I'm not sure where to go with my rating on this one. The world is intriguing, I love brainships, I like the characters. And it's a nice story.
But it doesn't quite draw me in as much as I would like it to. It could be a bit more accessible. As it was, I started from the beginning 3 times because what I read seemed to clash with what I thought I read earlier. Somehow I had come to conclusions about the world that were incorrect. As a result, the ride wasn't entirely smooth...
But 3 is too low, and there was enough to like about this that I'm rounding up. ( )

Another cool story set in the Xuya universe. Once again, I enjoyed the writing and the worldbuilding. The main characters are easy to like, and this time, it was interesting to follow those who do not accept how their society works. And I love sentient spaceships, of course!

The murder mystery/heist plot was not particularly interesting; it was more of a vehicle for characters’ relationships and emotions. That was fine with me. The emotions were turbulent, everything bursting at the seams, the strings wound tight, and sometimes this novella was on the verge of going too far, right into the soap opera territory. Thankfully, it didn’t, but I had a feeling the author had trouble keeping her characters under control. I did like the teacher-student relationship, which was beautifully shown. When it comes to the romance, I could have done without – there was slightly too much sugar syrup and instalove. Friendship/"will-they-won’t they" would have sufficed, IMO…

Overall, I enjoyed this novella more than The Citadel of Weeping Pearls, while The Tea Master and the Detective and On a Red Station, Drifting remain my favourites. In case anyone is wondering, I do intend to read all the Xuya stories (somehow). Because, well, sentient spaceships :) ( )

Super good Xuya story from the Scattered Pearls Belt orbitals.

This time we have a mindship that's a master thief (with principals and ethics of course) going up against some exiles who have no principals or ethics whatsoever, and thrown right in-between a not so innocent teacher and her student.

I most certainly advise not to bother reading this story if you haven't read all the rest of Xuya and have fully grasped overlays, mem-implants, bots and all the rest of the mindship stuff because it's all in this one story, we even have sex between a mindship and a human: oooooh!!!

The next book in the Xuya time line is Rescue Party. ( )

This is a novella set in The Universe of Xuya series of stories. Vân is a tutor with a secret that can ruin her if it comes to light. She is not from the typical scholar background and she has an unusual memory implant that if society found out what she did to it, she would be ruined. While talking with the ship mind Sunless Woods about the poetry club they belong to an visitor comes to visit Vân’s student and then promptly dies as her student left the room to get tea. Sunless Woods insists on helping Vân with this mystery and in the process Vân and Sunless Woods’ shadowy backgrounds come to light.
Another great story in this setting and once again it is written where the reader doesn’t need to be familiar with setting to find out what is going on but you do get a deeper appreciation of it if you have read some of the previous stories.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
( )

An amazing combination of a space opera combined with a detective story, but something much more delicate and lovely than that. This book is a good introduction to the Xuya Universe for those unfamiliar, and an excellent visit for those who are past visitors. Highly recommended. (I received this eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.) ( )