REVIEW: Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard
Jockeying navigator clans guide spaceships through the Hollows: an area of space populated by the mysterious but deadly creatures known as Tanglers. When a Tangler escapes the Hollows for the first time in living memory, each clan must send a representative to help capture it—but the mission may be doomed and the hearts of two clan juniors may be in danger too.
Viet Nhi is not good with people. Or politics. Which is a problem when the Rooster clan sends her on the mission against her will, forcing her to work with an ill-matched group of squabbling teammates from rival clans, including one who she can’t avoid, and maybe doesn’t want to.
Hac Cúc of the Snake clan has always been better at poisoning and stabbing than at making friends, but she’s drawn to Nhi’s perceptiveness and obliviousness to social conventions—including the ones that really should make Nhi think twice about spending time with her.
But when their imperial envoy and nominal leader is poisoned, this crew of expendable apprentices will have to learn to work together—fast—before the invisible Tangler can wreak havoc on a civilian city and destroy the fragile reputation of the clans. Along the way, Nhi and Hac Cúc will have to learn the hardest lesson of all: to see past their own misconceptions and learn to trust their growing feelings for each other.
Dear Ms. de Bodard,
I know, I know I said I wasn’t reading any more from your Xuya Universe but I don’t think this is from that Universe. At least it didn’t seem like it to me. It’s also a long novella length rather than a full length book so there’s that, too. I liked it but I didn’t love it.
The blurb actually does a better job of explaining what the plot is about than the novella does. That was the first problem for me. There’s worldbuilding … but it’s vague. The reader is dropped into this world with little to no information and is left floundering trying to figure out exactly who is who and what is going on. And there’s a lot to try to grasp in order to understand all the different characters as politics and factions are involved. The stakes are real and are high which I appreciated.
Once the junior members of the four different clans set off to try and capture the alien creature, their bickering begins. Frankly, I only liked one character and she’s not one of the main ones. But everyone has issues and problems and acts in ways that annoy and irritate me. The two main characters are given reasons for why they act like cruel bitches at times but I only managed to hang onto my patience with them by a thread. By the end, they’ve reluctantly forged themselves into a rag-tag band of frenemies in order to save the day.
Because, yes, there are many layers to what is actually going on and a whole lot of people don’t come off well. When truths are revealed, the juniors (who are the MCs) don’t take it well. One, in fact, seems to fall apart into almost a pity party. They do manage to triumph and I liked how each junior’s strengths are actually used to accomplish this. The cultural deference that is a part of the Xuya Universe (still not sure this book is part of that) is sort of seen here which I also liked. The romance however is rushed and I never really felt it. It does have a gorgeous cover though. C
~Jayne
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