Goran Lowie
This is a somewhat unusual story, and it's all the better for it. Famously, it has a middle-aged woman as the protagonist, which for some reason is still such a rarity in the fantasy genre. Because of this, many of its themes (such as re-establishing a purpose in later life) are more suited for “older” readers, even if they're still universally relatable.
There are a few more familiar tropes in this one as opposed to Chalion, and it feels ever so slightly overlong, but this is a very intriguing and strong novel with themes of love, war, family and honour.
“Dan, Dan, don't you remember him—the wild eyes and the unkempt beard that never turned white? He glared at me once, and I never forgot it. Now she glares that way. And I know why! He found it in the Necronomicon—the formula. I don't dare tell you the page yet, but when I do you can read and understand. Then you will know what has engulfed me. On, on, on, on—body to body to body—he means never to die. The life-glow—he knows how to break the link . . . it can flicker on a while even when the body is dead. I'll give you hints, and maybe you'll guess. Listen, Dan—do you know why my wife always takes such pains with that silly backhand writing? Have you ever seen a manuscript of old Ephraim's? Do you want to know why I shivered when I saw some hasty notes Asenath had jotted down?
“Asenath . . . is there such a person? Why did they half think there was poison in old Ephraim's stomach? Why do the Gilmans whisper about the way he shrieked—like a frightened child—when he went mad and Asenath locked him up in the padded attic room where—the other—had been? Was it old Ephraim's soul that was locked in? Who locked in whom? Why had he been looking for months for someone with a fine mind and a weak will? Why did he curse that his daughter wasn't a son? Tell me, Daniel Upton—what devilish exchange was perpetrated in the house of horror where that blasphemous monster had his trusting, weak-willed, half-human child at his mercy? Didn't he make it permanent—as she'll do in the end with me? Tell me why that thing that calls itself Asenath writes differently when off guard, so that you can't tell its script from . . .”
Absolutely terrifying.
I wanted to like this collection for its representation (obviously), but had to power through too many of its stories to really be able to say I enjoyed it. In fact, I would say I only really enjoyed one story in this entire anthology, being the very last. Too many times I was bored by a generic plot, extremely in-your-face “representation”-dumping, and bland prose.
Apparently this was intended as an audiobook, but I only found that out after reading it. That explains why it felt so short. Oh well. This felt like typical Scalzi to me: cool/gimmicky concept, so-so execution.
Looks like Tchaikovsky is fully back in fantasy, after his previous book and now this slim homage to the old portal fantasies. This reads like a deconstruction of the genre; Tchaikovsky is very cheeky about the reader being fully aware of the famous stories like Narnia and sets the story in a current-day world with an urban fantasy feel.
I was a bit disappointed at the start, I must admit. I was reminded of the Marillier and McKillip portal fantasies- magic-infused stories with gorgeous prose and taking their world fully seriously. This book is not that. Tchaikovsky plays with the tropes, subverts expectations, and there is a lot of meta stuff in here. Though I ended up liking it by the end, I always found myself being reminded of other books with memorable scenes. I have a distinct urge to re-read WILDOOD DANCING now. Though I suppose I should get around to the sequel.
My conclusion is– this is a fun and enjoyable read, reminiscent of ONE DAY ALL THIS WILL BE YOURS. A cheeky take on its subject told in the expected Tchaikovsky way. Fans of Tchaikovsky will adore this, fans of portal fantasies will also be delighted by this; it's a good way to spend an hour or two.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
NOMINATED FOR THE 2023 URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE FOR FICTION
A collection of mostly flash fiction exploring various speculative ideas. Reminiscent of Stanislaw Lem both in prose, style and themes (alienation, high-concept short stories, language). I liked this most for its often unusual stories. Probably my favorite work by Yuri Herrera!
Abeni is twelve years old when the witch women destroy her village and take away her people. Though her village was warned by their local witch of the coming danger, they refused to believe her- and stay where they are.
The witch had been taking care of the village for many centuries and now asked for the village to fullfil their part of an age-old deal: giving up one of their children in return for everything the witch has done for them.
