This was a really neat collection. Each short story is followed by an explanation of the myth or legend that inspired it. Some authors retell a story but in a different time and place (“The Land of the Morning Calm” by E.C. Myers, which injects Korean ghosts into an MMORPG), while others latch onto a tiny detail and expand it (“Spear Carrier” by Rahul Kanakia, which imagines an entire life for a battlefield redshirt). I don’t know a lot of the stories in Asian mythologies, and really enjoyed reading both the stories and the background segments that explained the original myths.
Tag: author-aliette de bodard
The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard
One line summary: fallen angel turf wars in war-torn Paris. We start with an angel literally falling from heaven, reentry burning up her feathers, the landing breaking her bones; then we shift to the viewpoint of street gangs hurrying to harvest her body parts for magic; then abrupt shift again to another fallen angel, one who heads up one of the Houses of fallen angels and gifted humans which exist in a tense standoff with other similar Houses. The book is heavily atmospheric, with gorgeous passages lingering on the postwar ruin of Paris and the otherworldly beauty of the angels; unfortunately, the plot is confusing and opaque, and the constant viewpoint shifts don’t help. The main character is Phillippe, a former conscript from Vietnam whose powers came from the Jade Emperor; he unwillingly aids the angels in figuring out a murder whose repercussions threaten to bring down one of the main Houses (and also wraps in figures from Greek myth, because why not). I think the major weakness in this book is the lack of character development; de Bodard creates some beautiful characters (one might say too many) but their personalities are static, grating off one another in the same way throughout the entire book. In the end, even though literally earthshaking events have taken place, you don’t really get the feeling that anything has really changed.
Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard
Novella, fantasy with court politics. Thanh was raised in the royal court as a political hostage; she is now back home, but her old flame, Princess Eldris of the neighboring predatory kingdom, is visiting with an eye towards alliance by marriage, or conquest, the same threat under a different name. Thanh eventually also makes friends with a fire spirit, whose history turns out to be tied closely with her own. Beautiful writing and a satisfying ending, but very flat characters.
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls, by Aliette de Bodard
A novella about a city that disappeared, and the rippling effects on the society and nobility of the warlike Vietnamese space empire from which it escaped. The tight focus on the characters is the strength of the story; the very human conflicts – betrayal, filial duty, thwarted ambition – keep the story moving, while political and military space action adds plenty of tension.