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A review by hwesta
Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie
4.0
Always hard to review an anthology.
I somehow didn't expect Leckie's short fiction to be as profoundly weird as many of these stories were, and I'm not sure why.
I liked the titular Lake of Souls, even though it felt incomplete. Maybe it was saying something about telling a story from an inhuman pov, where the human is a side character and not needed for narrative resolution?
I was disappointed by the Radch stories; most of them felt like they could have been standalone. I think I like IR for the characters, and having no characters in common hurt my enjoyment.
All the Raven Tower stories were absolute bangers. I love that world and the stories were all lots of fun. Lots to clever tales of trickery and wordplay and tricksy ways to get what you want or hoist someone else on their petard.
I somehow didn't expect Leckie's short fiction to be as profoundly weird as many of these stories were, and I'm not sure why.
I liked the titular Lake of Souls, even though it felt incomplete. Maybe it was saying something about telling a story from an inhuman pov, where the human is a side character and not needed for narrative resolution?
I was disappointed by the Radch stories; most of them felt like they could have been standalone. I think I like IR for the characters, and having no characters in common hurt my enjoyment.
All the Raven Tower stories were absolute bangers. I love that world and the stories were all lots of fun. Lots to clever tales of trickery and wordplay and tricksy ways to get what you want or hoist someone else on their petard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Castration, misgendering