Publisher - Tordotcom

Published – out now

Price – £17.99 hardback £8.99 Kindle ebook

Jockeying navigator clans guide spaceships through the Hollows: an area of space populated by the mysterious but deadly creatures known as Tanglers. When a Tangler escapes the Hollows for the first time in living memory, each clan must send a representative to help capture it―but the mission may be doomed and the hearts of two clan juniors may be in danger too. Viet Nhi is not good with people. Or politics. Which is a problem when the Rooster clan sends her on the mission against her will, forcing her to work with an ill-matched group of squabbling teammates from rival clans, including one who she can’t avoid, and maybe doesn’t want to.

Hac Cúc of the Snake clan has always been better at poisoning and stabbing than at making friends, but she’s drawn to Nhi’s perceptiveness and obliviousness to social conventions―including the ones that really should make Nhi think twice about spending time with her. But when their imperial envoy and nominal leader is poisoned, this crew of expendable apprentices will have to learn to work together―fast―before the invisible Tangler can wreak havoc on a civilian city and destroy the fragile reputation of the clans. Along the way, Nhi and Hac Cúc will have to learn the hardest lesson of all: to see past their own misconceptions and learn to trust their growing feelings for each other.

We often think we need to be someone else to be loved. Dress better, be wittier and just be not who you are. Then you meet the right person and happiness ensues. But love is often more about meeting that person who understands you on quite a fundamental level and perhaps sees the person you actually are; that even you are not. That is the core theme explored in Aliette de Bodard’s highly enjoyable and intimate science fiction novella Navigational Entanglements which also for good measure throws in a hunt for a deadly dimension crossing lien for good measure.

Tanglers are mysterious but deadly alien life forms that live in the hyperspace known as The Hollows that ships cross. Get too close and their feelers will grab you, drain you of life and you’ll become a food source. It appears though one that entered our own dimension. The Empire wants this danger to life stopped and the various Navigational clans are summoned to stop it. Viet Nhi of the flamboyant Rooster clan is actually not someone who enjoyed being around people. Far more used to finding their secrets than interacting with others. They are joined with three other junior navigators including the expert assassin Hac Cuc of the Snake clan – safe to day none of them seem to get on well at first. With the others a not at all dangerous scientist and the other being the only survive or a Tangler attack they are to work the scornful and dismissive Ly Chau of the mighty Dog clan they commence a search. Nothing goes to plan and the four junior officers must decide what is the right thing to do.

I really enjoyed this and it’s a story that challenges what a science fiction story needs to be about. Most of the time in such stories its all about the monster hunt and the characters play second fiddle and de Bodard has gone in a different direction. There are going to be aliens, set pieces and even political intrigue but for me the heart of this tale is the way the characters are unpeeled, re-examined and ultimately the part of the novella I invested in the most. This is very much a story of the interior landscape of a character and the moment someone realises they are actually being seen and intriguingly accepted for who they are.

We start with Nhi who from the start we are told does not like people. They struggle with interactions and have often as a coping mechanism worked to find out people’s secrets so to work out how they act, Nhi is very much a neurodiverse character and perhaps the most sympathetic out of the Navigators we meet instantly as I suspect many readers will recognise those feelings. What is impressive is how we see Nhi puts all that to one side and focuses on the mission. She is complimented by Hac Cuc a very edgy argumentative character who appears to have a very binary sense of right and wrong. Someone who sets the rest of the team on edge and into conflict. But we also see Hac Cuc’s inner thoughts and she is also very mission focused and full of self-doubt that she can never match her mentor’s skills and reputation for kindness which seems to force her the other way. Even if Hac Cuc is very talented, brave and has a sense of justice to match their temper. These two characters each see the other unmasked and is in awe of them. At the same time they feel their own limitations hold them back from opening up their growing feelings for one another.

The romance gently builds and it’s a tale of letting barriers down; the use of language to include someone, gentle teasing, the subtle threat/flirt of being stabbed by chopsticks and the power of a shared touch. You find you pull hard for these characters to admit their feelings and the pay-off for that is delivered really well. At the same time as the plot is revealed both find themselves pushed beyond their comfort zone to the level where each feels they can’t proceed any further and yet both are needed to pull this group towards a just solution. It’s a refreshingly adult romance of when you learn a partner is someone who gets you at quite a personal level and someone for whom you’re prepared to share yourself and push yourself for.

All of which is being wrapped into a well-handled plot of alien monster and wider political intrigue. We have familiar themes of people vying for power and doing bad things for reasons they think they can justify. I like the way the Tangler who is more of a presence matches a story about the unseen and it is stark that the central duo and even the tangler all appear far more understandable than the so-called normal people in charge that we meet. The whole tone is very internal landscape focused, wry, passionate and yet knows when to raise the stakes as the dangers evolve and character must put themselves on the line. No epic space battles and laser fights but plenty to go on and enjoy complimenting the romance.

I really enjoyed Navigational Entanglements. A subtle piece of storytelling with a wonderful eye for character and does something a bit different to the usual type of monster tale we may be used to. Highly recommended!