Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Subterranean (2018), Edition: Deluxe Hardcover, 96 pages
Description
The Shadow's Child is a living mindship that was discharged from military transport service after an injury and now makes a living brewing mind-altering teas to help space travelers. When abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau requests a corpse from space for scientific study, the ship accepts the odd assignment. When the body she brings back turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow Child with her.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Herenya
A novella about a mindship and a scholar investigating a death. I read this not because it is a Sherlock Holmes retelling but because it promised one of my favourite things: an AI with feelings! Also: tea!
It is set in an unfamiliar universe -- which de Bodard, who has other stories set in it,
I hope de Bodard writes a sequel -- and even if she doesn’t, I’m curious about the other stories set in her Xuya universe.
“Talk to me.”
“Why should I?”
“Because you got me to come along. Because at least you owe me the truth.” Because she’d split The Shadow’s Child like a pomegranate, leaning on old wounds until they bled red and ripe -- dissecting her like the corpse in the hangar bay, and then walking away when the problem was no longer of interest.
It is set in an unfamiliar universe -- which de Bodard, who has other stories set in it,
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describes as “a galactic empire inspired by Vietnamese culture” -- and it involves something I’m irrationally squeamish about, namely mind-altering substances. I might have been more uneasy about the latter, except that being a Holmes retelling gave this story a comforting sort of familiarity. It meant I was predisposed to like The Shadow’s Child and Long Chau. Although I probably would have instantly warmed to The Shadow’s Child anyway. (I just want ships to be happy...)I hope de Bodard writes a sequel -- and even if she doesn’t, I’m curious about the other stories set in her Xuya universe.
“Talk to me.”
“Why should I?”
“Because you got me to come along. Because at least you owe me the truth.” Because she’d split The Shadow’s Child like a pomegranate, leaning on old wounds until they bled red and ripe -- dissecting her like the corpse in the hangar bay, and then walking away when the problem was no longer of interest.
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LibraryThing member JJbooklvr
I was sold when I read a description of this as a "Holmesian mystery, in which Holmes is a woman and Watson is a spaceship". I have not read any of the other stories set in the Xuya Universe so it was a bit confusing in the beginning trying to understand what was going on. Once I did though I
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really loved the world it was set in. Long Chau and The Shadow's Child are two of the more interesting characters I have come across and play off each other so well. A quick read at less than 100 pages it left me wanting more adventures with these two characters. Now I need to go back and check out some of the other stories set in this Universe. Show Less
LibraryThing member JohnFair
This uses a long term trope of de Bodard's - the mind ship The Shadow's Child ekes out survival mixing tisanes of drugs designed to enhance the abilities of her clients after a seriously bad experience of her own during the late war, where she'd been stuck in underspace with a dead crew. Long Chau
The characters are deliberately modelled on the quintessentially British Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson though de Bodard successfully infuses it with her native Vietnamese culture.
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was not a regular customer but the regulars weren't paying enough for The Shadow's Child to pay rent so she finds herself sucked into the scholar's rather unpleasant scheme to recover a dead body from the war that had disabled The Shadow's Child. But the body they recovered had a far more recent provenance and Long Chau takes it on herself to investigate the death before the authorities could interfere.The characters are deliberately modelled on the quintessentially British Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson though de Bodard successfully infuses it with her native Vietnamese culture.
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LibraryThing member quondame
Cute Holmes meets Watson in space where Holmes is a woman with a past currently balancing chemical enhancements and Watson is a decommissioned brain ship with deep space trauma. Interesting and readable, but could we even suspect a Holmes character of truly nefarious dealings?
LibraryThing member LisCarey
Long Chau is a consulting detective, with a prickly, arrogant personality, and a drug addiction. Sound familiar? It strikes the right notes, but is far from just Holmes in space. The setting, space habitats in a mining belt, is rich and interesting. The shipmind Long Chau hires to assist her
Recommended.
I bought this novella.
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investigation, The Shadow's Child, has her own issues and insecurities, but also intelligence and insight. I hope de Bodard has more of their investigations in store for us.Recommended.
I bought this novella.
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LibraryThing member sussura
Besides being a lifelong Xuya fan, and having gone on record that Aliette's mindships are wonderful, I blurbed this book!
