Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold is a Penric and Desdemona novella set in the World of the Five Gods. It is a direct sequel to Penric's Mission, which I have previously read and reviewed, and hence the blurb below contains spoilers for that earlier story.

In this sequel to the novella “Penric’s Mission”, the injured Penric, a Temple sorcerer and learned divine, tries to guide the betrayed General Arisaydia and his widowed sister Nikys across the last hundred miles of hostile Cedonia to safety in the Duchy of Orbas. In the town of Sosie the fugitive party encounters unexpected delays, and even more unexpected opportunities and hazards, as the courtesan Mira of Adria, one of the ten dead women whose imprints make up the personality of the chaos demon Desdemona, comes to the fore with her own special expertise.

I bought Mira's Last Dance during a book slump and devoured it in less than 24 hours. Since it has been more than two years since I read the immediate prequel, Penric's Mission, it took me a little while to remember who the persisting side characters were. But it came back to me soon enough and the book was an entertaining read even before that. I do, generally speaking, recommend reading Penric's Mission before Mira's Last Dance, and probably also Penric's Demon, which sets up the whole concept of the novella series. However, you do not need to have read any of the novels in the World of the Five Gods — indeed, I haven't and I've been enjoying the Penric and Desdemona books just fine.

In this story, we see Penric escorting/delivering the two people we met in the previous novella to the city they were trying to reach. Of course, they run into troubles along the way, the most memorable of which requires Penric to call on the skills of one of Desdemona's previous possessed humans, Mira. Hence the title.

Mira's Last Dance was entertaining, a bit introspective and overall a good diversion. I recommend it to fans of Bujold's work and the other Penric and Desdemona books, with the prequel-reading caveat above. I plan to pick up the direct sequel, The Prisoner of Limnos, immediately.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: Self-published, 2017
Series: Penric and Desdemona book 4 in publication order, but 5 in current chronological order, of 7 so far
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased through Apple Books

FINNA by Nino Cipri

FINNA by Nino Cipri is an amusing novella set in a thinly veiled Ikea store in the US. It features wormholes to parallel universes, and two employees who recently broke up and have not yet worked through the awkward post-breakup period.

When an elderly customer at a big box furniture store slips through a portal to another dimension, it’s up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company’s bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but our two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago.

Can friendship blossom from the ashes of a relationship? In infinite dimensions, all things are possible.

I really enjoyed FINNA. As is my habit, I had forgotten what it was about (aside from thinking that it was vaguely Scandinavian which it was, emphasis on the vaguely). The opening of the book sets the scene with a focus on the protagonist’s general misery from her retail job and more specific misery from her recent breakup. It gave me just enough time to wonder what the speculative fiction element was going to be before introducing the wormholes. Then it turned into a fun and slightly absurd adventure story as Ava and Jules are forced to go on a rescue mission.

Since this is a relatively short read, I'm not sure there's very much more I can say without skirting spoilers, so I will leave you with one final opinion. I really liked that this wasn't a romance story. Ava and Jules were a couple, now they're not and the story arc is absolutely not about them getting back together. I'm not sure I've come across this as a central focus of a spec fic book before. I highly approve of the depiction of healthy non-romantic relationships in books.

I highly recommend FINNA if you enjoy universe hopping and/or slightly absurd science fiction. Or if you hate Ikea (personally, I don't get the Ikea hate, but whatever). I will certainly be keeping an eye on other books and stories I come across by Cipri.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: February 2020, Tor.com (coming 25/2)
Series: I don't think so
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Maternal Instinct by Rebecca Bowyer

Maternal Instinct by Rebecca Bowyer is a near future science fiction novel that examines a future in which the process of having children is highly regulated in Australia. The extreme system could be read as either dystopian or utopian, depending on you point of view, but the plot pushes it towards dystopian.

Australia 2040. No child lives in poverty and every child is safe. But at what cost?

19-year-old Monica never wanted a baby but the laws require her to give birth twice before she can move on with her life.

Now that her first son, Oscar, has arrived she's not so sure she wants to hand him over to be raised by professional parents: the Maters and Paters.

