Short stories (1–5), a seemingly slow start, amidst much hidden reading

So this is my first #ReadShortStories post of 2020. April might seem a bit late, but in defence of my short story reading consistency, I would like to point out that until the end of March I was reading a large number of stories that were submitted to Rebuilding Tomorrow. So any time I thought about reading a short story that wasn't a submission, I felt guilty. But that's over now. The submissions have all been read and responded to (either with a rejection or a hold request, bending a higher level of global stability — if you submitted something but didn't hear back, feel free to query).

Which brings me to this first batch of stories. Without further ado:

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Did We Break the End of the World? by Tansy Rayner Roberts — Reread in aid of editing a sequel story that will be appearing in Rebuilding Tomorrow. Source: Defying Doomsday edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench

The Frost on Jade Buds by Aliette de Bodard — A story of mindships, the threat of war and galactic foreigners. I didn’t get into this story as easily as I have some of the other Xuya stories. Source: The Dragon that Flew Out of the Sun by Aliette de Bodard

Meat Cute by Gail Carriger — A novelette prequel to the novel Soulless. You don’t have to have read Soulless or the Finishing School books to appreciate this story… but I do think it would help a lot. It’s cute and funny, as one expects from Carriger, and follows Alexia on the night of her very first meeting with Connal. Source: Stand-alone purchase

Inheritance by Emma Newman — An emotional slice of a character’s life, set before the events in Planetfall. A good read, but probably not as impactful if you haven’t read Planetfall. Source: Emma Newman’s newsletter

The Generation Gap by Emma Newman — A significant story (not a vignette) about a father who is worried that there’s something wrong with his kid. I loved the reversal and the plausibility of the resolution. I think it’s my favourite story of this series. Source: Emma Newman’s newsletter

#ReadShortStories 101 - 105

In this batch I finish off Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee (but you'll have to wait for my next post to see my full review of the novella, "Glass Cannon") and read a couple of other stories, including a Hugo shortlisted novelette by Zen Cho.


Vacation by Yoon Ha Lee — Different characters take a trip to the zoo in this flash piece. Source: Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee

Gamer’s End by Yoon Ha Lee — A second person short story about an advanced trainee sitting a test under Jedao. It’s one of the longer stories in this collection and is not so much filling in past anecdotes as telling a self-contained story set in the same world. And the second person narration adds some interesting flavour. Source: Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee

If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho — A wonderful story about an imugi trying to ascend to a heavenly dragon form. It takes a long time and learns many things along the way. Both about the Way and, eventually, about humans. A very enjoyable story with an emotional and bittersweet ending. Source: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-try-try-again-by-zen-cho/

The Letter by Emma Newman — A short piece about someone who wasn’t chosen to go on the Atlas spaceship with the pathfinder, and her coping with that. An encouraging read. Source: Emma Newman’s newsletter

Glass Cannon by Yoon Ha Lee — This is a novella (well and truly; it takes up the entire second half of Hexarchate Stories) set after Revenant Gun. It contains a lot of spoilers for the end of the Machineries of Empire series and I definitely don’t recommend reading it without having read the series. Not only will it be confusing, but it will also spoil some of the surprises and enjoyment of the books. In fact, a proper review of it is spoileriffic, so I will restrict it to my full review of Hexarchate Stories. Source: Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee

#ReadShortStories all over the place (76–80)

I'm still making my way through the Hugo Novelette shortlist, as evidenced by only one of those novelettes appearing in this batch of reading. I also started a new collection: The Manticore's Vow by Cassandra Rose Clarke. It's very short — only three stories — so expect to see either the rest of the stories soon or the review of the whole thing imminently.

It is almost interesting to note that all five stories in this batch came from different sources. (Although I put in the Uncanny link for the Aliette de Bodard story, I actually got it from the Hugo voter packet.) Unfortunately Emma Newman's story is currently not accessible to people who don't subscribe to her newsletter, but she has promised that the stories will be collected together in a book eventually.