Here's what I said:
"In Aliette de Bodard's excellent, far-seeing The Tea Master and The Detective, an unlikely pair comes together to solve a mystery in the void and to face
Here's what I said:
"In Aliette de Bodard's excellent, far-seeing The Tea Master and The Detective, an unlikely pair comes together to solve a mystery in the void and to face
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their pasts. This philosophical thriller is beautifully steeped in deBodard's Xuya universe. For readers who are familiar with her mindships, this novella will be a welcome addition. For readers who may be new to Xuya, The Tea Master is an excellent entry point. The pairing of brilliant-but-hobbled detective Long Chau with the perceptive-but-wounded mindship The Shadow's Child is one of those matches that creates enough friction on the page to make sparks. Set against a background of dramatic family politics, teas, and high-tech bots, The Tea Master and The Detective is a distinct pleasure for discerning readers." Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
“When you’re out there, with no one and nothing to stand in your way - when you realise how small you are - you also realise that everything that ever was, that ever will be, is connected to you. That we’re all, in the end, part of the same great thing.”
In “The Tea Mater and the
I find it extremely funny that in some reviews regarding "The Tea Master and the Detective", there are still people that blatantly produce such a snobbish abhorrence of the SF genre. Should everything in life be of such a pragmatic acumen, we would live in a "Brave New World"! Hello ALPHAs ... remember Aldous? Should Sci-Fi, Anticipation or Speculative Fiction - any label will do - be judged on its cover, the pulp covers? Of course not! Science Fiction is sometimes very well written. Its themes are amongst the most thought provoking ever! Are you all reneging in one fell swoop works like the Foundation trilogy (Harry Seldon & psycho-history), the first DUNE books, The Null-A stories from A.E. Van Vogt (translated by Boris Vian in France!), "The caves of Steel" and other robots stories ... These works created generations of young men and women who asked questions about their futures, who reached and grasped, if only mentally, at the various concepts and accepted novelty and strange as part of the unavoidable quest towards modernism. Generations that were tolerant per se since ... everything was possible ... that accepted alien ("Stranger in a Strange Land") ... etc ... To declare the genre unworthy is like spending your life in the underskirt of a bourgeois obsessed with self-preservation, wealth and the hatred culture of the difference ... wake up you snobs in your very real boring and well written world ... and let us dream whilst fingering the dusty and mouldy pages of our SF library, opening our minds to concepts and possibilities that you will never be able to comprehend ... however badly prosed you find them! The main problem with Bodard's novella is that there's no-one quite like Banks. It's not enough to use (mind)ships with descriptive names. Pratchett, at his most serious and angry (in books like "Small Gods" and "Night Watch"), did a similar thing in fantasy to Banks in SF. A lot of the biggest-selling SF authors are American military SF authors, who are mostly depressingly predictable. Dan Abnett is a good break from that in series like "Gaunt's Ghosts" and "Eisenhorn", but he's more the Bernard Cornwell of military SF than the Iain M. Banks. In Banks work we get the everything: the whole of life and death and the struggles shared by enormous AIs and slave girls, powerful ships and fallen ancient races. It is full of love and war, greed and murder, angels and demons. Not so with this Bodard's instantiation. But it's still pretty readable. Three stars for the effort, but Bodard’s work shows a lot of promise.
