April 2019 Mod's Choice BotM: On a Red Station, Drifting

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

The April 2019 Moderator's Choice book of the month is the Science Fiction On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard.

This book has been in print since December 2012 so there should be many different editions available. Please check your local library and/or favorite book retailer.

This book is the first [book/novella length] entry in Xuya Universe series. There are a lot of shorts that precede this book but this book stands alone as a first in series. The history (from the preceding short stories) is enriching but not required to enjoy On a Red Station, Drifting.

Please remember to use spoiler tags < spoiler > < /spoiler > when discussing.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

The Universe of Xuya is... a wide ranging sci-fi alt-history series.

The History:(view spoiler)[

The premise of Xuya is that China discovered the Americas before the West, and that the exploration of this new continent prevented China from sinking inwards (not to mention being invaded by the Manchu, who later founded the ill-fated Qing dynasty, China’s last imperial dynasty).

You’ll notice this is only partially filled (one of the most glaring omissions being the 20th Century): there’s a lot of corners of this universe where I haven’t quite decided what happened yet, and I’m basically leaving blanks until I can firm up the timeline.

A couple keypoints worth noting in this new chronology: the early arrival of the Chinese brought smallpox much ahead of schedule, devastating the native populations about a century before our timeline. By the time Colombus arrives on the scene, most of the Mexica are considered to be already immunised to the pox.

Also, due to the success of maritime expeditions, the Chinese capital does not move back to the isolated, northern city of Beijing, but remains in Nanjing, a town much closer to the sea, where the Emperor can keep an eye on the maritime traffic.
A stronger Chinese empire means one that is much less vulnerable to Western predations: though the 19th century isn’t conflict-free, it’s not quite the disaster that it was in the real world. As a result, the Empire survives the turn of the 20th century, though it becomes more equalitarian (notably admitting women into the ranks of its officials in the middle of the 20th century and authorising polyandry).

Xuya is used in the beginning to refer to the whole continent, but after the independence it becomes the name of the new country of Chinese Ancestry on the West Coast. The government is modelled on that of the motherland: an emperor, a Grand Secretariat, and a meritocracy of scholars recruited through state-wide examinations. The capital of Xuya is Dongjing (Capital of the East), but the most dynamic city is Fenliu (roughly in the same location as today’s San Francisco).

Greater Mexica covers today’s Mexico and a large northern part overlapping Texas, Arizona, Lousiana, Florida and New Mexico. Its capital is Tenochtitlan (in the same location as Mexico City). It’s more of an oligarchy than an empire: though it has a supreme ruler in the person of the Revered Speaker, the position is only semi-hereditary, the new Revered Speaker being chosen by the highest officials from those of imperial blood.

The US is much smaller than today, amputated of its western and southern regions. In the 20th-21st Century, it underwent a period of economic depression and isolationism, with an overt racist policy prohibiting mixed-race relationships. (and, uh, yes, there is still a United States, mainly because the Chinese don’t make much progress moving eastwards, just as the English didn’t make much progress westwards in the first decades of the colonisation process. There are still English ships landing in Virginia, and the history of the United States is pretty much the same, barring minor details, at least up to the end of the 18th Century).

Other major players in the region include Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire (which, again, is larger than its 15th-century counterpart), and the Mayas, who hold the bit of Central America the Mexica haven’t conquered (south of Mexico’s current location).

