Four juniors are sent by their clans to serve the imperioral forces, to track down a specific monster found in the faster than light space travel, now loose in normal dimension. Only the head of the mission is poison, and the four must still save the day.

Why I started this book: Requested the ARC from Netgalley because of the colorful cover and description.

Why I finished it: This story swiftly pulled me in, and I found myself reading further to learn more about the world, (loosely based on a futuristic South East Asia culture?) The prose was evocative, and the details interesting but spare. Out of my wheel house but enjoyable.

Everything about this novella sounded spectacular when I requested it.

The reality of it was much different.

The reason I love novellas is because they manage to pack a wallop of a story in a small packet of pages and still do it with style. Ideally, you should never feel like you’re reading a “short book”. It should feel like the book is the exact length it needs to be to fit the story. This means it should accomplish everything a full book should accomplish in its limited page count.

Navigational Entanglements didn’t feel like that to me. It took too long for the inciting incident to occur. There was too much filler. I didn’t feel like the book was trying to engage me or compel me. Mostly, I was bored.

A novella thrives on economy, and there was just too much waste in the pages. If this book had been more intriguing, faster-paced, or intelligent, then I might’ve been more interested. As it stands, it was hard to finish.

I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. A two star or below rating means this review will not be appearing on my social media. Thank you.

File Under: LGBTQ Sci-Fi/LGBTQ Romance/Novella/Sapphic Romance/Sci Fi/Space Opera

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Blog post goes live July 26th

**TL;DR**: Sadly, this maybe the most forgettable of Aliette De Bodard’s work for me.
**Source:** NetGalley, thank you to the publisher!

**Plot**: A group of young women are sent to hunt down a monster that has come from the dark reaches of space into inhabited space.
**Characters**: This is probably where the book fell for me. The characters just did not work for me.
**Setting**: I did enjoy the setting, I usually do with Aliette’s books, we had a few different ones but it was well drawn and interesting.
**Science Fiction**: It was pretty light on details even though this was very much a SF.

**Thoughts**:

I’ve read a lot of Aliette De Bodard’s work. They are one of my auto buy authors in the SF sphere, but this one sadly is going to be a skip for me. Navigational Entanglements seems to be setting up a new world and cast of characters that may be kicking off a series? I’m not sure if I’ll continue to be honest, but I might give at least one more in this world a try.

We follow a group of four women who are trying to track down a deep space creature that has appeared in inhabited space. There are a lot of questions early on such as why these four, and how the creature got released. All of these are answered and the story idea itself is great. However the characters were so abrasive that I had a hard time caring. We switch PoVs, so we see two different sides of the story. Our first is a young woman who clearly exhibits some traits from the Autistic spectrum (though never explicitly stated). She was intriguing and I did enjoy her at first! The second is a very gruff and frankly cruel young assassin who is very hard to like. The two eventually have a budding romance, but the story is very messy between the two.

I found a lot of things about this hard to enjoy. The PoV of our Snake character, the cruel young assassin nearly made me put the book down. The ‘I love you’ after knowing each other for a few days, and just the lack of real development through the story for these two. There was some growth at the end, not enough to convince me it’s going to to stick, but some. That will have me give the series, if it is one, at least one more try. But I don’t know if I can recommend this one widely.

2.5 out of 5 Creepy Tentacles

While I wanted to enjoy Navigational Entanglements, it just fell a little short. This novella had some impressive world building and concepts. I was totally here for it even if at the beginning I was so lost. But unfortunately, the world building didn't get a ton clearer. I think part of that is that the scope of what de Bodard is trying to do might be better for a longer form or something which has the space needed to detail all the things I wanted to see. I wanted to know a bit more about the world to make the discoveries ring more deeply.

This was a novella based in space, with technology and worlds far more advanced than our own. Nhi, the main character, shows traits of autism, and so she is often alone and misunderstood. She mostly flies under the radar, except when she's called on for a special mission: to find and capture an escaped creature known as a tangler. She and a crew of a few others set out, not knowing that they're expected to fail. Along the way, Nhi finds herself fascinated and captivated by the clan assassin Hac Cuc, who is feisty and independent and extremely intolerant of BS.

The book was a quick read, and it was frustating at times reading from Nhi's POV because she couldn't convey what she was really thinking/feeling, but I think that's a good representation of how it is to be autistic in the world. The world-building was very complex and detailed, which might've been a small detriment in this case because of the shorter format. Overall, it was a fun, adventurous read, but some of the minor characters I found extremely irritating, and the convoluted relationships among the clans and characters became a little overwhelming at some points.

I think Aliette de Bodard just gets better with every book! This was a beautiful, eerie, and fast-paced sci fi novella that's a combination of murder mystery and found family story with an examination of personal morals versus societal norms. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

This was a trippy science fiction novella that will stick with you. I loved the world building and conflict that de Bodard sets up. Everything makes sense and the backstory is revealed at just the right times to move the conflict along.