In “The Tea Mater and the
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Detective” by Aliette de BodardI find it extremely funny that in some reviews regarding "The Tea Master and the Detective", there are still people that blatantly produce such a snobbish abhorrence of the SF genre. Should everything in life be of such a pragmatic acumen, we would live in a "Brave New World"! Hello ALPHAs ... remember Aldous? Should Sci-Fi, Anticipation or Speculative Fiction - any label will do - be judged on its cover, the pulp covers? Of course not! Science Fiction is sometimes very well written. Its themes are amongst the most thought provoking ever! Are you all reneging in one fell swoop works like the Foundation trilogy (Harry Seldon & psycho-history), the first DUNE books, The Null-A stories from A.E. Van Vogt (translated by Boris Vian in France!), "The caves of Steel" and other robots stories ... These works created generations of young men and women who asked questions about their futures, who reached and grasped, if only mentally, at the various concepts and accepted novelty and strange as part of the unavoidable quest towards modernism. Generations that were tolerant per se since ... everything was possible ... that accepted alien ("Stranger in a Strange Land") ... etc ... To declare the genre unworthy is like spending your life in the underskirt of a bourgeois obsessed with self-preservation, wealth and the hatred culture of the difference ... wake up you snobs in your very real boring and well written world ... and let us dream whilst fingering the dusty and mouldy pages of our SF library, opening our minds to concepts and possibilities that you will never be able to comprehend ... however badly prosed you find them! The main problem with Bodard's novella is that there's no-one quite like Banks. It's not enough to use (mind)ships with descriptive names. Pratchett, at his most serious and angry (in books like "Small Gods" and "Night Watch"), did a similar thing in fantasy to Banks in SF. A lot of the biggest-selling SF authors are American military SF authors, who are mostly depressingly predictable. Dan Abnett is a good break from that in series like "Gaunt's Ghosts" and "Eisenhorn", but he's more the Bernard Cornwell of military SF than the Iain M. Banks. In Banks work we get the everything: the whole of life and death and the struggles shared by enormous AIs and slave girls, powerful ships and fallen ancient races. It is full of love and war, greed and murder, angels and demons. Not so with this Bodard's instantiation. But it's still pretty readable. Three stars for the effort, but Bodard’s work shows a lot of promise.
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LibraryThing member cindywho
Lovely little novella - sort of a cross between Ancillary Justice and Sherlock Holmes
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
The story is pretty much self-contained. A mind-ship "The Shadow's Child"(which reminded me of the Ship stories by Anne McCaffrey, reflective not ripping off) who has suffered and now finds deep space difficult, blends psychotropic drugs for people to help with various things, including deep space.
Through it they learn more about each other and find a strange kind of friendship.
I really enjoyed this and I'm glad the Hugo Awards gave me an opportunity to read it.
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She helps the detective Long Chau investigate a murder and finds herself having to come somewhat out of her shell (pun slightly intended).Through it they learn more about each other and find a strange kind of friendship.
I really enjoyed this and I'm glad the Hugo Awards gave me an opportunity to read it.
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LibraryThing member lavaturtle
I liked this one a lot, particularly the characters. The mindship setting is interesting. Reminded me a bit of the Murderbot series.
LibraryThing member ladycato
I received a galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
De Bodard's Xuya Universe explores a fantastically-fresh space opera future based on Vietnamese culture. In this new novella, to be released from Subterranean Press, she smartly created a new take on Sherlock Holmes. This is not an easy feat,
As this is a novella, it's quite a fast read. The story is the perfect length; enjoy it with a few cups of tea.
De Bodard's Xuya Universe explores a fantastically-fresh space opera future based on Vietnamese culture. In this new novella, to be released from Subterranean Press, she smartly created a new take on Sherlock Holmes. This is not an easy feat,
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especially when one considers that Watson (the point of view for the story, as appropriate) is a battle-traumatized mindship with a multitude of bots, and Holmes is a drugged-out woman detective with a peculiar case to solve, loosely based on "A Study in Scarlet." The author intertwines her Xuya setting and Holmes with a deft hand. In the end, I didn't care how the case was resolved--I just wanted to enjoy how everything was woven together to reach that point! As this is a novella, it's quite a fast read. The story is the perfect length; enjoy it with a few cups of tea.
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LibraryThing member iansales
I’ve been and on-and-off fan of de Bodard’s fiction since first reading one of her stories in an issue of Interzone just over ten years ago. I say “on-and-off” because her science fiction appeals to me much more than her fantasy. And while I remember a number of sf stories set in an
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Aztec-dominated world, she is best-known these days for her Xuya universe stories, a Vietnam-based far future. (The universe itself is shortlisted for the Best Series Hugo Award, which is not how I thought the Best Series Hugo Award worked, and I’m surprised there’s more than 250,000 words in the short stories and novellas, but no novels, set in the Xuya universe.) Anyway, the “tea master” is a ship mind (more McCaffrey than Banks, if I’ve interpreted the text correctly) and the detective is a woman with a chequered past who hires the ship mind for a simple task. During which they discover a body that clearly did not die of natural causes. The mystery of the victim’s death is intertwined with the mystery of the detective’s past, although one is not a consequence of, or reflects on, the other. But both have satisfying conclusions, and the novella makes good use of its setting. The Tea Master and the Detective is not, as a friend said to me, the best Xuya story de Bodard has written, but it’s a good one. and to my mind, it’s easily the best on this year’s Hugo shortlist. Show Less
LibraryThing member renbedell
A mystery novella where a detective and a sentient ship try to solve a murder. The detective and the mindship are both great characters. The mystery has its own suspense and excitement. This is the only Xuya universe book I have read and I don't believe I missed anything.
