Published by Gollancz on November 24, 2022
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
ISBN: 1399601385
Goodreads
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.
Thank you so much to Aliette and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for review. This has not influenced my opinion, all thoughts are my own.
I meant to post this review back in November, closer to the book’s release date. But you know, life happens, and here we are in March and I’m just now posting it!! Ah well. When it comes to books, you can never be late to the party so it doesn’t matter that it’s months after the release. So anyway, yes, today I am (finally) talking about The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard, which released November 24th 2022.