Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 31, 2020 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard
Seven of Infinities is the latest novella in Aliette de Bodard's Xuya Universe, her distant sci-fi setting for a large amount of short fiction (ranging from short stories to novellas), in which the universe is largely built around the idea that Chinese and Vietnamese got to the stars first (at least in the areas in which the setting largely takes place) and their culture thus laid the foundation for the resultant society. It's a fascinating setting that de Bodard uses in many many different ways - for example her last notable novella in this world (the Nebula winning "The Tea Master and the Detective") was a take on a Sherlock Holmes story....in which the Watson character was a mindship who'd suffered trauma from a disaster in deep spaces (think hyperspace). Each of her stories in this universe is stand alone and no prior knowledge is required to enjoy them, allowing de Bodard to hit a wide range of themes and ideas.
Seven of Infinities is maybe her most ambitious mishmash of story archetypes, being part scifi murder mystery, part F-F romance (between a mindship and a human mind you), and part heist novel all in one. Like Tea Master, the story features a pair of main characters, drawn together by a case, and coming together - unlike that novel however, the story is told from both of their perspectives and their relationship becomes more than platonic (hence the romance). And it for the most part works really well, thanks to the two lead characters' personalities being real winners, as they struggle with conflicts of truth vs. duty, the value of one's heritage, and most of all the difficulty of balancing trust with the need to protect those one might care about or feel duty bound to.
Quick Plot Summary: Vân is a scholar and a tutor with a secret - not only is she from a poor background, but the mem-implant she has in her head - a memory/personality implant from a person's ancestor - is a fake, having been cobbled together by Vân when she was younger from fragments of other personalities, to enable her to pass for a real scholar. Five years after a tragedy took her two friends, she spends her time trying to act like the scholar she isn't, and has found a job acting as the tutor to the daughter of a distinguished family.
The Wild Orchid in Sunless Woods is a mindship and supposedly a celebrated scholar, who knows Vân from their mutual poetry club. In reality, Sunless Woods was once a famed master thief, who has spent the last few years in retirement, with her team of thieves spread apart. Sunless Woods is growing a bit bored, but sees something in Vân, in her honestly and devotion to duty, and decides to visit Vân one day when it seems Vân's status in the poetry club - and thus her career - is in danger.....only to be present when a visitor to Vân's student winds up dead.
Soon, Vân and Sunless Woods are working together to try and figure out what happened, to ensure that no one they care about might be next. But as they track down what appears to be a mysterious treasure hunt, the two find themselves drawn to one another....and forced to risk sharing their secrets to someone else for the very first time.....
Thoughts: So yeah, like i said above the jump, this is sort of a combination between a murder mystery (solving who and why the dead person was killed), a heist novel (with the main duo searching for what the dead woman was looking for) and a romance. That last bit is the biggest part honestly, as it winds up for me at least being the most important driver of conflict of the book. And it works so well because of how great the two lead characters are: Vân is a young woman who has struggled - through shunned-upon means - to establish herself as a scholar and a tutor to a distinguished family, and despite her "dark" (for her) secret, she values duty - to her position, to society, and to those she cares about - above all else. By contrast Sunless Woods might enjoy playing a respectable person in society, but society's rules and obligations are things she disdains, even if she still does respect familial piety and understanding. And yet, for Sunless Woods, Vân's duty and honesty are an attraction - something she can't help but admire and want, even as it conflicts with her own mentality. It results in a really lovely romance, even though one of the two is a person and the other is well, a ship, something that isn't that unusual within this setting (and yes, results in an on page sex scene).
The above all works really well, and is helped along by a plot that is for the most part solidly interesting and intriguing, even if certain parts are predictable (when exactly will certain secrets come out? At the worst possible moment of course!). As usual, the story contains some serious themes as well - the themes of duty towards others and guilt for not helping people who were probably beyond one' help, the idea of one's worth coming from heritage/lineage or from one's own doings, etc. The issue of consent in a relationship of this sort also comes up (given that when Vân is inside Sunless Woods in space, there is a clear unequal power dynamic) and dealt with. These all work mostly well - the only weakness is a third major character, whose importance is seemingly lesser for most of the novella, pops up to major importance in the climactic moment and it feels like her actions come out of nowhere - to form a novella that is really lovely and well worth your time, even if it might not be up to the insanely high standards de Bodard has managed previously.
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