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A review by leonidskies
The Extravaganza Eternia by Kristin Osani
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.5
I read a copy of this book as a judge for the SSBA (Small Speculative Book Awards). This review is a reflection of my opinion and not directly of the book's performance in the competition.
This is a beautifully woven and deeply character-rich novella. The perspective is viscerally emotive and incredibly vivid in its snapshot of a really interesting world. It captures something really quite special about the importance of finding common cause with the people around you and allowing love to enter your life. It also has a nice romance-adjacent plot which falls at the core of the work but doesn't detract from the other things going on.
Something I found really special about it was the breath of queerness in the book, especially the volume of trans characters. As someone who reads a decent amount of books featuring trans characters, the sheer number of characters who were just incidentally trans was a really pleasant surprise.
I had one major hang-up with the book after the first few chapters - that the plot revolves around the traumatic murder of a black trans man - but I was happy with how the book resolved on this point.
Overall, though, resolution comes very quickly in this book, with a lot happening in a short space of time and several matters unresolved. I'm not sure if this is intended to be part of a series, but I definitely finished with unanswered questions.
All that said, I really enjoyed this work. It felt very fresh to read and was, of course, delightfully queer. I'm very glad I picked it up!
This is a beautifully woven and deeply character-rich novella. The perspective is viscerally emotive and incredibly vivid in its snapshot of a really interesting world. It captures something really quite special about the importance of finding common cause with the people around you and allowing love to enter your life. It also has a nice romance-adjacent plot which falls at the core of the work but doesn't detract from the other things going on.
Something I found really special about it was the breath of queerness in the book, especially the volume of trans characters. As someone who reads a decent amount of books featuring trans characters, the sheer number of characters who were just incidentally trans was a really pleasant surprise.
I had one major hang-up with the book after the first few chapters - that the plot revolves around the traumatic murder of a black trans man - but I was happy with how the book resolved on this point.
Overall, though, resolution comes very quickly in this book, with a lot happening in a short space of time and several matters unresolved. I'm not sure if this is intended to be part of a series, but I definitely finished with unanswered questions.
All that said, I really enjoyed this work. It felt very fresh to read and was, of course, delightfully queer. I'm very glad I picked it up!