This book is a companion piece to The Red Scholar’s Wake. I kept looking to see if there were any through lines, but the only one that I found was a mention of The Fire Palace near the end of this book. Otherwise, consider it as taking place in the same time area of the Xuya timeline as Red Scholar, but without any intersecting plot lines.

This is my second novel-length story by deBodard. Previously I knew her from short stories in the Xuya universe that had appeared in various SFF magazines I’m subscribed to. Over the course of these two novels it has become quite clear that deBodard excels in writing character relationships. The plots exist in each book, but they almost seem to exist as a means throw characters into contact with each other. Perhaps because this was the second Xuya book and I was familiar with the overlays and Mindships being considered children and so on, I found the relationships to work on a much stronger level here than they did in Red Scholar. I enjoyed Red Scholar, but the love story seemed slightly forced. Here each relationship seemed to make perfect sense as the characters interacted with each other.

I first encountered de Bodard’s Xuya Universe through a short story I read in one of my SFF magazines. A science fiction world based on Vietnamese culture was fascinating. But what sucked me in was the way that de Bodard writes her characters. The emotional interplay between characters is key to the stories.

Like some other SF universes, the Xuya universe (and this book in particular) have the concept of mind-ships; ships controlled by an entity that is a fusion of biological and mechanical technology. If I read things correctly in this book (and remember from other Xuya stories) it is implied that the bio part of the ships comes from someone who was once a human being. This story is a romance between a mind-ship and a human. On the surface is sounds absurd. In practice it works out quite well for the story’s purpose.

The consequences of Silver and Lead continue to spin out throughout the fae communities. Turns out that it really messes with your head to have memories of 2 lives lived - especially one so dramatically different than the real one. We are also seemingly close to ending the major story arc for Rayseline (if this book wasn’t the end of focusing on it for now).

Very few people crazily jump straight into book 20 of a series, so I’m assuming if you’ve made it this far and are perusing this review to consider whether or not to keep going - you’ve read the prior 19 books. (And perhaps the associated novellas and short stories. If you’re not, you REALLY should join her patreon - the $1 level gives you 1 Seanan McGuire short story per month) Ever since Titania’s Matrix (as we call the events in my household) I feel like the October Daye books are stuck on neutral. To take things to a SF analogy, since that’s the book’s setting, it’s like we can’t quite crest the hill and get to the next intersection. I am enjoying the books. Last night I made a bad choice and stayed up until midnight to get to the penultimate chapter and would have probably stayed up later if I didn’t have a bunch of meetings today.

I thought the last book was terrifying, but this one is way, way worse. Although both books involve both mankind making bad choices as well as supernatural forces, this one is one that is more likely to happen in real life. Because it is mentioned in the first paragraph or two, I do not feel like it is a spoiler to say that this book involves Cleric Chih going to gather stories from a town that suffered from an incredible famine some 11 years prior.

This story starts quite abruptly, a change from the usual Singing Hills novellas. I noticed, but figured it was Vo wanting to try something different fore the 5th entry. I should have paid a bit more attention.

This story seemed to me to be a mix of a European folktale and asian mythology, but there are also a lot of themes that seem to be universal among humans. For example, I just learned today of a historical myth around one of the big samurai families that involves a swordsman meeting a monk at a bridge and engaging in battle that is reminiscent of Robin Hood. As usual, it’s hard to talk too much about the story or themes of these novellas without ruining the twist (they almost all have a parallel story structure to a mystery story). I would say that another clue things are off within this narrative is that Chih doesn’t quite ever get the stories she seeks.

A very different environment for Cleric Chih, but no less about stories than the other entries in the series. We even learn a bit more about Signing Hills and the neixin. A great story that has hit me extra hard this year due to some family stuff, but I don’t want to spoil the story.

As always, I love Nghi Vo’s magical realism version of China. The cleric Chih and their mission to document all the knowledge reminds me somewhat of Sazed from the first Mistborn trilogy, another favorite character of mine. This time she’s in the Riverlands, which seems to be a kind of asian version of the American wild west (at least as depicted in movies and tv shows). It also introduces (I think…I don’t remember seeing it before) some wuxia into the Singing Hills series.

I think this book is my second-favorite of the Secret Novels (or Hoid novels), after Tress, and potentially tied with Yumi or just ahead of it. Like many of the Secret Novels you can get through most of it without knowing too much of the Cosmere, although, like many of the Secret Novels, portions of the climax and falling action might sound like nonsense to you if you aren’t caught up with The Cosmere. Although if you’ve read up to Stormlight 5 you’ve likely read all the rest of the Cosmere, if you’re one of those Cosmere readers that reads each series in order rather than in publication order, Stormlight 5 has the many relevant connections to what’s going on in this story. I would also say that Isles of the Emberdark would also be highly relevant to this story.

Tim Pratt has done it again. They have taken a TTRPG setting and turned it into a fun adventure. This book has a similar framing device as the previous one - in the present Dae and Chk Chk are reading the journal of Tyrcell the Android which takes place about 20 years before. The past portions of the book take place about 3-4 years after the events of the first book. Things have calmed down a bit since the events of The Gap and The Society (what eventually becomes the Starfinder Society) has been formed. The main portion of that story has to do with an attack on Absalom Station by Eox, a planet of undead.

I’ve read a few GM guides (including for D&D and Tales of the Valient) and this one was the one that gelled most with the way my mind works. While it is strongly tied to Starfinder 2e, it has quite a few universal lessons to teach. Along with the others I’ve read, I think this is a good book to revisit now and again as I gain more experience.