Remember by A J Lee — An OK flash piece. A predictable twist and an insufficiently dramatic ending, perhaps. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01507-w

What Travis Built by Emma Newman — A short piece filling in an off-page moment set after After Atlas. A sweet vignette about the romantic relationship between two characters and also a farm-sim game. Source: Emma Newman’s newsletter

The Thing About Ghost Stories by Naomi Kritzer — The story opens like a nonfiction essay but then settles into the lived experience of the narrator, who is a ghost-story collecting anthropologist. As well as discussing different types of ghost stories, the story gives us a glimpse into the narrators life with her ageing mother. I quite enjoy this story, for its discussion of ghost stories as well as the main story. I guess I had enough of a scientist to enjoy such categorisations. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-thing-about-ghost-stories/

The Dragon That Flew Out of the Sun by Aliette de Bodard — A story of racial tensions arising from one group destroying the planet of another (well, rendering it uninhabitable). I liked both the idea and the execution. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-dragon-that-flew-out-of-the-sun/

The Manticore’s Vow by Cassandra Rose Clarke — Narrated in first person by a manticore, this story follows a young manticore, her human servant and some friends as she misadventures in her father’s kingdom. I enjoyed it well enough, particularly towards the end of the story. Source: The Manticore’s Vow By Cassandra Rose Clarke

#ReadShortStories on trains in other countries (61–65)

This batch starts off with a bit of randomness, but then I started on a concerted effort to finish off New Suns (which is a few more stories beyond those shown here). It helped that I did a bit of recreational travelling and actually had time to read without worrying about work stuff. (I didn't get much reading done on my last trip, partly because it was for work and partly because I had a lot of deadlines around the same time, so this was a nice change.)


The Fast Stuff by George Zebrowski — A surprisingly incoherent story that felt like a bit of a slog despite being flash (really, it’s one page, I should not have gotten bored) and despite the author’s noted accolades (not that I’d heard of him before). A pilot yearns to fly impossibly fast. (And then he does, because aliens.) Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01180-z

Act of Kindness by Emma Newman — A nice little Planetfall universe vignette. Showing another character’s point of view during a scene from After Atlas. Source: Emma Newman’s newsletter

Gulliver at Home by Anatoly Belilovsky — Flash concerning aliens and astronauts, written in a more interesting way than I might have expected. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01249-9

The Robots of Eden by Anil Menon — A dystopian/utopian future in which most affluent people have implants that regulate their emotions and protect them from life’s emotional struggles. I was quite intrigued by the story of a banker dealing exceptionally well with divorce and even befriending his ex wife’s new husband, with the dark realities of the world lurking beneath the surface. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

Dumb House by Andrea Hairston — A bit of a slice of life story set in a dystopian rural US. A woman living in a “dumb house” fends off salesmen trying to upgrade her to a smart house. The character development was interesting but I felt that a bit more of the worldbuilding details could have been included; some aspects were clear, some foggy. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

Atlas Alone by Emma Newman

Atlas Alone by Emma Newman is the latest standalone novel set in the Planetfall universe. In some ways it makes most sense as an almost-direct sequel to After Atlas, but it certainly stands alone just fine. There is a new protagonist, who did appear in After Atlas but whom I have very little memory of from that book. In fact, After Atlas is the book I remember least of the series (not entirely sure why) and despite that I had no problems getting into Atlas Alone. It does contain a pretty major spoiler for events that happen at the end of After Atlas and near the end of Before Mars, however, so beware on that front. That massive spoiler is also in the blurb below.

Six months after she left Earth, Dee is struggling to manage her rage toward the people who ordered the nuclear strike that destroyed the world. She’s trying to find those responsible, and to understand why the ship is keeping everyone divided into small groups, but she’s not getting very far alone.

A dedicated gamer, she throws herself into mersives to escape and is approached by a designer who asks her to play test his new game. It isn’t like any game she’s played before. Then a character she kills in the climax of the game turns out to bear a striking resemblance to a man who dies suddenly in the real world at exactly the same time. A man she discovers was one of those responsible for the death of millions on Earth.

