Review by claudcloud - The Red Scholar's Wake

claudcloud 's review for:

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

3.25

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This sounded like a dream come true from the premise and the synopsis, but unfortunately, it fell short for me. While I enjoyed the world and the Chinese and Vietnamese inspiration, I felt like I was just dumped in with 0 explanation or world-building - which makes sense, since after starting to read I figured out that 'The Red Scholar's Wake' is part of a much larger Xuya Universe; but then this is marketed as a standalone? I was able to figure it out as I went and get the gist of things, but it was still thoroughly confusing.

As for the rest, I would best describe this book as not-weak-but-also-not-strong. We barely get a sense of who these characters are, the writing is beautiful but repetitive, and the whole of it just struggles to make me care that much about anything, even the romance. I had an okay time with it, but I wouldn't revisit it or find myself picking up more by this author.