No one writes romantic SFF like Aliette de Bodard writes romantic SFF. If you haven’t given any of her books a go, then now is the time to start. The Red Scholar’s Wake is a sci fi like you’ve never read before, and one you don’t want to miss out on.
Before we start with the review though, don’t forget you can follow Aliette on twitter too (for now…).
Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates’ enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.
Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si’s help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si’s technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.
But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together…
The Red Scholar’s Wake
Aliette de Bodard
Rep: Vietnamese cast, sapphic mcs
Release: 24th November 2022
Five Reasons to Read This Book
One. Lesbian space pirates. This alone should be enough to convince you to read this book and, if it’s not, I have to ask what the matter is. I mean, they’re not just pirates, they’re space pirates. And they’re not just space pirates, they’re lesbian space pirates. What else could you possibly ask for in a book!
Two. If you are asking for more, my second point relates to Aliette de Bodard’s writing. Her style is so distinctive—you always know when you’re reading one of her books. It’s hard to describe just what about it makes it so, but I think it’s how it feels mostly. There’s a kind of headiness to it, a lushness, that makes you sink into the story completely. And, of course, it’s always incredibly romantic.
Three. I don’t know about you, but I find fraught familial relationships one of the most compelling sorts of relationships in literature. If that’s what you’re looking for, then Rice Fish’s relationship with her son Hổ will be right up your alley. It’s a relationship I can’t wait to see how it develops in future books (there are future books right? Right??), along with Xích Si and her daughter.
Four. If you’re not one for hard sci-fi, for world destroying battles and all that, then this is the book for you. As with all of de Bodard’s works, the focus is on the intimate and personal aspects. At the centre of this one is Rice Fish and Xích Si’s relationship with each other, and the aforementioned relationships with their children. Alongside that, it’s about the creation of a safe harbour for people who exist on the edges of, or outside of, society, a kind of idealism borne out of love.
Five. If you haven’t read any of de Bodard’s science fiction works, where ships are alive and sentient, have avatars and fall in love, then you are seriously missing out. It’s a little more on the science fantasy side of things, but genuinely it’s one of the most creative science fiction worlds I’ve come across. One you do not want to miss out on.
So, have we convinced you that you want to read this book?
