Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight

Strong dish of stories with bones of anger and flesh of grief, rich with the fish sauce of compassion and tangy with the ginger garlic of persistence. These are tales of living past the unbearable losses of home and all but the last shards of family, in alien lands and holding fast to what can be held, even if it has come from the destroyers. 🌈

A collection of 12 short stories from her Xuya universe and a novella and short story from her Dominion of the Fallen series.

I preferred the Xuya stories - there seemed to be too much background I was missing about the Dominion of the Fallen back story. The Xuya stories explored themes of mourning, memory, and cultural transmission in a fascinating if not always easy to follow way.

i've been reading a lot of Aliette de Bodard's work over the last few years, and loving every bit of it, but this collection of various stories lands with great power, because in this format they are so connected by theme or folklore or feeling they play like a novel even though they are not. her favoured background setting involves an alternate Earth in which the Chinese empire discovers the American continents early on, eventually reaching the stars and continuing to dominate there for many years (as the Xuya Universe), until they are gradually overtaken by another Asian Empire developing out of this alternate history of Dai Viet. these diasporas combined with very old traditions attract many issues of identity and social class show more issues, and utilize differing symbolic cultural stories. the result is that they contain both exotic locales for far future cultures and wars, as well as addressing the usual issues of developing technology (for instance in one story humans are birthing their own shipminds), leading to a terrifically thoughtful and stimulating set of stories that can be treasured and reread long after because of all they are tied to. show less

DNF. Awesome ideas in a unique story universe--imperial Dai Viet interstellar civilization with neat tech, memplants and mindships in conflict with others; many themes but that of personal memories and how they can be maintained from one generation to the next looms large--but too much interior monologue and vague metaphorical phrasing instead of physical action, dialogue, and decisions slow the pacing down to a standstill.

This was an excellent collection of stories and one novella from de Bodard. Exploring the Xuya universe is a delight, and the stories are a variety of fascinating and thought-provoking and emotional. I very much enjoyed this.

I received a free eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I'd read a work or two of Aliette de Bodard before Of Wars, and Memories, and Stralight, but this stunning collection has made me an unabashed fan. Each story is an exquisite work of art, exploring identity, love, loss, pain, violence, and family.

Received via NetGalley.

The nice thing about this collection is that you can pick it up without knowing about the universes the stories are set and have an incredible read waiting for you. There is one new novella set in her Dominion of the Fallen series, but you don’t need to know the backstory to enjoy it. After reading a story set in Obsidian and Blood series, I now want to track down those books and read them. A great collection of short fiction and I can’t wait to read more from this writer.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley