Quickly, In List Form
1. "On a Red Station, Drifting" by Aliette de Bodard was easily my favorite of nominated novellas.[1] It is part of de Bodard's Xuya universe - I've read a few stories set in this universe, but I don't really know much about it and it's not necessary to do so. And perhaps because this is a universe that de Bodard has been working in for a while, the worldbuilding felt rich and expansive, as if there was a lot to see beyond the page.
2. I particularly liked her take on ancestor veneration - ancestors live as implants in your head handed down through families. They provide advice and counsel during examinations and for that reason they are very desired by people who don't have them as heirlooms to hand down - to the point where they would risk having an implant installed from a stranger, even though it might drive them mad.
3. This is a story of three females: Honored Ancestress, the AI who runs Prosper Station and is slowly falling apart; Quyen, the human who management of Prosper Station and feels she's been thrust above her station, and Linh, a magistrate who is a refugee because her district was taken over by rebels (and she made the mistake of chastising the Emperor for his failure to squash the rebels).
4. While there are greater and lesser partners in marriages, they are merit based, rather than sex based. Both husbands and wives have gone off to war leaving their lesser partner behind. Quyen is a lesser partner and she frequently feels out of her depth and the station has been suffering because of it. Huu Hieu is a lesser husband and has disgracefully sold his implants as a way to gain the money to escape Proper station.
5. These aren't particularly likable ladies, but that doesn't matter because they are interesting. They are prickly and territorial, sometimes jerks - both intentionally and unintentionally. But Quyen loves her family, Ancient Ancestress and Prosper Station, and Linh is obviously heartsick for the people she has lost at her last posting. In a nutshell, they feel like well-rounded people.
6. The ending feels a bit neat as it is dependent on the system collapse that Ancient Ancestress undergoes during the story, because it generally sits outside the main plot as the collapse is not caused by essential elements of the story. The reboot that is necessary to save her conveniently wipes the record of Quyen aiding Linh and allows the Emperor's soldiers to avoid purging all Linh's relatives (essentially everyone) on the station.
[1] It did have an annoying number of typos, though.
2. I particularly liked her take on ancestor veneration - ancestors live as implants in your head handed down through families. They provide advice and counsel during examinations and for that reason they are very desired by people who don't have them as heirlooms to hand down - to the point where they would risk having an implant installed from a stranger, even though it might drive them mad.
3. This is a story of three females: Honored Ancestress, the AI who runs Prosper Station and is slowly falling apart; Quyen, the human who management of Prosper Station and feels she's been thrust above her station, and Linh, a magistrate who is a refugee because her district was taken over by rebels (and she made the mistake of chastising the Emperor for his failure to squash the rebels).
4. While there are greater and lesser partners in marriages, they are merit based, rather than sex based. Both husbands and wives have gone off to war leaving their lesser partner behind. Quyen is a lesser partner and she frequently feels out of her depth and the station has been suffering because of it. Huu Hieu is a lesser husband and has disgracefully sold his implants as a way to gain the money to escape Proper station.
5. These aren't particularly likable ladies, but that doesn't matter because they are interesting. They are prickly and territorial, sometimes jerks - both intentionally and unintentionally. But Quyen loves her family, Ancient Ancestress and Prosper Station, and Linh is obviously heartsick for the people she has lost at her last posting. In a nutshell, they feel like well-rounded people.
6. The ending feels a bit neat as it is dependent on the system collapse that Ancient Ancestress undergoes during the story, because it generally sits outside the main plot as the collapse is not caused by essential elements of the story. The reboot that is necessary to save her conveniently wipes the record of Quyen aiding Linh and allows the Emperor's soldiers to avoid purging all Linh's relatives (essentially everyone) on the station.
[1] It did have an annoying number of typos, though.