The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Pages: 336 

Publisher: Gollancz 

Released: 24th of November 2022 

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...

An exciting space opera and a beautiful romance, from an exceptional SF author.

What I Have to Say 

This book had a really fascinating world that I really wanted to explore and find out more about BUT NOTHING WAS EXPLAINED. I wanted to know how everything worked. I wanted context for certain thing. This story had LIVING SHIPS that were at least slightly biological in their make up, but do I know how the ship fits together? No. Not even a little bit. They have something called the "mind" that seems to be the biological element, but I cannot even tell you what it looks like. It was just shoved into the scene and left there unexplained. 

You may be saying "that's all right, I'm sure I can cope with that" but let me tell you, it was also the most complex and elaborate sci fi world I've ever seen, so much was so different from our world. So much needed an explanation and not one single explanation was given. I had to guess every single thing. 

Honestly  I have not much else to say. The love story was sweet I guess, but I was so distracted trying to work out how everything actually worked or even looked like so I didn't really get to enjoy it. 

I so very nearly DNFd it. I would have if it hadn't been so short. 

My thanks go to Gollancs and Netgalley for gifting me this copy for review.