When Monica turns to her birth mother, Alice, for help, she triggers a series of events that force Alice to confront her own dark past. Alice must decide - help her daughter break the law, or persuade her to accept her fate and do what's best for the nation's children?

The two protagonists in this book are Monica, 19 and currently in the breastfeeding for six months portion of her national service, and her biological mother, Alice, who is 40 and just returning to work after time off for cancer treatment. The book alternates between the two women's perspectives, giving us a broad view of the future society. The fact that Alice works for the government department in charge of reproduction and genetic diversity allows us to see a couple of different governmental views on the system. And of course, when things start to go not according to plan, that very same government position is the cause of extra tension.

I found the social worldbuilding presented in this novel interesting but also sort of implausible. All the events that took place in the context of a society where children were raised communally more or less made sense, but I couldn't quite fathom how, in just twenty years, society would get to that point. Also, the book leaned into the horror of having to give up your babies after six months to be raised by professional parents (with biological parents allowed to visit them on Sundays). But for me the more horrific thing was being forced to bear children at 19ish. In the book we see this situation as the status quo, but I cannot imagine that the first set of kids being forced into maternity homes after graduating high school would have gone quietly. On the bright side, young men also had to do baby-related national service with their roles involving doing all the cooking and cleaning for the expectant and young mothers in their maternity homes. That aspect I can get behind. But the rest was a bit off-putting.

Overall, I found aspects of this novel interesting, but found that it was a bit slow to keep me consistently excited about the ideas in it. While the plot definitely engaged with the worldbuilding, it didn't quite go far enough, in some aspects, for my personal tastes. I don't think I've read a dystopian novel where the unusual baby-making practices were due to social pressures only (and not some sort of infertility plague), so it is an interesting concept from that perspective. But of course others might feel differently. I recommend reading this book if the blurb and premise sound interesting.

3.5 / 5 stars

First published: Story Addict, 2019
Series: Don't think so
Format read: eARC
Source: Author via NetGalley

Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis

Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis is the latest instalment in the Harwood Spellbook series of novellas. I have previously read and reviewed Snowspelled, Thornbound, and Spellswept (in the Underwater Ballroom Society anthology). Aside from some references to earlier events and maybe a bit of world building, Moontangled can be enjoyed without having read the previous novellas. However, I recommend reading at least Thornbound first for a bit of context and to avoid being spoiled for that story if you come to read it later.

For just one moonlit, memorable night, Thornfell College of Magic has flung open its doors, inviting guests from around the nation to an outdoor ball intended to introduce the first-ever class of women magicians to society...but one magician and one invited guest have far more pressing goals of their own for the night.

Quietly brilliant Juliana Banks is determined to win back the affections of her secret fiancée, rising politician Caroline Fennell, who has become inexplicably distant. If Juliana needs to use magic to get her stubborn fiancée to pay her attention...well, then, as the top student in her class, she is more than ready to take on that challenge!

Unbeknownst to Juliana, though, Caroline plans to nobly sacrifice their betrothal for Juliana's own sake - and no one has ever accused iron-willed Caroline Fennell of being easy to deter from any goal.

Their path to mutual happiness may seem tangled beyond repair...but when they enter the fey-ruled woods that border Thornfell College, these two determined women will find all of their plans upended in a night of unexpected and magical possibilities.

Moontangled is a short novella and an enjoyable one. It’s about Caroline and Juliana, who were side characters in some of the earlier stories. Given their own story at last, we get a more detailed look at their relationship. There are some ramifications of the events in Thornbound, magic, and a satisfying resolution.

My only criticism is that I finished it quickly and couldn’t spend longer enjoying it. I recommend Moontangled if you’ve enjoyed any of the earlier Harwood Spellbook novellas and especially if you thought more attention should be paid to the recurring f/f couple. I look forward to Burgis’s next instalment.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: February 2020, self-published
Series: The Harwood Spellbook, book 2.5 out of 4 (of which only two have integer numbers)
Format read: ePub
Source: Review copy from author