This book tells the story of 4 junior representatives of navigator clans trying to find and contain a monster from a dangerous traveling non-normal space that has gotten lost in normal space and will eat people's cognition. Drama! Stakes! Throw in some will they, won't they sapphic romance and we have enough ingredients to have a great time!
What really blew me away though were these neurodivergent characters.  Nhi is a deeply resonant example of an Autistic woman who just can't quite understand the rules for how other people behave - her preference is to avoid people but can't which means thinking carefully about how to act, getting things wrong, experiencing intense sensory overwhelm, and more. Hạc Cúc is an intense perfectionist and adheres to a code of behavior she learned from her mentor. Her perfectionism is a rigid coping strategy for dealing with her own impulsiveness and perceived failings. The relationship between the two captures that sign of relief people have when they find someone who clicks with their unique way of being in the world, and their trials and tribulations read true to people who are outsiders who can't quite trust that feeling. Bảo Duy is so consumed by her special interests she forgets to care about people. Làhn had a traumatic and damaging childhood experience that leaves her an outsider.  I genuinely hope this isn't the last we see of these amazing characters.

3.5 stars rounded up

Navigational Entanglements is a sci-fi novella that is seemingly about a group of junior Navigators assigned to find and take care of a dangerous monster that was wandered into the wrong realm. But in many ways this is more about the interpersonal relationships and internal arcs of the characters. The four women assigned are from different clans and mostly don't get along (even if there is an undercurrent of attraction between two of them) but the mission will test their limits.

At times this felt like it was dragging a bit. The language and pacing are slow, but I like the overall story and characters. We have queer and neurodivergent POV characters and the novella explores elements of how they experience the world. The sci-fi elements are somewhat interesting. Not my favorite book from the author, but I liked it. I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own.

If I could force every sentient being to read one book, it might be this one. The glimpses into Nhi's thought processes, fears and hopes resonated with me on a visceral level (and led me to believe she might be autistic, though this might have been projection and wishful thinking on my part as an autistic queer woman myself). The worldbuilding was explained well enough so that I could jump into the story pretty easily but not so dense that I needed to keep a lexicon or actually understand physics.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for letting me read an e-ARC of Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard! (4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for this review)

Readers are thrown head-first into a world that de Bodard crafts as we meet up with junior Navigators from various clans around the system. They are tasked with guiding ships around the Hollows, which are filled with deadly space monsters called Tanglers. These Navigators have the ability to extend their Shadows (it’s hard to describe, but it’s essentially a magic they wield that seems to manifest internally) to deter and avoid these monsters.

Our main characters, Việt Nhi from the Rooster clan and Hạc Cúc from the Snake clan, along with three other junior navigators, are tasked with capturing an escaped Tangler. One of their number is poisoned shortly after their departure and they struggle to figure out how this was possible, but it leads them to an even bigger discovery: the Tangler they seek is enormous, and they certainly won’t be able to destroy this creature on their own. Seeking advice from their elders, they’re given useless information and they realize the creature is on its way toward an area filled with civilians. The catch? There’s no real way to prevent the ensuing destruction.

Nhi refuses to accept defeat, and the entire crew must band together to protect the innocent and, if possible, avoid more damage. Can they solve this problem peacefully and without more loss of life?

Aliette de Bodard knows how to write space operas, even in shorter formats. While I struggled feeling completely immersed in the beginning, I was hooked by 50% and sped through the second half. I was a little turned off by the romance plot between our main characters in the beginning (it felt predictable and immediate attraction isn’t something I love in books), but they grew on me and I was pleased with the ending. If you enjoy sci-fi that doesn’t explain the little details, keeps you on your toes, and leaves a lot of world-building to your wildest imagination, you might enjoy this one! It won’t be my last book by this author.

The story was interesting enough, but everything felt scattered. Maybe there is a prequel I’m missing? The world building was non-existent, so I’m not sure if the characters were human or non-human. The description of Shadow was… minimal and repetitive. I the main character (Nhi?) was almost prescient yet naive. Trying to figure out the politics of the clans versus the empire was impossible. The characters were all deeply flawed and likely each had multiple mental health diagnoses. The romance felt forced and childish.

I may try another of the author’s books in the future. But this one was a bit of a let down.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

A very nice short novel. Interesting characters, decent plot. I did get the names mixed up, but that is likely because of an unfamiliarity with the asian cultures. I do hope that we see more books with these characters.

I liked this book, but I didn’t really know what was going on for most of it. The character development kept me reading, and I got the gist of the plot, but the world building lacked enough description to be fully immersed.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

DNF

Unfortunately, I DNF’d this book. As soon as I started, it felt like I was plunged in the middle of a series. I did some research and found that it took place in the same world as the author’s other works. I tried to work through it, but there wasn’t enough world building for me to grasp what was going on. This is a flaw with me rather than the book, so I would like to come back to this if I read the author’s other works in the future. I’m sure it will make a lot more sense to me then!

I have read and enjoyed several of this author's novellas so I was hopeful this would be a favourite.

I found the prose to be pleasing. However, I found the characters and worldbuilding to be underwhelming. I wanted to love this one but it was too vague for me to fully grasp and I found myself wanting more.

