laurareads87's reviews
592 reviews

Zegaajimo: Indigenous Horror Fiction by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Nathan Adler

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Editor Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler explains in the introduction that Zegaajimo means ‘to tell a scary story’ in Anishinaabemowin – “horror is traditional.” This collection includes 11 stories; short author bios are provided at the end.

Some of the authors in this collection I’ve read before – if you haven’t read Waubgeshig Rice’s novels, go do so now! – while others were completely new to me. Overall, this is a cohesive collection that has a good range of different themes and moods. I think this might be an approachable collection for readers who don’t tend to go for horror – it is not, overall, especially gory or graphically violent (though there are exceptions to this) but many of the stories are disturbing, thought-provoking, eerie. One story really didn’t work for me at all and inevitably I enjoyed some stories more than others, but overall this is a really solid anthology I’d definitely recommend. My standout stories included “Water Torture” by Drew Hayden Taylor, “Black Silk Suit” by Karen McBride, “The Keeper of the Bones” by Daniel Heath Justice,” and “Offerings” by Waubgeshig Rice.

Thank you to Kegedonce Press, Literary Press Group of Canada, and NetGalley for providing an ARC for me to review.

Content warnings: murder, death, blood, gore, body horror, colonization, forcible confinement, animal cruelty, child abuse (not on-page), terminal illness, classism

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What's the Use?: On the Uses of Use by Sara Ahmed

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challenging funny hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

“What gives some a route through can be what slows or stops others. Routes become routines. And you can be a misfit given what has become routine. An organization that organizes long meetings without any breaks assumes a body that can be seated without breaks. If you arrive and cannot maintain this position, you do not meet the requirements. If you lay down during the meeting, you would throw the meeting into crisis. A social justice project might require throwing meetings into crisis.” [172]

Another excellent book by Sara Ahmed, this time following the word ‘use’ (and so many derivations – abuse, uselessness, used up, being used, reused, misused). Absolutely fascinating and so frequently relatable (as someone who's spent much time in universities and does 'diversity committee' work). Some important arguments here that aren’t even the main focus (ex. that much of neoliberalism could be connected to a longer utilitarian history – ex. of universities as needing to be ‘useful’). As always, so much thoughtfulness around citation, (re)production, and what we do with inheritances.

Content warnings: discussion of racism, sexism, heterosexism, sexual assault, sexual harassment

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Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

The basic premise of Alien Clay is that an authoritarian regime ruling Earth is using convict labour to staff scientific outposts on other planets. The plot is set on a world known as Kiln, where Earth’s The Mandate has set up a dome-protected facility from which to study strange architectural phenomena. It appears to them that Kiln once must have had a population of very human-like intelligent occupants – their orthodoxy about humanity and linear ‘progress’ leave no other possible explanations for the structures they find – and they want to discover where these inhabitants are (or, where they went / what happened to them). Convicts are flown in to perform the riskiest duties – venturing out of the dome, performing general labour, and so on – while a small number of non-convict staff oversee and dictate the goings-on of the facility. Narrator Arton was a scientist on Earth who participated in revolutionary committee work against the Mandate. He arrives on Kiln unsure of the fates of his comrades, unsure of who might’ve sold him out, and committed to opposing the Mandate and its vision of “science.” Of course, Kiln and its structures are absolutely not what they seem.

I really liked this! I have read quite a bit of Tchaikovsky at this point, and haven’t yet read a book of his that I didn’t like; this is perhaps the best standalone of his that I’ve read so far. I must say I wasn’t entirely sure at first how I felt about the narrative voice of the first person POV, Professor Arton Daghdev – something about the tone didn’t quite work for me at the beginning of the book, and I’ve read other reviewers comment on this. Ultimately, I think that feeling like the narrator is addressing me this directly is just not my favourite thing. By maybe 25% in, though, I was hooked, and by the end I think this stylistic choice makes complete sense.

Thank you to Orbit Books & NetGalley for providing me an ARC to review.

Content warnings: body horror, gore, violence, murder, death, blood, confinement, enslavement, mentions of vomit and excrement, torture (mostly not on-page), police brutality, colonization, injury detail

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Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

A stunning work – this is a celebration of and tribute to Audre Lorde that is simultaneously scholarly, poetic, thoughtful, playful, and deeply deeply rooted in the writings of queer Black feminisms. I am grateful for the opportunity to read Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ work every time. Highly recommend.

