aliens and spaceships

[ursula]

I read ARCs of two upcoming f/f stories via NetGalley recently.

Charlie Jane Anders' Victories Greater Than Death is a YA story about a girl who was raised on Earth but whose true identity is a six-foot-tall purple alien trying to save the galaxy. She falls in love with a Brazilian hacker who doesn't really trust all these promises of universal peace. It's a goofy, fun adventure that feels to me like a somewhat more nuanced take on the same ideas as Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I posted a longer review here.

Aliette de Bodard's Seven of Infinities is a novella about two scholars. One is a mindship who has retired from a life of daring heists and knife-edge adventure. But the human she cares about, the virtuous woman from a poor family, has secrets too. This has some classic de Bodard motifs (the lover who is sometimes beautiful in human terms and sometimes beautiful like an ocean or a star, questions around mentorship and raising young people in a community). There's also a really interesting take on the interaction between an imperial exam system and computer-aided ancestral memory.

Comments

[sylvaine]

These both sound quite fun, thank you for sharing them!

[chestnut_pod]

I like the sound of "a somewhat more nuanced take on the same ideas as Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet!" I absolutely loathed the first Anders book I read, so maybe this will let me try again…