Disturbed, but thinking it must be a coincidence, Dee pulls back from gaming and continues the hunt for information. But when she finds out the true plans for the future colony, she realizes that to save what is left of humanity, she may have to do something that risks losing her own.

This was an excellent book and different again from the earlier books in the series. The new protagonist, Dee, did show up in After Atlas and the events of that book are why she is now on an American-built starship following the Pathfinder on a twenty-year journey to another planet. What does one do to kill time on a space ship? Play lots of full-immersion games and try to get an idea of who else is on the ship. Then get an invite to a leet gaming server, get suspicious of the people on board and strike up a conversation with a game designer who does not respect personal boundaries.

At first I was surprised at how much of this story took place in immersive games, especially when I also realised how far I had gotten in terms of pages read. But then the true story became clear and turned out to not be quite what I had expected. (Trying not to spoil here.) Although I very much guessed something that wasn't revealed to the main character for some time, the story took a lot of unexpected turns, right up to the dramatic and powerful ending (which only caused me to loose a little sleep, thanks to the timing of when I got up to it). Overall, Atlas Alone was a remarkable book in what has been a remarkable series.

As I said in my preamble, Atlas Alone does follow most directly from After Atlas, and the other books in the series aren't required reading. But they are all excellent and I don't think reading them in publication order is a bad thing either. Also, I think After Atlas is the most depressing book (for all that I don't remember it too clearly) while I found the others more enjoyable reading. Don't get me wrong, this isn't exactly a "fun" series. It deals with some heavy issues, most notably death and mental illness. I laughed aloud a few times reading Atlas Alone, but that was more at sarcasm or outrageous developments than actual humour. None of which stops me from loving this series.

To reiterate, this continues to be an excellent series and I hope it gets some more recognition, preferably in the form of a Hugo nomination for Best Series (hint to Worldcon members who are eligible to nominate). I look forward to more Planetfall novels in the future. They have all had very different but deeply psychological takes on their protagonists and I would love to read more.

5 / 5 stars

First published: April 2019, Gollancz
Series: Planetfall, book 4 of 4 so far but sort of a direct sequel to After Atlas
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Before Mars by Emma Newman

Before Mars by Emma Newman is the third stand-alone book in the Planetfall series. So far, all three books can be read in any order, but I have been reading them in publication order as they were released: first Planetfall, then After Atlas and now Before Mars. I have greatly enjoyed the entire series, and Before Mars is my new favourite.

After months of travel, Anna Kubrin finally arrives on Mars for her new job as a geologist and de facto artist-in-residence. Already she feels like she is losing the connection with her husband and baby at home on Earth--and she'll be on Mars for over a year. Throwing herself into her work, she tries her best to fit in with the team.

But in her new room on the base, Anna finds a mysterious note written in her own handwriting, warning her not to trust the colony psychologist. A note she can't remember writing. She unpacks her wedding ring, only to find it has been replaced by a fake.

Finding a footprint in a place the colony AI claims has never been visited by humans, Anna begins to suspect that her assignment isn't as simple as she was led to believe. Is she caught up in an elaborate corporate conspiracy, or is she actually losing her mind? Regardless of what horrors she might discover, or what they might do to her sanity, Anna has find the truth before her own mind destroys her.

This was a gripping story about geologist-painter Anna and her arrival on Mars. It's set roughly simultaneously to the other two books (I would have to reread the first one to double check) except mostly on Mars. The title, I think, comes from the large number of flashbacks and memories which inform Anna's character and her place in the story. I very much enjoyed the way the book alluded to a dark past before revealing the focal incident from her past surprisingly far into the book. It was brilliant.

I think the book also has slightly different impact depending on which, if any, of the other books have been read before. And how many details from the earlier books a particular reader remembers (not many, in my case, until I had been well and truely reminded). Unfortunately I can't elaborate on that further because spoilers. Suffice it to say it would be very interesting to be able to rewind time and experience them in a different order... but I suppose I will have to settle for rereading the series when it's finished.

