A review by leguinstan
And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed

dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I was excited to read this after finding out that it won the 2021 Nebula Award for Best Novella, but I'm sad to say that And What Can We Offer You Tonight left me feeling cold. I just think that the author was trying to cover too much in a short page count. Even after finishing the story, I do not feel like I have a good understanding of the book's dystopian setting or its characters. I barely got to know the characters and as a result I didn't feel particularly attached to them. And while this is partially a matter of personal taste, I did not jive at all with the prose--somehow it feels simultaneously lush and disjointed. It really hampered my ability to fully immerse myself in the story. 

While it's nice to see an indie press shake up Tor's domination of the SFF novella market, I don't think this is up to par with the other Nebula-winning novellas I have previously read.
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