LibraryThing member tldegray
Mary Robinette Kowal described it best when she said: "The Tea Master is an astonishing Holmesian mystery, in which Holmes is a woman and Watson is a spaceship. It is everything I wanted it to be. Tea, space, and mysteries within mysteries."
Aliette de Bodard's writing is always stellar and her Xuya
Aliette de Bodard's writing is always stellar and her Xuya
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Universe is fascinating. There's always a new aspect of it to be examined, new genres to be crossed over, and great new characters to discover. I heartily recommend this. Show Less
LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
This novella is set in an existing story universe, but you don’t have to be familiar with anything previous in order to enjoy the story. I living ship is trying to make a living after a horrible incident during the war. They have been discharged and they are avoiding going into deep space. Barely
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
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making the rent on their docking they are hired by a private detective that wants to do some research. The research develops into something more and as the story goes along you find out more about the ship and the detective. A good story and I know I will read more in this universe. Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
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LibraryThing member bookbrig
I loved the mix of tea blending and weird technology tied into the mystery.
LibraryThing member jennybeast
Interesting novella starring a sentient ship and an eccentric, drug ridden detective (ahem, not quite sherlock, but similar, ahem). I'm not sure if this is intended to stand alone, or is the beginning of a much longer story, but I found it to be a fascinating world.
LibraryThing member JimDR
A n interesting little take on Holmes and Watson that somehow seems to emphasize the AI ship The Shadow's Child (Watson)'s initial disdain for Long Chau (Holmes) to the point of almost hostility, and creates a tension between the characters that makes it almost impossible to like Long Chau, and the
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wonder of Long Chau's "deductions" is totally absent with the futurustic setting. Show Less
LibraryThing member xaverie
Though really short, even for a novella, I enjoyed the futuristic Holmes and Watson vibes.
LibraryThing member quantum.alex
A tantalizing would that is only glimpsed at--and a thrilling, driving climax.
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
It's like Holmes and Watson, except they're both women, and it's in space, and everyone's Vietnamese, and Watson is a former military spaceship traumatized by the death of her crew. I mean, why not? This had lots of great concepts (the Watson-analog spaceship makes money by brewing teas designed to
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manipulate the brain in specific ways), but as happens a little too often with novellas I've read of late, I felt like the execution didn't completely live up to the idea; the emotional climax was a little subdued, and the mystery isn't really the focus, disappointingly. Show Less
LibraryThing member keristars
I am not the right reader for this book. While the setting, themes, and writing were all interesting, it turns out I loathe Sherlock Holmes characters and don't enjoy reading about them. The shortness of this novella meant I stuck it out, but I was ready to bail within paragraphs of Long Chau's
The other longer works in the same universe don't have the same appeal to me as "Tea Mastsr" did, so this might be my only encounter with de Bodard's writing, which is a darn shame. Maybe I'd be more interested if I didn't have the bad taste of Long Chau first.
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first Holmesian "deduction".The other longer works in the same universe don't have the same appeal to me as "Tea Mastsr" did, so this might be my only encounter with de Bodard's writing, which is a darn shame. Maybe I'd be more interested if I didn't have the bad taste of Long Chau first.
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Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novella — 2019)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novella — 2018)
Locus Award (Finalist — Novella — 2019)
Chesley Award (Nominee — 2019)
British Fantasy Award (Winner — Novella — 2019)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018-03
Physical description
96 p.; 5.5 inches
ISBN
1596068647 / 9781596068643
Local notes
A transport ship discharged from military service after a traumatic injury, The Shadow's Child now ekes out a precarious living as a brewer of mind-altering drugs for the comfort of space-travellers. Meanwhile, abrasive and eccentric scholar Long Chau wants to find a corpse for a scientific study. When Long Chau walks into her office, The Shadow's Child expects an unpleasant but easy assignment. When the corpse turns out to have been murdered, Long Chau feels compelled to investigate, dragging The Shadow's Child with her.