Before Mars is an excellent read exploring a corporation-run dystopian future in which not much exploration of Mars is happening because it's not profitable. It also explores a range of mental health issues, in large part centred on the ubiquitous computer brain implants. The approach taken is also different to the other books.

Before Mars is my favourite of the Planetfall books so far, and since I hold the others in high esteem, that's really saying something. I see there's another book in the series coming next year (don't read the blurb if you haven't read the other books!) and I am very much looking forward to reading it. I highly recommend the series to fans of science fiction and/or the earlier books.

5 / 5 stars

First published: April 2018, Gollancz
Series: Planetfall, book 3 of 3 so far (more planned) but so far they're all standalone
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from iBooks

After Atlas by Emma Newman

After Atlas by Emma Newman is a companion novel to Planetfall, which I previously reviewed here. You don't have to have read Planetfall to read After Atlas — both books stand alone entirely — but some background/historical context for After Atlas will be clearer sooner if you've read the other book first. Even if you spend most of After Atlas trying to remember the names of the Planetfall characters before caving and checking when you're near the end, as I did. Also, it should be possible to read the two books in either order.

Gov-corp detective Carlos Moreno was only a baby when Atlas left Earth to seek truth among the stars. But in that moment, the course of Carlos’s entire life changed. Atlas is what took his mother away; what made his father lose hope; what led Alejandro Casales, leader of the religious cult known as the Circle, to his door. And now, on the eve of the fortieth anniversary of Atlas’s departure, it’s got something to do why Casales was found dead in his hotel room—and why Carlos is the man in charge of the investigation.

To figure out who killed one of the most powerful men on Earth, Carlos is supposed to put aside his personal history. But the deeper he delves into the case, the more he realizes that escaping the past is not so easy. There’s more to Casales’s death than meets the eye, and something much more sinister to the legacy of Atlas than anyone realizes…

Planetfall wasn't exactly a cheerful book, so I picked up After Atlas because I was in the mood for a depressing read. Boy, did it deliver in that regard! Set on a dystopian Earth forty years after the colony ship in Planetfall left, After Atlas follows a detective assigned to a murder case. Carlos the detective, also the first person narrator, is owned and enslaved by the Ministry of Justice and contractually forbidden from revealing that fact. Because of the NDA included in his contract, most free people don't believe slaves like him exist, which makes for some interesting social interplays (and bitterness).

A large part of After Atlas is a murder mystery, with the victim the leader of a cult Carlos escaped when he was sixteen. The cult insist on having Carlos be the investigator and, of course, the situation brings up a lot of difficult memories for him which also serve to fill in the reader on his backstory. The story of the cult and of Carlos's connection to the departed spaceship end up being key components of the story, along with the murder itself.

Newman paints a pretty bleak picture of humanity in this series and especially in this book. Honestly, I was surprised at how bleak some parts were and I recognise that's not for everyone. But I really enjoyed the book and the story and the issues it raised. I will definitely read any more books that come out in this series, although I'm not sure more are planned. I recommend After Atlas to fans of dark SF (I wouldn't call it horror, though) and to anyone who enjoyed Planetfall, although it's a pretty different read in many respects. I've enjoyed all of Newman's books that I've read, but I should warn you that if you've only read the Split Worlds series, this series is very different, so be warned.

5 / 5 stars

First published: November 2016,
Series: Planetfall series, book 2 of 2 so far (but both stand alone)
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Planetfall by Emma Newman

Planetfall by Emma Newman is the first science fiction novel from the author of the Split Worlds fantasy series. It is nothing like those earlier books in both genre, tone and theme, which isn't to say that one can't enjoy both.

Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.

More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony's 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.

Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.