I think this author has a lot of potential but this story felt so undeveloped.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this on ebook from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This was a bit different from what I was expecting...if I am being honest I wasn't really sure what to expect since I hadn't read this author before. I ended up liking this although in the beginning I found it a bit confusing.

This follows a couple different characters, both Navigators of different clans who are assigned to hunt down a tangler (a huge beast that can take out who cities across the universe). Viet Nhi and Hac Cuc are from different clans but are assigned to the same team. As they work through personality issues on the team and face impossible challenges, they realize that there are more politics going on behind the scenes than they were originally led to believe.

The beginning of this is a bit of an info-dump and a bit confusing. As with a lot of sci-fi, you have a lot of terms thrown at you that are new and not very well explained. Fortunately, it is pretty easy to get this sorted out after the first couple chapters. Although, I still never really understood what exactly made the Navigator clans different (yes they have Shadows and can open gates but how did they get different from other human factions?). The other thing I struggled with were the names. You'll have to pardon my American ignorance here, but I believe these are Vietnamese inspired names? I had to re-read all the character names a lot and really put in effort to make sure I kept them straight throughout the story. By the mid-point, I felt more comfortable with them.

This starts out as a sort of hunt/space battle but then changes into something else as politics get involved. While the premise of betrayal and rebellion that the story follows wasn't all that unique, I did enjoy the characters and the setting. This ends up being more of a romance than anything else. There is also a theme of conflicting personalities learning to work together towards the same goal. Our characters are split in to clans and initially there is quite a bit about the characteristics unique to those clans. However, the longer the characters are together, the more you see that everyone has the same goals but different strengths and weaknesses.

There is a lot packed into this short novella. I found it interesting and entertaining despite some of the initial struggles I mentioned above. The story was different from what I was expecting but not in a bad way. This was a nice break from all the historical fantasy I have been reading. I did struggle with the flow of the writing a bit at points, but it wasn't enough to detract from the story.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I liked this and found it entertaining. I did struggle a bit with all the sci-fi terms thrown at the reader initially, and I also struggled to keep names straight because they were so foreign to me. I enjoyed the world-building and characters here and was surprised at how much story was packed in to this novella. I ended up enjoying this, although I was a bit surprised by how much romance was in here. I did enjoy the theme of a team of misfits learning to work together. This was a creative and intriguing read. I think I might seek out more stories by Bodard if I am in the mood for a different sort of sci-fi story.

I've loved Aliette de Bodard from my first discovery of their unusual writing themes years ago, watching the books develop and explore even more deeply - while still staying grounded in humanity and love.

This seemed at first to be a complex scifi adventure, with a bit of mystery involved. But as the title hints, it's a tangle. Who is the monster? Are these the unlikeliest heroes ever? What happens if the issues are dealt with but the status quo is not restored?

I especially liked how very real the primary quorum was, with personalities rubbing against each other and NOT coming together Disney-style by the end - but working together while understanding each other's differences. Everyone had issues and they were considered clearly and well. Internal battles are as important as external in this tale.

As I said, Aliette writes truth. This isn't the typical Western storytelling style, and neither characters nor universe are 'all fine at the end.' It twists and turns into unforeseen places... like life. That sense of realism in a very fantastic setting is a joy to me.

My only disappointment was that the ARC had no pronunciation guide for names. I'm unfamiliar with Vietnamese speech and did try to look these up, but without much success. I'd like to respect characters and author by naming them correctly, as I'm sure what I have in my head is coloured by my English baseline!

Another great book by an amazing and innovative author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
Another good one from Aliette de Bodard. I enjoyed this a lot, it was a fun space story, a good story about young people being disillusioned with the values of their elders, and a great romance between an anxious perfectionist and a neurodivergent person. Loved that! de Bodard always manages to put a lot into shorter books, and I love that.

I really enjoyed this adventure into a new corner of space operas and think that, while it may not have been the best introductory read to Aliette de Bodard's works, it does give a nice insight into her writing style. The pacing was understandably quick for a novella, but it really sold the fast-paced situation of an escaped beast needing capture without sacrificing worldbuilding or character exploration. On the topic of worldbuilding, I felt that de Bodard struck a near perfect balance of sprinkling in contextual information without bogging down the reader in particulars. I immediately understood the broad concept of individuals' use of Shadow as a kind martial art utilizing an ephemeral, biological extension of one's own energy without it needing to be fully laid out in front of me and I applaud de Bodard's skill to do that through character casual thoughts and actions. I truly enjoy when an author trusts their readers to understand the world they've created by illustrating the effects that world has on the characters instead of outlining each political system and social nicety and Aliette de Bodard seems to have mastered this skill. Nhi's neurodivergence was handled so beautifully without turning her into a caricature of the neurodivergent experience, and Hạc Cúc's own inner turmoil stood as a backdrop for her own insecurities and view of the world. I would love to see more of these characters or this universe in future books, but look forward to experiencing more of her writing.