I was pretty sure I was going to love this before I started because I’ve loved many of Iona Datt Sharma’s stories before. Then before I stared on the stories I read the introduction which quotes Le Guin’s National Book Award speech about the need for hope in hard times and I was nearly in tears. It’s one of my favorite things that Le Guin wrote, and very much what I want to see in fiction. So I really expected to love this -- and I did.
This book took me a long time to read. Sometimes books take a long time because I have to push through, but this one took me a long time because I was savoring it. I’d read a story and then stop and think about it for a while rather than racing through. I do feel a little guilty though because the author very kindly gave me an ARC and now the book has been out for a while and I’m just getting around to finishing it and reviewing it.
These stories were so beautiful! They are beautifully written and thematically about many of my favorite things. Many of these stories deal with found family and friendship. While some of them feature character in romantic relationships none of them are about romance. Another important theme that I loved in these stories is doing the unglamorous stuff to keep society running -- placing a sewage plant, railway inquests, feeding the revolutionaries -- that type of thing. It not the stuff of heroic stories but Datt Sharma makes it fascinating. Their writing is dense with details little hints that work to build both the worlds and the characters.
So I definitely recommend this collection! I think it has lot of themes that many of my regular reader would really like. If you are look for SFF about building community definitely check it out.
This book took me a long time to read. Sometimes books take a long time because I have to push through, but this one took me a long time because I was savoring it. I’d read a story and then stop and think about it for a while rather than racing through. I do feel a little guilty though because the author very kindly gave me an ARC and now the book has been out for a while and I’m just getting around to finishing it and reviewing it.
These stories were so beautiful! They are beautifully written and thematically about many of my favorite things. Many of these stories deal with found family and friendship. While some of them feature character in romantic relationships none of them are about romance. Another important theme that I loved in these stories is doing the unglamorous stuff to keep society running -- placing a sewage plant, railway inquests, feeding the revolutionaries -- that type of thing. It not the stuff of heroic stories but Datt Sharma makes it fascinating. Their writing is dense with details little hints that work to build both the worlds and the characters.
So I definitely recommend this collection! I think it has lot of themes that many of my regular reader would really like. If you are look for SFF about building community definitely check it out.
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