Navigational Entanglements is the newest Sci-Fi novella from Aliette de Bodard (the Xuya Universe, Dominion of the Fallen, Dragons and Blades), one of my favorite authors. Like de Bodard's Xuya works, this is set in a sci-fi universe (with some magic-esque attributes) where the world is Vietnamese-inspired, although this work is not actually a Xuya work (that universe is seemingly more direct sci-fi and prominently features mindships, which are not present here). And de Bodard uses this new setting to tell a story of a pair of young adults, Nhi and Hạc Cúc being sent on a mission with two other young Navigators by their rival clans, which forces them to confront their internal struggles as well as their own moral codes and desires to do what's right.
It's a really well done novella, dealing strongly with a pair of protagonists (who fall for each other of course) dealing with their own insecurities or disabilities - Nhi is on the spectrum and has a hard time dealing with people, Hạc Cúc is massively insecure about not living up to their legendary mentor - and putting them into a super interesting scifi world with some interesting themes.
Plot Summary:
Việt Nhi is a junior member of the Rooster clan of navigators - the clan most known for its ostentaious colors and its social outwardness. But Nhi struggles understanding and dealing with other people, even as she makes it a habit to learn their secrets. But when a Tangler - a deadly creature from the Hollows that navigators learn to take their ships through - escapes into real space, Nhi is forced to work with three juniors from the other navigator clans as well as an Imperial Envoy in order to track it down and stop it. This interpersonal work is among the things Nhi feels the least fit for...and it isn't helped by the Envoy being on his high horse or the other clan members being at each other's throats...or the way Nhi finds herself attracted to one of them: Hạc Cúc of the Snake Clan, the clan of assassins.
But when the Imperial Envoy is poisoned to death, the quartet of juniors will have to work together to figure out what's going on. To do so they'll have to get over their own personal fears and inabilities to understand each other....or else find themselves the next ones killed...or worse.
Quick Thoughts: Despite my plot summary above, Navigational Entanglements is a story focusing equally upon two main characters: Việt Nhi, a woman on the spectrum who struggles with interpersonal relations and communications but takes shelter in secrets and Hạc Cúc, an assassin who is obsessed with following one's moral code and her own insecurity that she cannot live up to her legendary mentor. The story alternates its point of view between the two characters as they - and two other juniors from other navigator clans with their own issues - deal with their current task: first, finding and containing the Tangler, and then also figuring out what happened to the poisoned Imperial Envoy and how to prevent all of this from coming down hard on the clans to which they belong.
This works really well to create a plot that deals with how different people deal with each other and how they might need assistance or support where they have difficulties that others might not (Nhi is clearly on the spectrum for instance) or how they deal with their own self-doubt and struggles to live up to their idols. All of this works really well, with Nhi's struggles being portrayed very effectively as she tries to be both a leader and deal with her difficulties dealing with other people and her need to retreat. The romance also works pretty well between the two main characters, although it perhaps starts a bit too abruptly for my taste.
de Bodard also creates a plot dealing with the idea of unrealistic ideals that people try to live up to - or the unrealistic vision they have of their role models. And we also deal here with the issues of ones' moral code and how that interplays with ones responsibilities and the actions of others: first for example we see that with the interplay between Hạc Cúc and one of the other juniors who due to trauma she sees as always capitulating to authority rather than having her own code, and then we see that more as the protagonists struggle with directives from their clans to which they find themselves strongly opposed. And so we see our characters develop to make their own decisions as they deal with both those issues and their own insecurities and disabilities, and it all works really well. Recommended.
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