sumayyah_t 's review for:

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

4.0

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Karen Memery─yes, with an "e"─is a *ahem* "seamstress" at Hotel Mon Cherie, owned and ran by Madame Damnable. She keeps company with a mixed bag of sisters of vastly different backgrounds. Trouble finds them one night, in the form of a wounded─shot─girl who makes her way in the world freeing and saving other girls who are in the brothel business against their will. Close on their heels is the escaped girl's former master, Peter Bantle, and his mind-altering machine. Within days, dead streetwalkers begin turning up, a US Marshal rides into town chasing the killer, and a rigged mayoral race comes into play. Karen and her friends must stop Bantle's plans by risking everything─their hour, their trade, their money, and their lives. "Karen Memory" caught my attention right off the bat because "WOMEN!" Strong-willed, outspoken, daring women who are unafraid to show a bit of their true selves in this steampunk, alternate reality 1870s in what is now the Seattle Underground. People of color are more than props, a transwoman is more than a joke or a punchline, and a queer love affair is at the forefront of the plot. This book was a wonderful way to pass time.