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lezreadalot's review against another edition
3.0
“Odessa is the Queen. I am her sword.”
“Gods forbid you should be your own sword.”
Super interesting novella about a general who returns from a war and finds her country and queen (who is also her lover) very much changed, and not in the ways she wanted to expected. Great concept, and there were glimmers in the writing that reminded me of what I love best about Kai Ashante Wilson's work: afro-fantasy and dialect. I liked the world-building; I loved the characters. Out of everything else, what this novella does really well is give us a great sense of the history and deep bonds between the characters, and everything that happened to bring them to the place they're at. There's something very satisfying about a good dysfunctional relationship. But still... I needed way more detail and build-up. It was ambitious to try to tell this story in just a novella, and I don't think it worked all that well. We needed to spend way more time with these characters, and so many aspects of the story could have been better fleshed out. On a simpler note, this desperately needed better editing. Lots of typos, and this has the very annoying quirk of having different lines of dialogue from different characters in the same paragraph, so I was often confused about who was speaking. All the mistakes and the breakneck speed at which we moved through the story made this seem like a rush job.
Some great ideas here, but I didn't like this as much as I wanted to.
remigves's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
miss617's review against another edition
3.0
I am really, REALLY struggling with whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. I am settling on 2.5 stars rounded up because yay Black speculative fiction authors. #sorrynotsorry
However, this comes with a caveat. I do not think this was particularly well-written. I know that novellas can tell a complete story in a short amount of time, and have seen it done on numerous occasions. I do not feel like this book accomplished that. I still had too many unanswered questions at the end. There were typos and punctuation errors that just irked me - and I cannot and will not apologize for my frustration on that front.
I wanted to be happy that this was "hella Black," as one review called it, but it just did not work for me. AAVE was too underutilized to feel authentic - the passages that used it could have easily been rewritten to fit the rest of story. And I feel uncomfortable giving that criticism because while I'd love more fantasy set or partially set in the hood, here it just felt like an afterthought.
There were some elements that could have been explored more (further explanation of the element and mage systems, for example) that led to my feeling that this story was incomplete. The reveal of the heroine's origin felt rushed, the supposed gender/lack thereof diversity understated... There were just too many things that should have set this story apart that were not developed enough to make it memorable.
However, this comes with a caveat. I do not think this was particularly well-written. I know that novellas can tell a complete story in a short amount of time, and have seen it done on numerous occasions. I do not feel like this book accomplished that. I still had too many unanswered questions at the end. There were typos and punctuation errors that just irked me - and I cannot and will not apologize for my frustration on that front.
I wanted to be happy that this was "hella Black," as one review called it, but it just did not work for me. AAVE was too underutilized to feel authentic - the passages that used it could have easily been rewritten to fit the rest of story. And I feel uncomfortable giving that criticism because while I'd love more fantasy set or partially set in the hood, here it just felt like an afterthought.
There were some elements that could have been explored more (further explanation of the element and mage systems, for example) that led to my feeling that this story was incomplete. The reveal of the heroine's origin felt rushed, the supposed gender/lack thereof diversity understated... There were just too many things that should have set this story apart that were not developed enough to make it memorable.
fallingaster's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
lotsa_matcha's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good. Wish there had been more about the Odessa-Aaliyah-Mercy triangle from before because that is the weakest part. There wasn't the space to flesh those out as they needed to be. There are some copyediting errors that should have been caught by proofreading -- extra spaces, missing spaces, quotation mark errors.
jugglingpup's review against another edition
4.0
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This one of the books available in the Pride Bundle. Thank you Tachyon for giving me a copy.
I am not a fantasy fan, never have been. iam is trying to change that, but it is a very long battle. This book would have been a really good choice for them to make me read to get me into fantasy.
This is very much the sort of fantasy I can get into. From what little I know about fantasy, this would be romantic fantasy or I like to call it the space opera of the kingdoms. There was such a focus on the characters and found family that I got so heavily invested. I never once doubted that the right thing would happen, instead I was worried about if the moral thing would destroy them emotionally. That is the sort of drama I need in my life.
I loved that this was a quick read that didn’t blather on about politics of any of the kingdoms. I couldn’t care less about who is and is not vying for the throne and things like that. I care about the “smaller” details like are the people being fed. I love the underdog stories. I love that this happened after the underdog story though. I would immediately buy the prequel to this where they are the underdogs. Make me fall in love with Odessa and then emotionally destroy me with this book. I dare you, Dunbar (please).
Overall, I really liked it. It was very queer and very much a book that made sense in my life. Give me social assistance programs and a society that doesn’t require them because everyone is already cared for and I will be in love.
This one of the books available in the Pride Bundle. Thank you Tachyon for giving me a copy.
I am not a fantasy fan, never have been. iam is trying to change that, but it is a very long battle. This book would have been a really good choice for them to make me read to get me into fantasy.
This is very much the sort of fantasy I can get into. From what little I know about fantasy, this would be romantic fantasy or I like to call it the space opera of the kingdoms. There was such a focus on the characters and found family that I got so heavily invested. I never once doubted that the right thing would happen, instead I was worried about if the moral thing would destroy them emotionally. That is the sort of drama I need in my life.
I loved that this was a quick read that didn’t blather on about politics of any of the kingdoms. I couldn’t care less about who is and is not vying for the throne and things like that. I care about the “smaller” details like are the people being fed. I love the underdog stories. I love that this happened after the underdog story though. I would immediately buy the prequel to this where they are the underdogs. Make me fall in love with Odessa and then emotionally destroy me with this book. I dare you, Dunbar (please).
Overall, I really liked it. It was very queer and very much a book that made sense in my life. Give me social assistance programs and a society that doesn’t require them because everyone is already cared for and I will be in love.
kdaedwards's review
3.0
When I learned someone "I knew back when..." had written a sci-fi/fantasy novella, I knew I had to read it. I enjoyed the story line and felt like I understood the world enough to feel like the story was believable in that universe. There were pieces that I felt could have been more flushed out or taken longer to describe (and that I wanted more of!), but then it would have been a novel instead. I will definitely read other things she publishes!
msbomister's review
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ellornaslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
While the digital/ebook version has some formatting issues that I hope will get fixed in future, it didn't distract from me being able to enjoy this novella. The magic and lore was good, but I really liked the characters. I did wish it was just a liiiittle bit longer which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 stars. I love the setting, the characters, and the story we got to experience. They were all really interesting. Also found family is my favorite trope. I loved too how it felt almost like a standard medieval magic fantasy, but the elements that made it own gave it that fresh feel. I also really enjoyed that it was a queernorm setting too - don't see this nearly enough.
I really hope to read more from this author soon. Perhaps we'll even get more stores from the characters/places in this book cause I'd really like that a lot.
I really hope to read more from this author soon. Perhaps we'll even get more stores from the characters/places in this book cause I'd really like that a lot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: War, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Sexual content, and Addiction