Reviews

Silk and Steel: A Queer Speculative Adventure Anthology by Janine A. Southard

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nonesensed's review

4.5

This is a collection of short stories focused on the trope of romantic pairs where the knight & princess roles kind of apply and where both parties of that pairing happen to be women. If that sounds like a thing for you, get this book!

I had a lot of fun reading this collection. All the stories are well-written, though since they all have quite different takes on the core trope, they weren't all for me. But that just means it's likely more people will be able to find at least one story in here that fits them perfectly!

My favorite stories ended up being:
- "Elinor Jones vs. the Ruritanian Multiverse": Accidental!enemies-to-lovers and political drama.
- "Little Birds": Two people working to free themselves from under the boot of a cruel ruler.
- "Chicago Iron": Prohibition era combined with the dangers of the Fae.
- "In the Salt Crypts of Ghiarelle": Invasion of the deep sea combined with an unsure alliance and death magic.
- "The City Unbreachable": More of the 'Machineries of Empire' setting is always my thing!
- "The Epic Fifth Wedding Anniversary of Zaynne the Barbarian and Tikka the Acciuntant": Hilarious and cute.

deana_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I’m very picky with short stories and this anthology was only okay. I was really excited for the cover and the idea of queer fantasy/sci fi power couples but as I’m guessing most anthologies are, some stories fell flat.

There was a lot of dueling in this??? Which based on the cover and the apparent inspo pic, okay, but only one story actually had the two women dueling each other and it had extremely minimal tension and payoff for me. My standouts were Elinor Jones vs the Ruritanian Multiverse, Plan Z, and The Parnassian Courante (prize for being my absolute favorite).

mint_the_muffin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.75

pickled_pisces's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

I am genuinely surprised at how much I loved almost every story within this book. I will say by the 60% mark it felt like the plots got very repetitive with story ending with 2 main characters kissing despite not having any previous romantic interactions. The one story that I thought was fantastic was The Parnassian Courante.

accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition

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3.0

There's nothing wrong with this book, it's just that I almost DNF'd it like a million times. I'm pretty sure that anthologies are just not my thing at the moment. A lot of these stories were interesting but reading them in a row made them all run together.