This, they also refuse. Only one person sneakily ends up giving away her child to the witch- Abeni's mother. When the village is destroyed, Abeni is the only one who remains. She is bedrugdingly taken in by the witch and so begins a coming-of-age journey of a small girl with a big past. At the beginning, it was reminiscent of A Wizard of Earthsea- a reluctant hero very eager to learn magic but not ready for it.
I had some gripes with this novel, at first. I realize I'm not the target audience for this! But I was still sometimes annoyed at the short sentences and abundance of exclamation marks! I'm not sure how well Clark's prose translates to a middle grade audience; it becomes a lot more generic and lacks imagination.
But prose is not everything. The story got better as it went on, with a real sense of adventure harboring animal spirits which reminded me of Darcie Little Badger's A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH. There are some good, positive themes in this, and though it felt a bit black-and-white at times, I would heartily recommend this for the age group- and even for some diehard fans of Clark.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
When We Hold Each Other Up is a very fascinating take on pacifist resistance in a post-eco-apocalypse world. After the climate wars, people either live in cities run by Harmonizers (some strange more-than-human people who are able to “balance” the world by taking and giving calories, among other things) or in little solarpunk communities who try to live in balance with nature in their own little ways.
The story starts with Rowan, a young person lives in a small community when a Harmonizer arrives at their orchard and feeds on it, leaving ruin in his wake. Though the others are distrustful of him and leave him to die, Rowan decides to save him—because, like in the stories, we survive when we hold each other up. Truly, this is one of the core themes of the book, trying to find compromise and help those who may not seem the most deserving of it.
The Harmonizer is in fact a dissenter who has come to help them against other Harmonizers. The city seems to be going on the wrong path again, losing its balance, instead trying to mindlessly grow and destroy nature like the cities of old. Rowan and the Harmonizer must warn the nearby villages and see what they can do to help.
There's more to it and it goes places I thought were quite interesting. There's a big focus on the telling of stories and the way they help us understand and survive in this world. You'll come to adore the two protagonists and their little communities. Above all, what I respected in this novella is the fully-realized, authentic feeling solarpunk wordbuilding. In most books, this either feels too forced or too vague. Take Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot books, for example. They are books I love, but everyone calls them some of the great current solarpunk novellas while I always felt like solarpunk was only used as a background—here, it's the very core.
If there's one small nitpick, I thought the ending was very rushed. You have a story with perfect pacing, and suddenly it speeds up massively and conveniently wraps stuff up in a way that felt like there was much more story to tell. While I enjoyed the ending, I would've preferred to see a more fleshed out ending.
But I really liked this book. It had shades of the Earthseed books, for me. Phoebe Wagner has long been a prominent voice in the solarpunk community, and this book shows that. A voice to keep an eye on.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It's pretty flawed, but already so charming and impressive for Calvino's debut at (I believe) just 22 years old. Already, there are hints of some of the defining aspects of some of his later works, even when it's clear that he hadn't even remotely found his voice yet. Characters were caricatures, didn't really feel like a book he meant to write (more so that he wanted to have written a book like this, if you know what I mean), etc.
It's a very fascinating read for Calvino fans.
There are so many things I loved about this book. The atmosphere. The writing style. The themes. The relationship between the man and the boy. The things it made me feel, the things it made me think about. It's powerful, beautiful, and terrifying all at once. But it's not for everyone.
An excellent collection of stories. I read a lot of short stories– on their own, as part of magazines, anthologies, or collections like this one. This book actually took me quite some time to finish because I kind of hated the first story and dropped it because of that. Having finished it, it feels kind of out of place.
I liked the majority of stories in this (which is a rarity for short story collections), but it took me until about 1/3rd into it before I started really loving it. These stories are exactly what's on the tin- exploring boys loving boys, literal beasts and monsters but also the monsters inside of us. It's unabashedly queer, alwas hard-hitting, and although they felt a bit one-note at the beginning it became a varied bunch of stories by the end. Would definitely recommend.
Just drop the burger story.
