A review by gengelcox
Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight by Aliette de Bodard

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.0

This is my first experience of the Xuya universe and I found the setting interesting even while I found this particular story somewhat tame and boring. The use of Asian names and cultural touchpoints helps create a verisimilitude unlike much traditional SF, but the story itself hinges on a far-future aspect of ancestor worship—in this case, a real ability to carry your ancestor with you as a memory implant, and does this through the two children who do not inherit this and the scientist who does, for the empire. The style this is told in is slow and languid, although it does reach a resolution, of some type. Strangely enough, it reminded me of Anne McCaffrey’s work, possibly because of the shipmind elements, but even the lyricism had elements of the older work.