You’ll be wondering about Asia. So far, the only thing I’ve worked on is the history of Vietnam/Đại Việt, which goes pretty much on schedule till the 18th century (mid Tây Sơn period). The one thing that happened in history and which doesn’t happen here is the rise of the Nguyễn in 1802, Vietnam’s last dynasty: China is still strong enough to send invasion troops, which are not defeated, while the French, desperate for a colonial empire of their own, are keen to occupy Đại Việt (instead of supporting the first Nguyễn Emperor Gia Long with money, men and guns, as they did in our time period). There is thus a brief period when the South of Đại Việt is occupied by France, and the North by China–both countries fighting each other by proxy at the boundary. This ends through a combination of events–internal and external troubles, which lead to the rise of a new Việt emperor. This new dynasty spearheads Việt independence: the country will never again be subject to Chinese rule, though it is a loose part of the Chinese influence sphere. It also marks a departure from the strict Confucianism that had marked the court till then–which prevents Vietnam from closing up like a clam.
In the 20th Century, Đại Việt, like the rest of Asia, goes through a period of poverty and political instability, which leads to the arrival of many Đại Việt in Xuya. You can see a few of those in Foreign Ghosts, the unpublished Xuya novel (and their descendants in The Shipmaker).

(hide spoiler)]

Stories in Publication order:
(view spoiler)[ http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?3...
The Lost Xuyan Bride (2007) [SF]
Butterfly, Falling at Dawn (2008)
Fleeing Tezcatlipoca (2010)
The Jaguar House, in Shadow (2010)
The Shipmaker (2010)
Shipbirth (2011)
Scattered Along the River of Heaven (2012) http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/de_bo...
Immersion (2012) http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/debod...
Ship's Brother (2012)
Two Sisters in Exile (2012)
Starsong (2012)
On a Red Station, Drifting (2012)
The Weight of a Blessing (2013) http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/debod...
The Waiting Stars (2013)
Memorials (2014) https://www.apex-magazine.com/memorials/
The Breath of War (2014) http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...
The Days of the War, as Red as Blood, as Dark as Bile (2014) https://subterraneanpress.com/magazin...
The Frost on Jade Buds (2014) [SF]
A Slow Unfurling of Truth (2014)
Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight (2015)
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls (2015)
In Blue Lily's Wake (2015)
A Salvaging of Ghosts (2016) [SF] - http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...
Crossing the Midday Gate (2016) [SF] - https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fi...
A Hundred and Seventy Storms (2016) [SF] https://uncannymagazine.com/article/h...
Pearl (2016) [SF]
The Dragon That Flew Out of the Sun (2017) [SF]
The Tea Master and the Detective (2018) [SF] (hide spoiler)]

Chronological Order (plus details from author) (view spoiler)[

The Modern Era
Circa 1982: Revered Speaker Ixtli is named to the head of Greater Mexica by a divided council. Anxious to establish his legitimacy, he purges the council and the government at all levels. This degenerates into a bloodbath, and a rebel faction seizes the opportunity to start a civil war.

1985-1992: Mexica Civil War. The war ends when Palli, a youth of imperial blood, seeks shelter in Xuya, and gives the Xuyans a pretext to intervene in their neighbours’ affairs. After a protracted invasion, Palli is instated as Revered Speaker in 1992, conducting a policy of open trade.

1986: Events of “The Jaguar House, in Shadow” (Asimov’s, July 2010).

1990: Events of “Fleeing Tezcatlipoca” (Space and Time, June 2010 issue).

2004: Racial riots in Fenliu, started by a magistrate ignorant of Mayan rites.

2005: Events of “The Lost Xuyan Bride” (Interzone, issue 213, November 2007).

2006: Events of “Butterfly, Falling at Dawn” (Interzone, issue 219, November 2008. Reprinted in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection

2009: Events of Foreign Ghosts (unpublished novel).

