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A review by nataliya_x
His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light by Mimi Mondal
2.0
I had really big hopes for this Nebula-nominated novelette, but sadly they fizzled out.
A young circus trapeze master Binu also happens to be a master (and lover) of a jinni Shehzad, although he considers the jinni to be free. Jinni, having lived centuries beholden to those who have owned his lamp, knows that his life is a succession of kind and less kind masters. And then one day Binu is talked into helping a young devadasi girl escape her involuntary servitude to a goddess because her plight breaks his bleeding heart.
The kindness that Binu shows, however, sets unexpected events into motion. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. There will be devastation, and sacrifice, and ultimately love.
It’s a well-written story, but it feels sadly incomplete, like an intro or a chapter from a longer work, ending up more as a sketch than a free-standing story. Some stories work as vignettes, but this one doesn’t. It is nice but ultimately forgettable. It needed more development, otherwise it’s really hard to care about barely sketched-out characters or the meaning of the sacrifices made. I love when a short story makes me want more of the world and the characters because they are well done — but not when it makes me want more just because what’s written feels incomplete.
But if the author decides to expand it into a novel or at least a novella, I’ll read it. Until then, not too impressed.
2.5 stars.
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Read it free here: https://www.tor.com/2019/01/23/his-footsteps-through-darkness-and-light-mimi-mondal/
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My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569
A young circus trapeze master Binu also happens to be a master (and lover) of a jinni Shehzad, although he considers the jinni to be free. Jinni, having lived centuries beholden to those who have owned his lamp, knows that his life is a succession of kind and less kind masters. And then one day Binu is talked into helping a young devadasi girl escape her involuntary servitude to a goddess because her plight breaks his bleeding heart.
“I am not even an illicit child, merely a blessing received by my mother in the performance of her role, more property added to the coffers of the raja who owned her. I am cleverer, more beautiful, more talented than the princess whose wedding you graced with your performance, but she is the princess, and I am property. I am less than even the common free woman in the street.”
The kindness that Binu shows, however, sets unexpected events into motion. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. There will be devastation, and sacrifice, and ultimately love.
It’s a well-written story, but it feels sadly incomplete, like an intro or a chapter from a longer work, ending up more as a sketch than a free-standing story. Some stories work as vignettes, but this one doesn’t. It is nice but ultimately forgettable. It needed more development, otherwise it’s really hard to care about barely sketched-out characters or the meaning of the sacrifices made. I love when a short story makes me want more of the world and the characters because they are well done — but not when it makes me want more just because what’s written feels incomplete.
But if the author decides to expand it into a novel or at least a novella, I’ll read it. Until then, not too impressed.
2.5 stars.
—————
Read it free here: https://www.tor.com/2019/01/23/his-footsteps-through-darkness-and-light-mimi-mondal/
——————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569