Content warnings: discussions of sexism, homophobia, racism, classism, war, natural disaster, terminal illness

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Songs for the Shadows by Cheryl S. Ntumy

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adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

In Songs for the Shadows, main character Shad-Dari is captain of a small crew of excavators who dig up sound artifacts. Having most recently recovered fragments that turned out to be sounds from the times of the First Ones, Shad-Dari’s career is on the rise and her crew is publicly celebrated. The next excavation, however, does not go to plan, and Shad-Dari is forced to face the tragic past she thought she’d left behind.

I really enjoyed this novella. I appreciate the character development of Shad-Dari as well as the diverse crew, including non-humanoids, that make up the supporting cast. I felt like the complicated and non-linear experience of grieving was really well explored.

Note: I came across Songs for the Shadows and this led me to the Sauúti Collective; I opted to read the Sauútiverse anthology first, then circle back to this novella – I’d suggest doing the same so as to have more background in the relationship between planets, but it wouldn’t be vital to understanding this story.

Content warnings: grief, death, death of a child, death of a parent

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The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

What a conclusion! I’ve been eagerly looking forward to reading The Lotus Empire since finishing the prior instalment, and it certainly did not disappoint. This is such a fantastic series that has so much that I love and look for in fantasy: multiple POVs (a lot of them), compelling + novel magical systems, a fully developed world (nations, religions, cultures, histories), and multi-faceted and morally complex characters. The ending of the previous book was very intense, and there is much grief and devastation in this one and throughout the series. I cannot recommend this trilogy highly enough.

Content warnings: death, murder, war, violence, grief, blood, fire injury / fire, suicidal thoughts, suicide, religious bigotry, forcible confinement

Thank you to Orbit & NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to review.

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Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology by Wole Talabi

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

The Sauútiverse is a fictional world – a solar system comprised of planets and moons in a binary star system – inspired by African mythologies, histories, and cultural ideas. It is simultaneously fantastical and science fictional, with an array of advanced technologies as well as a magical system that functions via sound. It was created by a collective of ten African authors as a shared world into which African and African diasporic authors can write and publish stories – short stories, novellas, novels – and this is the first edited anthology set in this universe.

Overall, this is a really, really good collection. Each story has a brief introduction situating it (which planet it is set on, when in the timeline it is set in relation to the other stories and major events) which helps to orient the reader – there are thousands of years spanned by the stories, and here and there they do refer to each other. There is a glossary (which I didn’t really find I needed) and a diagram of the solar system as well as a timeline diagram, and some of the stories include pictures (of main characters, ships, etc). I had read several of the authors included before and was happy to read some other authors for the first time. Inevitably, I liked some stories more than others, but there is absolutely no filler here. There is so much that I love in this collection – a compelling magical system, extraordinary world-building, diverse POVs (including some non-human ones), a wide range of themes.

Highly recommend. I’ve already picked up a novella set in the Sauútiverse and look forward to continuing to explore this world.

Check out the project and learn more about the contributors here: https://sauutiverse.net/

Content warnings: violence, death, abandonment, animal (alien) death, war, torture, murder

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In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

There is a lot I enjoyed about this novella! I appreciated Ashâke as a protagonist, the ways Orisha were incorporated into the narrative, and the world-building overall. There is a lot of world here for such a short text – Ogundiran has really effectively brought the setting to life.

Some of what I didn’t love about this novella is that to me, it reads like YA in places which isn’t how it’s marketed nor is it what I prefer. So, spinning that into a positive: I can see this series having YA crossover appeal.

I will definitely pick up the next book in the Guardians of the Gods series.

Content warnings: death, child death, violence, fire injury, injury detail, animal death

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Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.

I reserve the right to come back to this one; I'm in a slump and it's more "me" than the book.

Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This was so good! Having really enjoyed Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Nameless Republic novels, I was very excited to see a novella from him and am happy to say that I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

Lost Ark Dreaming is set in a high-rise in post-flood Lagos; water has risen dramatically with climate change, flooding the city and leaving only the highest buildings habitable. This one is sharply stratified, with the ‘lowers’ toiling in poor conditions while the highest floors are reserved for elites and the ‘midders’ are, of course, in between. The story is told from three different POVs – three characters, three class positions – who converge when what first appears to be a routine mission to inspect a repair goes in unexpected directions. There is a lot packed into a short page count here – compelling character development, an exciting plot, and political and social commentary that feel highly relevant but never didactic or overdone. Definitely recommend, & will be waiting impatiently for whatever Suyi Davies Okungbowa publishes next.

Content warnings: murder, death, classism, violence, police brutality, confinement, blood (nothing especially graphic/gory), grief

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laurareads87's reviews 592 reviews

laurareads87's reviews
592 reviews