Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard
Publisher – Jabberwocky Press
Published – Out Now
Price - £3.99 Kindle eBook
On a string of orbitals called the Scattered Pearls Belt lives Sunless Woods—sentient spaceship, master of disguise, and master thief who chafes against the obscurity that comes with her retirement. There, too, lives Vân, a poor scholar with little confidence but plenty of heart, and whose income comes from tutoring a wealthy student.
Their lives are turned upside down when Vân finds a corpse in her student's quarters and Sunless Woods, intrigued by Vân's sense of justice, offers her help. Scholar and spaceship must chase the mystery around the empire's forgotten edge: from rundown teahouses to ascetic havens, and even in the wreck of a spaceship—and all the while, they begin to fall for each other in earnest. But the secrets they’ve kept from each other are large and devastating—will they and their love survive the revelations?
Crime and science fiction & fantasy often cross paths. Both have an interest in mysteries be they human, magical or technology-driven. Both genres also have a great way of exploring the highs and lows of a society in a single story while usually both have compelling characters as both heroes and villains. Aliette de Bodard returns to their Xuya universe with a brilliant new tale of murder, secrets, treasure and yet also love.
Van is a poor scholar trying to teach Uyan, the daughter of a wealthy and famous family. Her friend Sunless Woods; a spaceship with a mind of her own and an avatar in human space has arrived to discuss an issue with their local poetry club when an unexpected visitor to Uyen enters their quarters and dies. This sets a mystery that Van and Sunless Woods end up investigating through Van’s desire to protect her promising student from scandal; Sunless wanting to help a friend and yet both women want to also protect their own secrets – neither is exactly what they seem.
This is a dazzling story because of how many things it is doing at once. The central mystery is intriguing – a bod that simply dies in front of people and an apparent stranger. That then leads to a bigger mystery of treasure, wealth, and desperation. In doing so we then get to explore the dark side of the Xuya universe that results in repression, torture and executions if people are felt to be getting out of line. Having read a few of the Xuya it’s a place that be wondrous in its depiction of a high technology culture and yet there is always a kernel that this society requires a form of conformity and obedience to those in power. This creates some ambiguity as we investigate the crime and those involved in it which moves the story into a shade of grey that is quite compelling.
Added to that ambiguity is the growing relationship between Van and Sunless Woods. In this universe human and AI can happily co-exist and there is a growing attraction between the two and as readers we soon discover neither is who they seem. The tense and apparently timid Van is hiding her past and its connection to an earlier act of rebellion while Sunless Woods is not the simple poetry lover she appears – in fact she too has a murky past and some intriguing old friends who can help. This relationship was the heart of the book for me as the characters’ chemistry is powerful and just as intriguing in terms of the reader wanting a pay-off as the murder plus what happens when both realise who the other is.
This was a hugely entertaining read that gives the reader a sense of mystery and romance while also touching on darker themes of rebellion, guilt and punishment taking us from a scholar’s rooms to a trip to deep space and the more dangerous parts of society. Strongly recommended.