The Space Age
21st century: The development of Minds, large AIs capable of piloting ships into deep space, soon becomes the key to colonising space.
Somewhere in the 21st-22nd century:
-events of “Starsong” (Asimov’s, July 2012). The events in “Starsong” are the inciting incident that leads to the development of Minds.
-events of “Shipbirth” (Asimov’s, February 2011)
-events of “The Shipmaker” (Interzone 231. Reprinted in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection).
-events of “Ship’s Brother”, Interzone July 2012
-events of “Two Sisters in Exile”, Solaris Rising 1.5
-events of “Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight”, Clarkesworld, January 2015
-events of “In Blue Lily’s Wake”, Meeting Infinity, ed Jonathan Strahan, December 2015
-events of “Crossing the Midday Gate”, To Shape the Dark, ed Athena Andreadis, May 2016
-events of “A Salvaging of Ghosts”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, March 2016
-events of “Pearl”, The Starlit Wood ed. Navah Wolfe and Dominik Parisien, Saga Press, October 2016

Also somewhere in the 22nd Century but in another corner of space altogether:
-events of “Scattered Along the River of Heaven”, Clarkesworld, January 2012
-events of “Immersion”, Clarkesworld, June 2012
-events of On a Red Station, Drifting, Immersion Press, December 2012
-events of “The Days of the War, as Red as Blood, as Dark as Bile”, Subterranean Spring 2014 issue
-events of “The Weight of a Blessing”, Clarkesworld, March 2013
-events of “Memorials”, in Asimov’s. Reprinted in Apex Magazine, June 2016
-events of “The Waiting Stars”, The Other Half of the Sky, ed. Athena Andreadis, 2013
-events of “A Slow Unfurling of Truth”, Carbide-Tipped Pens, 2014
-events of “The Frost on Jade Buds”, Solaris Rising 3, 2014
-events of “The Citadel of Weeping Pearls”, Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2015 issue
-events of “A Hundred and Seventy Storms”, Uncanny Magazine July 2016 issue

Those are my “colonised space stations” stories, which take place in a corner of space where a Galactic (Western) culture rubs against a diminished imperial Chinese/Vietnamese culture. I didn’t specifically write them as part of the Xuyan universe, but they became part of the larger chronology with the bridge work On a Red Station, Drifting, the novella with Immersion Press, which has both a space station and the Minds characteristics of the Xuya continuity in space.
(and yup, the universe is totally getting bigger all the time. Hopefully there’ll be space for a larger-scale planetary romance or space opera-y sort of thing where I get to blow up ships and feature awesome characters)

And in a completely different corner of space:
–“The Breath of War”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies March 2014 (hide spoiler)]

[Becky]

I'm in for this one... It'll probably be closer to April before I get to it, but I'm in. :)

By the way, thanks for choosing the better of the English edition covers for the linked edition. The other one is... not appealing to me at all. My favorite though is this one:

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

That one is beautiful!

I don't like the other english cover, either.

[Becky]

MrsJoseph wrote: "That one is beautiful!"

Right?? I'd pick that up from a bookstore shelf. I wouldn't with any of the others. I'm not into anime, so this cover does nothing for me, and the other one looks like it was slapped together in photoshop, so... no.

ETA: I do know that anime is Japanese and this is Chinese based, but the style looks anime-ish to me, so I'd still pass it by. LOL

[Mimi]

Count me in as well. Thanks for the extensive background info, MrsJ. This novella has been stuck in my queue for a really long time. Time to get it read.

But first, a series order question, is it necessary to read the shorter works published prior to Red Station or can I go back and read it later?

[Becky]

From what I can tell, this can stand alone without pre-reading the other stories that came before it. From other reviews and info, it looks like they are more like interconnected stories set in the same universe than actual series stories that need to be read in order.

[Nyssa]

As a completist - I wish there was a collection, anthology, or omnibus!

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Mimi wrote: "Count me in as well. Thanks for the extensive background info, MrsJ. This novella has been stuck in my queue for a really long time. Time to get it read.

But first, a series order question, is it ..."

You're welcome!

And what Becky said. The shorts are more interconnected stories + alternative history worldbuilding.

[Mimi]

Ah, okay. I'll go back and read them later then.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Nyssa wrote: "As a completist - I wish there was a collection, anthology, or omnibus!"

