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