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS FOR EACH STORY:
Allosaurus burgers was a funny story, but not really my kind of thing. Feels like a Scalzi short. [2/5]
57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides was an excellent Stephen King-esque story in terms of content but more experimental (told through a list). Really enjoyed this one. [4/5]
We Are the Cloud was DARK, but not the whole way through. Loved the world. [3.5/5]
Conspicuous Plumage
A story of grief. A small story told well. Mostly enjoyed the characters in this. [4/5]
Shattered Sidewalks of the Human Heart [4.5]
Loved this one. A cab driver gets an inconspicuous guest in his cab... King Kong's girl.
Shucked
For $10,000, would you give someone control of your body for an hour? Or... Longer? [4/5]
The Beasts We Want to Be
Exploring superhero-esque experimentation on people during times of war, from the perspective of one who has been experimented on. [3.5/5]
Calved [5/5]
A tragic story of a father desperately trying to get his son to love him again.
When Your Child Strays from God [4/5]
This is a great pairing with the previous story! It's about a mother trying to understand her son, and “save” him from the path he's currently on. Paired with some interesting drug concept, it makes for a nice story.
Things With Beards [3/5]
The Thing story about the monsters inside us. Not bad.
Ghosts of Home [4.5]
This story feels like a spiritual sequel to Open House on Haunted Hill. It's a similar tale told differently. Houses have spirits, and abandoned houses get lonely. What happens when the 2008 banking crisis hits, and many people lose their home?
The Heat of Us: Notes Towards an Oral History [4/5]
An alternative history account of Stonewall, where the queer people at Stonewall who fought back were also supernatural. A celebration of celebrations.
Angel, Monster, Man [4/5]
Another chilling piece, this time about the AIDS epidemic and how the government handled it (read: didn't handle it). An imaginary person, some fictional figurehead for the revolution, seems to become real.
Sun in an Empty Room [3/5]
A very musical story!
DISCLAIMER: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
NOMINATED FOR THE 2023 URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE FOR FICTION
“We all are vessels of our brokenness, we carry it inside us like water, careful not to spill.”
Everybody is broken in Lemberg's Birdverse, and no book showcases this more than GEOMETRIES OF BELONGING. Most people in these stories and poems very much don't belong in their world. Gender and linguistics have always played a prominent role in the Birdverse stories but it felt most explicit here. Lemberg does unique stuff with the genre that I can only be astonished by and respect.
And yet... There's always something off about their style, making it a chore to read, as much as I want to love it. I had this problem with THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES (where I was reading it and didn't very much understand any of it) and found THE UNBALANCING to be more readable, but I once again had to power through it. A shame, because Lemberg seems like they should be one of my favourite writers.
What an absolutely exceptional novel! It was my first real taste of Bujold (I've read two or three of the Penric novella's, which I liked, but they weren't anything like this) and I'm very happy that I have so much more of her work to discover. All the praise is deserved!
Really liked this initially but was a struggle to finish. Bit too black-and-white and YA for me, this is a Babel-type book where the social justice aspect (which I usually adore in books, when done right) feels so shoehorned in that it ruins the actual story. At no point does the protagonist actually struggle, she just points out what's wrong with the blatantly evil colonialist society and she's applauded for it. Coming from A WOMAN OF THE IRON PEOPLE which I finished recently, a tremendous exploration of indigenous-based SFF, this was a big miss. Enjoyed it for its cozyness but wish it had been more.
Untethered sky is an excellent exploration of a witcher-like monster hunter and the world in which she needs to exist. It's a classic “boy and his dragon” story, except it's a “horribly traumatized girl and her monster-killing monster” spin on it. I was expecting a fun, popcorn-y read of hunting and killing, but was positively surprised to find a more character-based read with a strong focus on the bond between the main character and her familiar, and other people in the same profession.
Where the Green Bone saga sometimes had shoddy pacing for me, here we get another story told over a long period but with much tighter focus. It's a rewarding read.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
NOMINATED FOR THE 2023 URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE FOR FICTION
Stelliform Press is probably one of my favorite small presses of the moment, focusing on cli-fi and often highlighting hope in even the darkest moments. Arboreality feels like a bit of an atypical release in their recent publication history; it feels decidedly darker (near apocalyptic) and sometimes behaving more like a collection of short stories than an actual novella.