Me, too!!!!! That would be amazing, tbh

[Beth]

I read this a few years ago--in the hardback edition with the awful cover. Ignore the cover/s, this is a great novella and I'd be willing to read it again for an April group.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Beth wrote: "I read this a few years ago--in the hardback edition with the awful cover. Ignore the cover/s, this is a great novella and I'd be willing to read it again for an April group."

:-D

[Christine]

I'm excited for this one

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Me, too! I've been reading the shorts (still not finished) and it all fascinates me.

[Beth]

I'm about 1/3 of the way in and am loving it again. The tension between the two lead women is so great (trying to keep it as spoiler free as possible until others have a chance to get into it).

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

I'm still at the beginning. but I'm glad I have previous exposure to this universe.

[Becky]

Very nearly started this yesterday, but then I thought that I'd go for a Michael Connelly since I needed a bit of a palate cleanser from my last few books, and can pretty solidly count on him for a good one.

But, I did read a few pages of this, and I'm intrigued and liked what I read, so... I'll be reading this next I think. :)

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

I love the way de Bodard builds stories. There's always so much nuance and things always happen that I don't expect.

[Mimi]

I haven't started reading yet, will do so tonight. Just wanted to stop in to let you guys know that the audiobook read by Emily Woo Zeller will be available on April 9th on Audible. (Not sure if it'll be available at other online bookstores.)

https://www.audible.com/pd/On-a-Red-S...

[Beth]

What a happy coincidence. "Only on Audible" isn't plastered all over the book's page :P so it's safe to say it'll be available elsewhere.

[Mimi]

Oh, right. Am not a frequent Audible purchaser, so I completely missed that. But that's good to know that it'll be available at other stores as well.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Mimi wrote: "I haven't started reading yet, will do so tonight. Just wanted to stop in to let you guys know that the audiobook read by Emily Woo Zeller will be available on April 9th on Audible. (Not sure if it..."

WOOT! This would make a good combo.

I just don't know why they don't sell edition packages. It's an easy money maker. 1 HB, 1 ebook, 1 audio for 1 purchase. I'd do it for a lot of books. Roughly, everything Ilona Andrews ever wrote...

[Becky]

MrsJoseph wrote: "I just don't know why they don't sell edition packages. It's an easy money maker. 1 HB, 1 ebook, 1 audio for 1 purchase."

I'm guessing because they probably don't have ebooks and audio versions available to release at the same time. I'm looking at a book now that's been out since August of last year, but ebook (at least kindle) and audio format (at least through Audible) isn't available until April 30th.

LAME. I GOT CREDITS TO BURN, PEOPLE! :P

And, I don't think that most people are like us and would multi-format it. I LOVE doing that when the book is good... total immersion. Sigh.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

And they should stop making the release dates so far apart.

[Becky]

MrsJoseph wrote: "And they should stop making the release dates so far apart."

Right? Like, let's plan ahead, people! You know that you're going to release the book on X date, so let's make sure to have ebook and audio versions available that date as well to maximize sales and readership.

[Beth]

Finished with part 1:

(view spoiler)[The conflict between Quyen and Linh is presented so well. It both passes the Bechdel *and* is spicy and hateful too. No nicey-nice here!

The actual plot of the story, with the missing implant and the possible degeneration of the Honored Ancestress, is somewhat less interesting to me, or I forgot most or all of it from last time.

I wonder what the Ancestress' actual body looks like. Is it human shaped, a blob of flesh with a big brain in it, or something in between? If she's "alive," not just a machine, she'd need some form of life support... (hide spoiler)]

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Becky wrote: "And, I don't think that most people are like us and would multi-format it. I LOVE doing that when the book is good... total immersion. Sigh."

OMG, Becky. I loved so much reading while being read to. It was amazing and it felt like I was watching a movie.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Beth wrote: "Finished with part 1:

.."

Have you ever read the Brainship Series before? That's actually how I think of the Mindships (even though they are not the same).

[Beth]

MrsJoseph wrote: "I'm still at the beginning. but I'm glad I have previous exposure to this universe."