The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…

Part of this is because I tend not to read the blurb before I start a book (only when deciding to read it, and that only when it's not a sequel), but Planetfall wasn't what I expected from what I was thinking of as an ordinary science fiction book (whatever that means). Given that, from the title, it clearly involves another planet, I wasn't expecting this fascinating social SF take on what is usually a hard SF scenario. And it was a pretty great take, at that.

Planetfall is set in a colony on another planet that has been reached by a single expedition from Earth. Or perhaps I should say it's the first colony, as far as anyone in the book knows, outside of the solar system. The precise reasons for that are almost religious in nature, and best explained by reading the actual book.

The story is told from the point of view of Ren, who is a key engineer for the colony and also one of only two people who know "the truth" about something that happened at planetfall, when they landed. (We don't find out what the something is until late in the book, so I'm not going to spoil it.) She's also a lesbian and (minor spoiler), as we learn, a hoarder. The depiction of her mental illness is very well done, and I was very sympathetic to her when shit hit the fan in that respect.

This is a very character-driven story and I think it's important to note that one of those characters is the mysterious alien structure/city/organism that the colony is built next to. It's the reason the colony exists and it's one of Ren's obsessions. We don't know if it's sentient, but we do know that its very existence has shaped Ren's and the other colony citizens' entire lives. Finding out more about it is one of Ren's goals.

Part of what made Planetfall great was the way in which an event that would have, in another book, taken centre stage — particularly at the climax — is relegated to secondary status because of the first person narration. That works really well, because that story has been told enough times already, and what was happening to Ren at the time was more interesting anyway. And it's not like we don't get enough information to understand what else was going on.

Planetfall was an excellent read and I highly recommend it to all fans of science fiction, especially character-driven science fiction. There's a little bit of the Big Dumb Object subgenre in it to. The interiority of Ren reminded me a little of Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, but the two books are not otherwise very similar. It's an excellent read and I will certainly be keeping an eye on any future books by Emma Newman, especially if she writes any more science fiction.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: March 2016, DAW
Series: No. A standalone, I'm pretty sure
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Monstrous Little Voices: New Tales From Shakespeare's Fantasy World

Monstrous Little Voices is a novella anthology, containing five somewhat interlinked novellas written by Jonathan Barnes, Emma Newman, Kate Heartfield, Foz Meadows and Adrian Tchaikovsky. They are more or less set in the world of some of Shakespeare's plays, but extended beyond what happens in the original play, and tweaked so that all the referenced plays actually happened in the same world of fairies, magic and politics.

Mischief, Magic, Love and War. 

It is the Year of Our Lord 1601. The Tuscan War rages across the world, and every lord from Navarre to Illyria is embroiled in the fray. Cannon roar, pikemen clash, and witches stalk the night; even the fairy courts stand on the verge of chaos. 

Five stories come together at the end of the war: that of bold Miranda and sly Puck; of wise Pomona and her prisoner Vertumnus; of gentle Lucia and the shade of Prospero; of noble Don Pedro and powerful Helena; and of Anne, a glovemaker’s wife. On these lovers and heroes the world itself may depend. 

These are the stories Shakespeare never told. Five of the most exciting names in genre fiction today – Jonathan Barnes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Foz Meadows and Kate Heartfield – delve into the world the poet created to weave together a story of courage, transformation and magic. 

This was an interesting read, even when the stories touched upon Shakespearean plays I was not very familiar with. My favourite story was definitely the opening one, "Coral Bones" which extended the story of The Tempest beyond where the play ended and included some neat genderfluid characterisation. My second favourite story was probably the closing one, "On the Twelfth Night", mainly for the way it played with narrative by writing in the second person. That story would not have really made sense without all the stories preceding it, however. I was particularly impressed by how the later stories seemed to be aware of events in the earlier stories. An excellent feat of narrative planning.

I definitely recommend this anthology to fans of Shakespeare and fans of fantasy fiction generally. And theatre. These novellas push Shakespeare's plays into new territory, giving them some modern sensibilities without literally modernising the settings. As always, individual comments on the stories are below.

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"Coral Bones" by Foz Meadows — What happens after The Tempest. Miranda has left the island, but the real world did not bring her as much joy as she hoped. Luckily, she still has Ariel, the genderfluid fairy who helped raise her and keep her sane. This was a very strong start to the anthology, which had me wanting to come back for more every time I had to set it aside. The main story is neatly intertwined with flashbacks to the island, which serve to build up our understanding of and sympathy for Miranda's relationship with Ariel. In the meantime, we also see quite clearly Miranda learning about herself and the world and, thanks to Ariel's influence (or really, just her presence from an early age), questioning her place and identity in it.

"The Course of True Love" by Kate Heartfield — This novella involves some of the characters from Midsummer Night's Dream but mainly focused on a hedge witch (well, a wyrtwitch) who stumbles upon a prisoner of Titania's and ends up helping him out. This wasn't a bad novella but I just didn't love it as much as the previous one, which set the bar quite high. I suspect if I'd read it in isolation without the comparison, I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, it was well written enough, but didn't push the envelope like "Coral Bones" did.

"The Unkindest Cut" by Emma Newman — A young woman is fated to marry her love in an alliance that will end a war. But even though it has been foretold, nothing is straightforward when Prospero is involved, or the cursed knife from Macbeth. Not a bad story, but I thought it ended a little abruptly. I didn't dislike the ending, but wouldn't've minded seeing more, or more immediately before the end. (Also, it was a depressing ending, which I wouldn't have wished upon the main character. :-/ ) It was a nice touch to have the Miranda from "Coral Bones" appear and I am impressed with the planning that must have gone into this anthology.

"Even in the Cannon’s Mouth" by Adrian Tchaikovsky — I felt a bit lost during the middle of this story. I think it might have been because of the more theatrical/script-like scene changes the author used. It took me a little while to get used to paying attention to them properly. That said, I liked the version of Macbeth that appeared in this one (and had sort of been mentioned in earlier stories, but not nearly as clearly). I especially loved the ending as it involved Macbeth. Not to be too obvious with the spoilers, but a favourite loophole-fail is resolved. I also got the impression that this story was leading into some sort of climax in the last story...

"On the Twelfth Night" by Jonathan Barnes — This last story was fascinating in many ways. It did sort of tie up some of the weirder elements of the plot brought up in the previous story, but that wasn't what really made it stand out. Usually, it was written in second person... and (very minor spoiler) the second person was Shakespeare's wife. Not quite the wife of the Shakespeare that we know, though, but rather a non-playwright from a parallel universe. I found it quite a compelling read (especially compared with the previous novella, which did not hold my interest). Unfortunately, for readers who might have picked these novellas up individually rather than in the collected volume, I'm not sure that this novella would work as well as a standalone. But it does make an excellent conclusion to this anthology.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: January 2016, Rebellion
Series: No, unless you count Shakespearian as a series
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

All is Fair by Emma Newman

All is Fair by Emma Newman is the third novel in the Split Worlds series. It is the kind of series you should read in order, so let me direct you to my reviews of the first two books, Between Two Thorns and Any Other Name. I'm including the blurb with the warning that it contains spoilers for the earlier books. That said, this review is also going to contain minor spoilers for the previous books, so consider yourselves warned. I should also add that I assumed from the start that this was going to be a trilogy, but Newman leaves the ending open to future books, albeit while more or less tying up the biggest plot-lines of the series.

William Iris struggles to keep the throne of Londinium whilst hated by his own court and beset by outsiders, while Cathy discovers the legacy of her former governess. But those who dare to speak out about Society are always silenced. Sometimes for good.

While trying to avoid further torments from the mercurial fae, Sam finds himself getting tangled in the affairs of the Elemental Court. But an unexpected offer from the powerful and enigmatic Lord Iron turns out to be far more than Sam bargained for.

Max and the gargoyle are getting closer to uncovering who is behind the murder of the Bath Chapter and the corruption in London and Max finds the gargoyle’s controversial ideas harder to ignore. Can he stay true to his sworn duty without being destroyed by his own master, whose insanity threatens to unravel them all?

