SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard

On a Red Station, Drifting is a Nebula Award Nominated novella by Aliette de Bodard, one of quite a few works in her Xuya Universe (the whole series actually got nominated for the Best Series Hugo Award this year).  I'm a pretty solid fan of de Bodard - I've read both of her Dominion of the Fallen novels (the 2nd of which I really liked) and several of her shorter works, two of which from this past year I really enjoyed.  One of those two works was another Xuya novel - The Tea Master and the Detective - so I've been meaning to get into more from this universe for some time, and finally bit the bullet with this novella.

Part of why I enjoy de Bodard is that what she writes is so very very different than the typical SF/F author - owing from her French-Vietnamese background.  Her Xuya universe, and this novella in particular, is no different.  This is a universe - filled with Mindships, AIs based upon ancestors, and Space Stations -  where the common culture is that of Vietnamese (and Chinese to a lesser extent) origin.  And so the relationships, actions, and things/people of importance are very different from what many may be used to in western literature, and On a Red Station, Drifting does a great job using these differences to form a very different story of two women as they face tremendous problems that threaten their control...and their pride.




Plot Summary:  Linh comes to Prosper Station like a common refugee, having fled (somewhat unwillingly) from the planet of which she was Magistrate before war could tear it all asunder.  She is used to being in control, but is forced to bow both before the Mind at the heart of the Station, the Honored Ancestress borne from one of Linh's ancestors, and to a distant Cousin named Quyen - who has due to war been nominally placed in charge of the station.  Quyen and Linh immediately dislike each other - Linh having been once in a position of import from having passed the exams while Quyen only having been placed in power when everyone who should have been died or left - but each have their own problems: and for Quyen, that problem could mean the end of the station as they all know it, as the Honored Ancestress is beginning to show signs of failing.  The two women may have to find a way to work together, despite their own senses of pride, or it may all fall apart - but it is possible that Linh's past may have doomed them all right from the start...

Thoughts:  It's hard to summarize this novella because de Bodard packs so much into it, with each character dealing with multiple plot threads simultaneously, as well as family and ancestral issues and obligations that are very Asian/Viet in origin. The summary above about them having to work together is massively flawed, but I can find no better way to phrase it.

What I can say is that what is on the page here is really deep and fascinating - the story of two women from different circumstances, each with immense senses of pride despite what has happened to them, fighting to find some rightness in a world where everything seems to be going wrong beyond their control.  It's a story about family and obligations, about hatred and revenge, and about trying in the midst of it all to do what's right.  And it works really well in interesting surprising ways, never taking the obvious course.

Recommended.