This novella was my first exposure to it--imo de Bodard does a good job giving the reader enough basic info to understand the situation with the war, and to hang the characters' story on.

MrsJoseph wrote: "Have you ever read the Brainship Series before?"

I've heard of them but not read them. The couple of other things of McCaffrey's I've tried were fun, especially the first Crystal Singer.

Book 2:

(view spoiler)[This time around I've been trying to pay more attention to the secondary characters.

Giap: "loyal retainer" is one of my favorite character types. But you don't see a whole lot of him in this story before he's, ah, removed from the picture.

Huu Hieu: he and Linh are both outsiders in the station's culture, and I think this strengthens their bond. He really does feel like he doesn't belong on Prosper and I can completely understand him wanting to go elsewhere, to someone he has a bond of love with.

Oanh: it was hard to get a good idea of her personality, and she feels more like a plot motivator to me.

Loved the descriptions of food! I might have liked the banquet scene to be a bit longer, to more fully show the psychological pressure building to a big explosion.

I enjoyed the brief side trip where Linh remembers her poetry writing group and its various personalities and styles. (hide spoiler)]

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

I'm in book 2 at 55%(view spoiler)[
To be honest, I do not understand the tension and attitude between Quyen and Lihn. Quyen, it feels to me right now, is letting her personal bitterness about her situation spill over onto Lihn, causing them to be at odds. She took one look at Lihn and decided "I'll show her she's nothing" and the fight was started.

I do love that there is so much going on. It's a quiet mess but a mess none the less.
(hide spoiler)]

[Beth]

Good timing on this read: de Bodard has been nominated for a Hugo in both the novella and series categories for The Tea Master and the Detective and Universe of Xuya.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Beth wrote: "Good timing on this read: de Bodard has been nominated for a Hugo in both the novella and series categories for The Tea Master and the Detective and Universe of Xuya."

That's on my list, too. I have a hardcopy of it.

[Beth]

Done!

(view spoiler)[Quyen's and Linh's relationship was pretty straightforward to me, but Linh and Huu Hieu's lost me by the end. (hide spoiler)]

Here's a question for those who've finished: (view spoiler)[do you think that the Honored Ancestress messed up her own configuration, sacrificed 50 years of her own memory to save everyone on the station? It would follow a pattern of self-sacrifice/self-destruction that also includes Linh and Huu Hieu. (hide spoiler)]

I don't disagree with MrsJ that (view spoiler)[it's kind of a mess. Given the first part of the story I was expecting something more consistently elegant and tense. But the story as is still went pretty well even though it lost track of those characteristics. (hide spoiler)]

A few too many similes imo. She and/or her editors could've pared out a few instances of (view spoiler)["like a knife across the throat" or "like the silk garrote of the executioner." They stuck out and broke the flow for me every time. (hide spoiler)]

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Brainships: (view spoiler)[The brainship series is set in a future where man has been able to cure/fix 99.99% of disabilities & traumatic injuries.

There are very few things that science hasn't been able to cure and most of them deal with in-womb birth defects and/or unknown/unfamiliar traumatic injures/illnesses.

Fetus are scanned in-womb and if it is detected the baby has a fatal disability (requiring life-support) or something devastating that cannot be handled by science, that child's brain is tested and (if possible) placed in the brainship program. The idea being that the body may not be viable but the brain still is.

The fetus/baby has to be able to "multi-strand" (multi-task?) in order to get in the program. If not, the pregnancy is terminated.

If the baby can multi-strand, they are operated on to add connections for inputs and they are placed in a "shell" that also houses their life-support. They are connected to the outside world via their inputs and thus their body almost does not exist. They are able to do any job they want but many of the shellpeople go for ships and transit or medical stations (like Prosper Station in On a Red Station, Drifting) where they run the entire thing (or ship, etc). Some of them do things like run the stock market.