It's a multigeneration story of survival packed into 120-something pages. People will often complain about novellas being too short, but I usually tend to disagree- most novellas are a perfect length, the format doing wonders for the story being told. Here I finally find myself agreeing. Apparently this is based on a short story. I probably would've preferred reading either the short story or an even more expanded version of it, into a full-length novel. This novella, while fascinating, felt incomplete.
Don't think it has aged super well. Would give a 2.5 if I could, but since I can't, I'll settle for a 2. It's classic big-idea sci-fi from when a time something like a ringworld or a megastructure was still novel, but ignoring that, it doesn't really have anything else interesting, and it seems to barely explore its key concept.
The ringworld idea is fantastic, but the book just uses it for some mediocre adventures. Sex scenes were horrendous.
WE WON'T BE HERE TOMORROW is an excellent collection of Killjoy's short fiction, which has been published in various anthologies and magazines throughout the past decade or so. This is my first work of her I've ever read (though I've been meaning to read A COUNTRY OF GHOSTS for years...) and it's instantly noticeable how she has a distinct voice and principles which are a part of everything she writes.
There's a variety of genres here (mostly horror and sci-fi with the occasional fantasy) with plenty of queer representation and themes of (radical) activism, revolution, trauma and other themes you'd typically associate with that crowd. There were three stories I loved, but even the ones I didn't love I quite enjoyed.
Look forward to reading more Killjoy. Perhaps it's finally time to try a country of ghosts.
Reviews for the individual stories below:
The Devil Lives Here (3.5/5)
An interesting little horror take about a girl and her friend who try to find her brother in a cave. The devil is involved. Has the right amount of mystery throughout to keep you interested, with a satisfying enough ending.
The Free Orcs of Cascadia (2/5)
I thought this was a mostly meaningless story, a dull location focused on something that could be interesting (people's desire to create a real dream and then actually living it), but it's a largely plotless affair. Could've been more.
Not One of Us Will Survive this Fog (3/5)
It's King's THE MIST except the fog is apocalyptic, slowly encroaching the entire earth. This is a flash fiction-length diary entry of someone talking about it.
One Star (3.5/5)
Dystopian story of a future autonomous taxi flagging your location as potentially illegal and driving you to the police. The car is impossible to escape, so the protagonist tries to get out of by fooling its computer brain. A good story.
We Won't Be Here Tomorrow (3.5.5)
A group of teens strike a deal with some ghouls– you get to live essentially the life you want (safe from the police/laws), but you have to die before 30. Our protagonist has outlived nearly all of her friends and now, at 30, decides she doesn't want to die just yet. A strong story about wanting to live again.
The Fortunate Death of Jonathan Sandelson (3.5/5)
A fun story about future activism/terrorism including hackers, AI and drone technology.
Imagine a World so Forgiving (3.5/5)
Caroline is stuck on an abandoned Earth with some crazy scientist who engineered the new life on Earth to kill all humans (because humans are a cancer). I liked the ending.
Everything That Isn't Winter (3/5)
A violent post-apocalypse story filled with action. Felt like a “The Walking Dead” episode with surprisingly well-developed characters for its length and welcome reversed gender stereotypes. Didn't care for the romance, which took up a sizeable part of the story.
Into the Gray (4/5)
A girl in love with a mermaid brings her victims to feed on. She wants (no, longs for) more. I quite enjoyed this story, but then I'll always have a thing for mermaid stories. It's a very atmospheric story and reads almost like a fairytale. Excellent stuff.
The Bones of Children (3/5)
A group of Lovecraft addicts is ready for the real deal. But are they really ready for what they'll get? A decent, very short story.
Mary Marrow (3/5)
The protagonist watches Mary Marrow “disappear” and investigates.
Beyond Sapphire Glass (3/5)
This is so short to basically just be a concept; people upload their minds and our protagonist protects the machines storing them. She thinks it's suicide but accepts it because... well, you'll have to read the story.
The Northern Host (4.5/5)
Nazis don't go to Valhalla. This is a delightful story of a bunch of (not-)Vikings apparently joining every battle there is to join.
