Navigational Entanglements

2.5 Stars 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 mys......more

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......more

well…! High highs and low lows. I think my disappointment with this story comes from recognizing that it could’ve easily been a 5/5 with some work. Sometimes “this novella should have been longer” is a kind of backwards compliment - “I liked this, I wish there were more of it.” And while I would’ve e......more

I wanted to wrap up my thoughts before this goes back to the library, but I'm not sure that I have much to say about this one. In short: it's a cool idea, but I would have liked to see this as either a tight novelette or a more balanced novel with time for nuanced character interactions. The framewo......more

I read this as part of the Hugo finalist packet. de Bodard's latest is a solid work of scifi, where spaceship navigators can open gates but also must contend with deadly creatures. When four juniors from rival clans are tasked to work together, tempers--and passions--run high, and the politics aroun......more