Originally, no one who was not a baby could enter the brainship program - so a child with a traumatic injury requiring life-support would be ineligible and probably sent to an institution but that changed as the series went on. (hide spoiler)]

[Nyssa]

I was hoping to start this today, but it will probably be this weekend instead.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Beth wrote: "Done!

[spoilers removed]

Here's a question for those who've finished: [spoilers removed]

I don't disagree with MrsJ that [spoilers removed]

A few too many similes imo. She and/or her editors co..."

DONE!

Quyen & Lihn (view spoiler)[I have to say, I don't get their relationship. I never understood Quyen's attitude. She wanted someone to be humble and therefore caused a lot of drama because Lihn "thought too much of herself." At least, that was the opinion I got. I understood more of Lihn: she was desperate and sad and felt like she was being treated like shit for no reason. Though I do think she should have been more grateful for the help she received. I think Quyen made an enemy of her instead of an ally. (hide spoiler)]

HA: (view spoiler)[ I don't think she messed up her own config. It seemed that it had started previously - and didn't Oanh say it had begun 50 years prior? Plus, she kept saying she was scared - and Lihn noticed cracks while she was still tutoring. (hide spoiler)]

I do agree that de Bodard's writing can be almost too lyrical. Sometimes too much is too much.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Also, I didn't get (view spoiler)[the poem. Or why it was so... powerfully terrible. (hide spoiler)]

I think that this review aptly sums up a lot of my feelings toward Quyen/Lihn's relationship. (spoilers for story)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Beth]

Quyen and Linh: (view spoiler)[When Linh first comes to the station, Quyen knows that Linh was a magistrate and therefore had successfully gone through (the equivalent of) an Ivy League education. Quyen is a lesser spouse whose education was much more modest.

On a different power/social status scale, Quyen is administrator of the station, and Linh is a refugee, a supplicant.

They each think the other is expecting deference and bristling against the other's presumption. And at the same time each is expecting deference that they aren't getting. (hide spoiler)]

That's my basic take on their relationship through most of the story. I agree with your interpretation that they each made missteps (view spoiler)[based on their pre-emptive resentment of each other (hide spoiler)].

On the Honored Ancestress: (view spoiler)[her problem turned out to be pretty handy! There's no record of Linh's having been greeted as a guest of the station, and the station and all its inhabitants go free. (hide spoiler)] ;)

[Beth]

MrsJoseph wrote: "Also, I didn't get [spoilers removed]"

Much like you, and the writer of this review, I didn't get it either. It's a tricky thing because I'm really not strong when it comes to (view spoiler)[poetry (hide spoiler)]. So it's hard to say if the examples of it in the story are kinda weak, or if I'm just dumb.

Ha, Olga really has a hate-on for Quyen.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

(view spoiler)[TBH, I think that Quyen wanted more deference than Linh. It felt like Quyen was upset as soon as she saw how self possessed Linh was and had a major issue with that. She wanted her begging and bowing. That’s just not Linh’s Personality.

I felt Linh had a problem with doing tasks that she knew were assisgned to her as an insult. I don’t think that she would have felt that way if she thought she was truly helping. And the station actually needed help.

On the other hand, I don’t think Linh was thankful that the family she didn’t know took her in. She lied to them and knew she could get them in trouble. That was an asshole move. In that aspect alone, I felt Linh needed a low profile life there.

Honestly, I didn’t understand the relationship she had with the brother in law, or the controversy attached to it. Or why it was such a big deal.

I also had a problem with the ending. I didn’t believe that the emperor would ignore all the fighting and death to track down a single critic. Not in the midst of war. And to spend the money to send a crew all the way out there but not help the refugees? Plot requirement because Linh and Quyen’s Relationship was beyond repair.

