, Larissa" by Cristian Mihail Teodorescu). All the same, definitely recommended, because I think most of these have the potential to be someone else's favourite, just not mine.
July 14, 2014
Just the Aliette de Bodard story this time.
partly-read-anthologies
December 30, 2018So far I've only read "Starsong", by Aliette de Bodard. It's an interesting glimpse into the origins of the technology of her Xuya universe.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews