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rnbhargava's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a wonderful collection of short stories by NK Jemisin. The content is thus varied and so are the triggers. There’s a good amount of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Magical Realism, even supernatural horror in this collection. It’s not perfect. Some of the stories are arguably too short, basically the germ of an introduction or an idea. Some others are perhaps slightly plodding, though I enjoyed quite a few of the stories regardless of length.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence
There’s a lot of content warnings across all these stories, I honestly probably missed some. That said, I loved the majority of Jemisin’s shorts in this book and I look forward to reading even more books from her.mariebrunelm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Short story collections are hard to review. What I can say is that each one in this collection was strong, and N.K. Jemisin adapted her style to each one, which was quite impressive. I was so mesmerized by the second story, "The City Born Great", that the next ones paled a little in comparison, but this collection has absolute gems in store. It spans most of the subgenres of speculative fiction, from fantasy to science-fiction to the fantastic with a touch of steampunk. I was especially delighted to read a couple of stories based on food, and was always baffled by the writer's craft. After reading The Fifth Season I knew I could trust Jemisin's longer fiction, but short stories imply quite a different approach and not every novel-writer is a good short-story-writer. Well, Jemisin's collection is a masterclass in itself.
Rep: most MCs are Black, many are queer.
CW: racism, hate crime, bullying, sexual violence, animal death... Not all apply to the same stories, and it can be difficult to keep track of them over such different narratives, so my list is far from exhaustive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Bullying, Animal death, and Racism
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