Malediction (3.5/5)
There are angels in this world cursing people. The protagonist is a squatter who, of course, ends up interacting with one of these angels. Cool concept, so-so execution.
Invisible People (3/5)
Crippling anxiety plays a center role in this story of a squatter hacker who fights back against cops.
We Who Will Destroy the Future (4/5)
Maya meets a time traveler who wants to blow up the entire world to end this particular sliver of time ruled by a government they vehemently disagree with. Great story.
Men of the Ashen Morrow (5/5)
A fantastic mythological story reminiscent of Evan Dicken's WHEN WE GO. Self-sacrifice, community, and gods play an important role in this beautiful work.
A Reasonable Place If You're Careful (2/5)
A flash fiction review of some place related to death. Didn't really do anything for me.
The Name of the Forest (4/5)
A hitchhiker lives with some strange pottery-witch-lady and they essentially enter a suicide pact. Another wonderful story, even if I was hoping it was leading to a special ending, instead of just a sizzle.
It Bleeds, It Burrows, It Breaks the Bone (3/5)
A speaking house and a h(a)unted person. Mental health and escape are what this story is about. Decent enough.
The Thirty-Seven Marble Steps (3/5)
A story that reads like a folktale about a strange old woman up in a house in the mountains.
What a stunning trilogy!
The writing, the ideas, the political discourse, the social commentary, the post-colonialist themes... all weaved together in a terribly humanist web. The prime question at its beginning is what it means to have power (and to use it), and what it means to not have power- yet the more it progresses, the more it becomes this multiculturalist tale of nuance.
Throughout the entire thing, I was never able to decicively choose sides. I was rooting for the Oankali, but I was also rooting for the humans. Is the survival of our race worth “losing” our humanity?
For its supreme ability to make you feel empathic for two different opposing sides alone, I give this full marks. But considering everything else, including the exploration of the human nature and irrationality, and this makes for one of my favorite trilogies I've read in a long time.
I thought the first book was by far the strongest and most interesting, but the latter two books definitely do some interesting things that wasn't in the first.
NOMINATED FOR THE 2023 URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE FOR FICTION
Drinking from graveyard wells is an angry and honestly depressing collection. Vengeful spirits who get stuck on the injustices of their lives, the classic Western way of stealing someone's culture and turning it into something that makes a profit, people who have to pay a very high price indeed to become citizens...
This is a dark collection, filled with rage. It contains fables, mythological stories, magical realism, horror, and all other kinds of stories and flash fiction. Highly recommended.
Where UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR felt very much the same type of story as THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA, this book felt different from the beginning. Perhaps it's the sci-fi setting as opposed to the magical realist feel. Perhaps it's the prevalence of (very middle school-feeling) humor mixed with the very adult themes and language. I don't know. Something felt off from the beginning, and though it won me over enough to keep reading eventually, it never fully persuaded me.
If Cerulean Sea was a Pixar film, this is more a Spielberg—delightful, yes, but a bit overly sentimental and obviously trying to win the hearts of the Academy. Big themes sometimes very clunkily handled but you don't mind it because of the charming characters. It creates a whimsical, Portal-esque vibe, but sometimes it felt like the tone didn't match the story.
I think, in the end, I was most bothered by the plot. It felt like Klune focused so much on the characters and their banter that he forgot to actually develop the world and give the plot enough breathing room to develop in a natural way. It makes for a mixed bag of a book; fun yet a little grating at times, a heavy-handedness creeping in and only getting worse throughout. I actually believe it would've worked much better as a middle grade animated tv show. It certainly felt written that way.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.
THE LIES OF THE AJUNGO is a novella that feels like one of those typical dystopian YA stories where shock turns out they were lying to us all along but the protagonist single-handedly destroys the enemy because of some vague superpowers they've gained along the way that make them the obvious chosen one.
Though those tropes are executed quite well here (this is no YA drivel), I'm still not especially fond of them. I still thought it was a decent read, however. The book has an excellent atmosphere and a cute coming-of-age feeling plot line.
DISCLAIMER: I received an advanced reading copy of this in exchange for an honest review.