I felt the HA’s “fix” that knocked out 50 years was both for plots and to sorta punish Quyen since Linh was being punished in a different way. (hide spoiler)]

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

I’m the same way with (view spoiler)[all the poetry. I’m not a big fan of it so I don’t get it. I admit I skimmed it. While eye rolling a bit. (hide spoiler)]

[Christine]

I liked this a lot, I have to put Aliette de Bodard on my TBR to read more of her works

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Christine wrote: "I liked this a lot, I have to put Aliette de Bodard on my TBR to read more of her works"

I'm glad you enjoyed it! What was your favorite part?

I can honestly say that one of the things I enjoyed was the description of the tech and the fraught relationship between Quyen. In an odd way, of course. I liked it because while there was such extreme jealously and dislike on both sides, it was related only to their relationship with each other (instead of who was prettier or a man).

[Beth]

MrsJoseph wrote: (view spoiler)["Honestly, I didn’t understand the relationship she had with the brother in law, or the controversy attached to it. Or why it was such a big deal. " (hide spoiler)]

I could understand the relationship in its early stages: (view spoiler)[their both being outsiders on the station, each in their own way, drew them to each other. It was emphasized once or twice that there wasn't a sexual attraction, so I don't know why it would be controversial either. Maybe it's about social status: a magistrate level person dealing intimately (even in simple friendship) with a lower status spouse? (hide spoiler)] But that isn't stated in the story itself so I'm just guessing.

The scene/conversation after (view spoiler)[Huu Hieu had nearly drowned and Linh came to visit him while he was recovering in the hospital (hide spoiler)] lost me. I wasn't sure what had changed or what was trying to be conveyed in the dialogue. And you don't see them together after that iirc.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Beth wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: [spoilers removed]

I could understand the relationship itself in its early stages: [spoilers removed] But that isn't stated in the story itself so I'm just guessing.

The scene/co..."

Right. That's how I felt. Like, I got them being friendly and talking to each other - (view spoiler)[they both felt the same way about how they were treated. But the rest of it. Like, her mention that he could only be a lesser marital partner. As if that mattered?

But I really didn't get the taboo of them hanging out. Quyen's hostilely towards it was baffling, tbh. (hide spoiler)]


That conversation (view spoiler)[was in some way related to the poem that Lihn wrote and the chaos it caused - which was Linh's fault but I blamed Quyen for it. Lihn had no clue as to why Quyen asked her to write the poem and had spent all her time being a bitch to Lihn. So why would she ask her to do something so important without explaining the importance of it? (hide spoiler)]

[Beth]

MrsJoseph wrote: (view spoiler)["So why would she ask her to do something so important without explaining the importance of it?" (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, (view spoiler)[Quyen was definitely in the wrong there. (And also in the wrong for deliberately assigning Linh a job well below her abilities.) If the two of them had dealt with each other openly/trustingly rather than come out with the claws from the beginning, some of the bad stuff that happened could have been prevented. Huu Hieu wouldn't have been outed as a potential escapee and attempted suicide, for one thing. (hide spoiler)]

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Beth wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: [spoilers removed]

Yeah, [spoilers removed]"



(view spoiler)[I agree. Lihn shouldn't have lied and Quyen...should stop being so damn jealous of what she doesn't have. She's already running the station.

On the other hand, I wanted more interaction with HA. I felt she...was more window dressing than an actual character. I was expecting more - the other short I read that was centered around the Mind.

I love the brainship books actually have the shellpeople as the MCs. (The series was also called "Brain & Brawn" because the shellpeople are the brains of the group and the "softpeople" are considered the "brawn" and mobile portion of the group.) (hide spoiler)]

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Also, for some reason, I was able to connect more wit Lihn than Quyen - as I'm sure you can tell by my reactions, lol.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

So, when I go back over my notes from my (singular and lonely) entire universe read, I'm noticing that a lot of the stories in this series are sad af. In some way or the other.

A triumph here is a decimation there.

I get the whole "thread of sorrow" thingy that Tolkien encouraged and put forth as required...but I admit that it's not particularly fun.