#74 The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

[missingvolume]

The setting of the Xuya universe is a rich one and it gives another great story that can stand along for new readers. Space pirates, betrayals, and a marriage of convenience that might become much more.  Xích Si has been captured by pirates and there is a death penalty for anyone being a pirate or even being related to a pirate, so she knows she is dead to her family on her station. When the AI* ship Rice Fish offers her a marriage contract, she agrees knowing it will protect her. Rice Fish was recently widowed when her wife was killed during a battle but the circumstances look like it could have been a betrayal from one of the affiliated pirated bands.  Now to solve the mystery of the murder and keep the various pirate groups banded together against the two warring empires, Rice Fish must take a new spouse to use their skills to solve everything. 

 

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley

*I should say not an AI ship but a brain ship