Available in the collection Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight, or you can buy the Apex Magazine and find it in there.
Just like The Weight of a Blessing before it, i couldn’t figure out any connection between this and the rest of the Xuya stories we’ve been reading up to now. But, that’s not to say this isn’t worth reading, it is a rather good read in itself.
However, i think the problem lies in that these two stories could have been much better presented as one longer story but with a context to it all, some background, stage setting, etc.. I really feel that if Aliette were to do this then it would make a great stand alone novel that would not need to be shoved in, bizarrely, as part of the Xuya stories.
One of the best things about Memorials for me was the “perpetuates” in “V-space”, which reminded me of All the Retros at the New Cotton Club by DeAnna Knippling. As i said in my review of that, i would have loved to have more of the New Cotton Club and its “retros”, and likewise, with Memorials i’d really like to read more stories from the Memorial and it’s “perpetuate” characters, and maybe similar places hosting “perpetuates”.
So, after all is read and said, The Weight of a Blessing and Memorials ended up as quite an enjoyable read once i figured out what was actually happening and that they really don’t have any connection to Xuya and trying to find one while reading these just messes things up. So read them as a standalone pair and re-read The Weight of a Blessing again, after Memorials, and you should enjoy yourself.
And now, The Waiting Stars.