I quite liked the first two books, but I think in All is Fair, Newman's writing has come into itself and I found it better written than the first two. Part of that, I suspect, comes from the characters also coming into their own in their various situations. After struggling to escape and being forced into an arranged marriage, Cathy sets her mind to trying to change the Society (of Fae-touched) from the inside. I quite enjoyed reading about Cathy actively working towards change (where she didn't get much of a chance in the previous book) taking charge of her situation.

I remain not a fan of Will, her husband. He's an interesting character in many ways, walking the line between being a good person and being part of the problem. His trajectory over the three books is kind of wobbly (not in a bad way!), with glimmers of potential obscured by a combination of manipulation (some of it magical and not his fault) and poor decisions (his fault). Although he has redeemable qualities and more of those are evident in All is Fair, I still thought he was a bit of a twat and took pleasure from certain instances of discomfort and impotent outrage he endured. Hehe.

The other two main story lines took slightly unexpected turns. Max, the Arbiter, continues trying to find out who killed all his fellow Arbiters and the sorcerers. The answer was not entirely what I was expecting, although it fits in beautifully with the themes of the other plot lines. When I finished, I wanted to read more about all the main characters, but I was surprised at how much I ended up wanting to keep reading about Max and the gargoyle, since I'd found his plot the least exciting in the earlier books. We also meet one of the other sorcerers and he is definitely a character I want to see more of.

Finally there's Sam, whose metaphorical rags-to-riches story is the most extreme and kind of awesomest. I don't think I can properly comment without spoilers, but I always liked Sam and after all the crap he goes through due, mostly, to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I was glad to see something nice happening to him.

The Split Worlds series, as well as being fairly character-driven, explores strong themes of feminism and women's liberation, societal expectations and constraints, and breaking away from oppression and tradition. Although the earlier books build up to the ending of All is Fair, it's not until this latest book that the characters finally reach the full potential of who they are and what they're fighting for. It was a very satisfying conclusion, albeit one that I hope isn't final (not least because there are some minor threads which are not conclusively dealt with).

I strongly recommend the Split Worlds series to fantasy fans, particularly to readers looking for fantasy in an urban (half contemporary, British) setting which doesn't fall into the usual classification of urban fantasy. Also with fairies (well, fae) and a society existing in parallel to the human world. I've enjoyed this series a lot and I hope Newman writes more books following on from All is Fair.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: October 2013, Angry Robot
Series: Yes. Split World book 3 (of 3 so far...)
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Any Other Name by Emma Newman

Any Other Name by Emma Newman is the sequel to Between Two Thorns, which I reviewed earlier this year. Any Other Name picks up very soon after Between Two Thorns left off and depends very heavily on the first book. This review contains spoilers for Between Two Thorns but not for Any Other Name. I recommend not reading on if you haven't read book one.

You were warned.

Any Other Name opens on the day of Cathy's wedding to Will. She has been drugged by her family to prevent her doing anything crazy, like trying to run away and have a say in her own life. A lot of terrible things happen to Cathy throughout the book (but at least most of them aren't violent!) and I deeply sympathised with her predicament. Although I had hoped at the end of book one that Cathy and Will might realise they have more in common than each saw on the surface of the other, any desire I had to ship them quickly evaporated with Will's behaviour. Made worse, I think, because he often meant well and then utterly failed to do the "right" thing (scare quotes because of generalised moral ambiguity). Really, Cathy was the only Netherworld character in more than two or three scenes that I didn't end up hating for one reason or another. I enjoyed Cathy as a character and there were some promising things set up with her which I look forward to reading about in the next book.

The other major set of characters included Sam, the human who accidentally got caught up in the action in book one, Max, the arbiter, and the sorcerer. Mostly they plod along trying to solve the mass murders and associated issues from book one. There were some interesting revelations, particularly with Sam that I totally saw coming, but overall, while their story progressed the trilogy story arc, it was less exciting than what Cathy and Will were up to. (Apart from their ending.) I look forward to seeing how it all plays out — because right now it seems there are too many mysteries to be able to guess everything reliably — but I wouldn't have been disappointed if their sections had been fewer.

The last quarter or so of the book was a bit of an exercise in frustration for me. The reader knows what various factions are up to and then gets to watch as the wrong ones communicate and characters are manipulated into making matters worse. I'm not sure I was entirely in the mood for that kind of heckling-at-the-page-inducing writing, but that was for external reasons. Whether or not that's the sort of thing you like (I generally do) will mean your mileage will vary. (And if you're the kind to exclaim aloud or shake your fist at a book, maybe don't read it on public transport.)

On a non-literary note, I really love the covers for this series. Not only are they attractive (incidentally, it's the same artist as Cassandra Rose Clarke's Assassin's Curse books), but if you look closely you can see a lot of elements that pop up in the books. There's the more obvious things like the flowers and London, but if you look closely, every detail makes sense once you've read the book.

On the whole, this was a solid continuation of the series that brought more or less what I expected (after the slight shock of the opening), and not in a bad way. If you enjoyed Between Two Thorns, I definitely suggest reading Any Other Name. If you didn't, probably give this one a miss. It's also not the kind of sequel that can be read out of order. If you read this whole review without reading the first book, and you're a fantasy fan looking for something a little off the beaten track, I recommend giving this series a go.

4 / 5 stars

First published: June 2013, Angry Robot
Series: yes. Split Worlds, book 2 of 3
Format read: eARC on Kobo
Source: the publisher via NetGalley

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman is a difficult book to put into a single category. It's been called urban fantasy by the publisher and while that is technically correct — it is fantasy and some of it takes place in a modern urban setting — the image generally conjured up by that label bears little resemblance to Between Two Thorns.

The split worlds if the series title are the normal world (called Mundanus), Exilium, which is where the Fae live and follows usual fairyland rules, and the Nether, which is a semi-magical place between the other two worlds. Certain families of humans live in the Nether and are able to wield limited magic and age very slowly. Their society is old fashioned and vaguely Victorian.

Cathy is a scion of one of these families but she ran away to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage and generally treated like chattel. She was living in real world Manchester until events conspired, near the start of the novel, to drag her back into the Nether. I liked Cathy, mostly because she's quite practical (flushing toilets are useful!) in her approach to both worlds and her place in them. Her main goal is always to escape, but it never felt at all selfish as it could have in another book.

I also liked how all the men living in the society had similar views and her (and everyone's) place in life, even the nice ones. A common trap is making the sympathetic make characters implausibly feminist in a society which doesn't really have the appropriate frame work in place. While I didn't exactly enjoy the character's I liked holding old-fashioned views, it made sense, and I enjoyed that and the accompanying conflicting emotions.

There are three of four (depending on how you count) story lines in Between Two Thorns and I found myself enjoying reading about each of the characters. My favourite was Cathy, but I also liked Max, the sort of soulless, sort of policeman who became embroiled in the main dramatic problem that arose. I had no idea how Cathy's plot would intertwine with his until it came to pass.

My only complaint is that Between Two Thorns is very much book one of a series. Once the main action had passed and the mystery solved (with some questions left unanswered and some hints of deeper conspiracies yet to be addressed), I wasn't quite sure exactly where the book would end. Unfortunately, it was on a cliffhanger. Not a particularly dramatic one (no actual cliffs), but bad enough to make me try to turn the page thinking there was more. It was an excellent book, but I wished it had ended in a slightly different spot. I will definitely be reading the next book to find out what happens.

Between Two Thorns is an excellent read and I highly recommend it to fantasy fans looking for something a bit different, particularly in the form of merging modern day settings with fantasy worlds. It's a concept that's been done on paper, but Newman does it differently. I keenly await the next instalment.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: March 2013, Angry Robot
Series: The Split Worlds, book 1 of 3
Format read: eARC on my iThings
Source: The publisher via NetGalley