Reviews

Aether Beyond the Binary by ilgaksu, Zel Howland, Elior Haley, Bettina Juszak, Nicola Kapron, Alec J. Marsh, Terra P. Waters, Catherine E. Green, Sebastian Marie, Ellen Faye, Kelas Lloyd, Lyonel Loy, Mikki Madison, Em Rowntree, Flore Picard, Nina Waters, S. J. Ralston, Scarlett Gale

botanicals's review

hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

(I received an eARC of Aether Beyond the Binary. I'm not obligated to give a good review, just an honest one.)

It's a good collection of stories, but not great. There were a couple of stories in it that I felt were poorly done. Not poorly written, because actually, the prose was good in every story. The issues I noticed were more structural, like a poorly defined theme or a crucial concept not explained/described well enough. There were a few more stories that were about themes that I currently have little interest in, like coming out, so I don't think that I'm a fair judge of them.

The stories in the collection that I liked best were:

• "We Might Contain Multitudes" by Lyonel Loy: the setting was really good, I liked that the main character had a spirit familiar/multiple aspects to their soul, and then the whole forest and meeting strangers situation;
•  "chameleon trick" by ilgaksu: it's a heist! (or it has heist vibes) and the trickles of the relationship between main characters were chef's kiss;
•  "N(ae)ghbours" by Scarlett Gale: it's really cosy and delightful, the countryside to city transition really resonated as well as the countryside DIY mentality, the agricultural technologies, fabric making technologies! and 
• "Mixed Dough" by Mikki Madison: a cute story about allowing yourself to experiment with yourself, your identity and expression of.

Honorable mentions go to "Cadillac's Bus" by Em Rowntree for Janelle Monáe's "Pynk" music video/"Nevermind" novella (The Memory Librarian) vibes, "True" by Kelas Loyd for queer camp experience and the quote I liked best in the collection, "Razzmatazz" by S. J. Ralston for the union perspective, "Flower and Rot" by Zel Howland for the noir elements.

The only thing they'll miss is the cake. It's good cake, and the bakers don't know what non-binary means, so each year there's tiny toy dinosaurs in little fabric bows all over it. Eva's partial to those dinosaurs. They live on Eva's desk in their bedroom and all have names.
— "True" by Kelas Lloyd