Blaine starts a new job and gets a crush on Lysander, the IT guy, but doesn't do anything about it for two years. In the meantime, Lysander goes off tBlaine starts a new job and gets a crush on Lysander, the IT guy, but doesn't do anything about it for two years. In the meantime, Lysander goes off to help setup the new company office out of state for six months just after his dad has a health scare that scares Lysander into improving his own health. He comes back having lost three stone and suddenly the girls are all over him. Has Blaine lost her shot at love? Spoiler: no, it's a Romance-with-a-capital-R book, of course she hasn't. But it's the journey that matters.
What I find most interesting in this book is Lysander's state of mind, and the anger that leads him to reject people who like him for how he looks now, and the resentment that those people wouldn't have given him a second glance before he lost the weight. Honestly, as someone with his "before" physique, I can sympathise. (Aside: I can also sympathise with his obliviousness to Blaine's flirting - I suspect that if you didn't batter me over the head and say in those words "will you come on a date with me?", I'd be equally oblivious).
The one duff note for me was Blaine's disdain for someone for wanting to be called their full name, and not the nickname that she gives him. That character was the "Blaine goes on a blind date and it goes badly" guy, but although he had many issues, I don't think wanting to be called his actual name was one of them. It was a throwaway line, and maybe I'm overreacting, but names are important.
Other than that, it was fun, and I enjoyed the IM-based flirting....more
There's very little to this short novella of an eligible young lady trying to not get married to the most eligible bachelor in the land, and teaming uThere's very little to this short novella of an eligible young lady trying to not get married to the most eligible bachelor in the land, and teaming up with a handsome spellcracker to save him from kidnap and being magicked into marriage. It's very fluffy, but a lot of fun. It's part of the magical Regency romance genre but very knowingly pokes fun at that genre.
I'm not sure I can take any book that's set in a place called the "Teacup Isles" seriously, but then the author doesn't really take it seriously either. Although despite it all, the book never mocks the genre but lovingly sends it up. I like that because it's in an alternate world, although it liberally borrows from the British Regency period, it isn't bound by it, and so things that don't fit in that period (for example, same-sex relationships) are present and don't feel out of place.
Great fun, with a protagonist I liked. A great antidote to 2021.
Merged review:
There's very little to this short novella of an eligible young lady trying to not get married to the most eligible bachelor in the land, and teaming up with a handsome spellcracker to save him from kidnap and being magicked into marriage. It's very fluffy, but a lot of fun. It's part of the magical Regency romance genre but very knowingly pokes fun at that genre.
I'm not sure I can take any book that's set in a place called the "Teacup Isles" seriously, but then the author doesn't really take it seriously either. Although despite it all, the book never mocks the genre but lovingly sends it up. I like that because it's in an alternate world, although it liberally borrows from the British Regency period, it isn't bound by it, and so things that don't fit in that period (for example, same-sex relationships) are present and don't feel out of place.
Great fun, with a protagonist I liked. A great antidote to 2021....more
Space opera is probably one of my favourite genres within the umbrella that we call speculative fiction. This collection aims to give us a snapshot ofSpace opera is probably one of my favourite genres within the umbrella that we call speculative fiction. This collection aims to give us a snapshot of the state of the genre as it stands now, thirty or forty years after the "new space opera" became a thing, and the list of contributors is a who's who of the genre. I'd read a handful of the stories already, but most of them were new to me.
Tobias S. Buckell's Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance is a fantastic opener, throwing us into galaxy populated full of post-humans yet still managing to tell a very human-scale story. Yoon Ha Lee tells a story about Shuos Jedao from his Machineries of Empire trilogy, and Arkady Martine's story features clones, a galactic empire and treachery. It's great stuff. I don't think I've read the Alistair Reynolds story, Belladonna Nights before, but I think it's set in the same universe as a book that I have read. The T. Kingfisher story feels very much like a fairy tale clad in iron and steel. It's very much in her wheelhouse and is an excellent story.
I'm not going to mention every story here, but special mention goes to Aliette de Bodard's amazing Immersion which was amazing, but possibly means more to someone not of the cultural or ethnic majority of wherever they're living. This one hit home really hard. The Becky Chambers tale tells the story of Mas, who had been a minor character in The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and was nice expansion of the Wayfarers universe which I adore, so this was very welcome.
A new Strahan anthology is always worth considering, he's got a meticulous eye for the genre, and if you like space opera, this is a must-have snapshot of where we are a couple of decades into the century....more
I'm really not entirely sure what to make of this book. It was recommended by a colleague as something I might like as I'm very fond of PG Wodehouse. I'm really not entirely sure what to make of this book. It was recommended by a colleague as something I might like as I'm very fond of PG Wodehouse. While there's certainly humour to be had, it's of a very different kind to Wodehouse. It's more of a dark satire, satirising the Bright Young Things who were making a name for themselves in British society of the 1920s. It depicts an aimless set who drink and party through life without any deeper feelings.
The preface of my edition is from the 1960s where Waugh notes that its writing was "interrupted by a sharp disturbance in [his] private life", which I take to be the failure of his first marriage. This is most evident in the later parts of the book regarding Adam Symes' attempts to marry Nina Blount and the various mishaps they have, leading to quite a bleak conclusion.
The humour is much darker than the jolly Wodehouse-like tone that I'd been led to expect, but taken on its own terms, it's an interesting book, snapshotting the Roaring Twenties in London and a youth who were trying desperately to put the Great War behind them. Just don't read it expecting to laugh out loud....more
While I really liked the idea of a spy romance, it turned out the execution really didn't work very well for me. The tone shift from fluffy romance abWhile I really liked the idea of a spy romance, it turned out the execution really didn't work very well for me. The tone shift from fluffy romance about a married couple (who just happen to be CIA agents) falling in love (or at least lust) with their PA to sometimes graphic violence was enough to give you whiplash. And the idea that the CIA would want to take out a Balkans dictator just because he was indulging in a bit of light genocide was a bit of an "oh, honey" moment. And then there was the throwaway line where one of them said that they'd sent body parts of a failed assassin back to his boss. Really? That's the sort of thing James Bond villains do.
Still, the romance side of things was pretty good. It was a delightfully spicy polyamorous situation, but even though it was fairly short, I don't think I'll be looking out others in the series....more
Gyen Jebi is an artist, living in an occupied land. To try and help out their sister, with whom they live, and contribute to the household, they take Gyen Jebi is an artist, living in an occupied land. To try and help out their sister, with whom they live, and contribute to the household, they take a job with the occupying government. But they find there's more to the automatons that roam the streets than meets the eye, and their horror at their creation leads them into a rebellion they never wanted.
I came to this through Lee's Machineries of Empire books, which I loved a lot. I wish I could say the same about this, but I was a bit meh about the whole thing. The idea of art to power the magic is an interesting one, especially the mechanism of that power, even if it seemed a bit vague. There didn't really seem to be a relationship between the art and the pigment, and it seemed a bit vague as to what would come out the other end of the process.
I liked Jebi, but found their sister, Bongsunga, more challenging. The book starts with her throwing Jebi out of their home for getting a certificate of a name in the invaders' language (to make it easier to work within their bureaucracy), and throughout, she seems much more focused on the resistance than on any sense of family. It feels to me that their reconciliation towards the end of the book was undeserved. We hadn't had any particular sense up until then that Bongsunga thought of Jebi as anything more than a burden, or a tool. On the other hand, the relationship between Jebi and the watcher that they're assigned - Vei, the duellist prime for the ministry, is all too real and believable. The other key relationship in the book is between Jebi and the automaton dragon Arazi. This feels underdeveloped to me, and I would have liked to see more of it, especially Arazi's delight in having others describe sensations like eating and smelling, that it can't do, and its insatiable curiosity at the world around it.
The book partially resolves its plot and it does end on a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, I don't really have any particular desire to look out for the sequel....more
I complained that the previous GSFWC book was really quite depressing. I'm pleased to say that this one is much less so, possibly thanks to the influeI complained that the previous GSFWC book was really quite depressing. I'm pleased to say that this one is much less so, possibly thanks to the influence of Brian Milton, one of the editors (and author of my favourite story of the previous collection) and his sense of whimsy.
There's a strong opening story in Out in the Sticks about a woman who moves to a Scottish village and the unique role she finds herself in. There's a nice story of resistance and fighting back in Gods of the Deepwood, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Sarry Heid Free Press, the story of a heist (or sorts) at a future Glasgow Worldcon, told in broad Scots. Occupy Midnight is a wonderfully uplifting story of a very different kind of convention in Glasgow and is a really great way to round off the collection.
It's a broad church of a book, with stories from all over the SFFH spectrum. I'm not a huge horror fan, but these were well told, and there weren't many stories that entirely missed the mark for me. There's some great writers in the GSFWC and this is an excellent showcase of their talents....more
Charmain has been raised to be Respectable, which means not knowing how to cook or clean. Something which is a problem when her aunt bullies her motheCharmain has been raised to be Respectable, which means not knowing how to cook or clean. Something which is a problem when her aunt bullies her mother into sending her to take care of her Great Uncle William's home while he's away being treated for an illness. Not helped by fact that her uncle is a wizard, and his house is much more complex than it initially seems. However, she finds help in unexpected places, including a small dog, and an unexpected apprentice.
The book is quite good fun, as Charmain has to learn to get on in the world, and we explore the house and the help that her great uncle left her. I must say, I'd love to just be able to walk into my living room and say "afternoon tea, please" into the air and have one just appear. Hmm, on second thoughts, that may be a terrible idea for my waistline.
This is set in the same world as Howl's Moving Castle and although Sophie and Howl do appear, they're very much secondary characters (although fire demon Calcifer does play an important role) and you could probably get away without really having read the other books, although you'd miss some of the fun of Howl's disguise.
My favourite character was probably the elderly king of the country that Charmain lives in, who answers her letter offering to help in the palace library and who turns out to be quite the librarian himself. While it's not as good as Howl's Moving Castle this is still an entertaining and fun book whose characters I enjoyed quite a lot....more
This is a collection of short stories featuring our favourite Lumberjanes in a variety of adventures. There's one involving a party for Midsummer, oneThis is a collection of short stories featuring our favourite Lumberjanes in a variety of adventures. There's one involving a party for Midsummer, one involving green kittens, one with a ghost chef and, most intriguingly, one showing Rosie's time at the camp as a kid, when bear-lady Nellie is in charge.
There's a variety of artists drawing the stories, but all work within the context of both these stories, and of the series as a whole. The stories don't progress the overall plot, but they're not supposed to - they're just short stories within the universe of the Lumberjanes. And it was just lovely to spend some time with the residents of Roanoke cabin again.
Probably not a good jumping on point for newbies who don't know the characters, but recommended for existing fans....more
A friend suggested I watch Jill Bearup's Fantasy Heroine series on YouTube, which I enjoyed a lot, and when I found out about the book that she was wrA friend suggested I watch Jill Bearup's Fantasy Heroine series on YouTube, which I enjoyed a lot, and when I found out about the book that she was writing based on that, I was excited. And then I ran into Bearup in person at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon and as well a chat (she's really nice!) I was able to buy her book from her as well. The book fleshed out the short videos, extended the PoV chapters beyond just our Fantasy Heroine™ and added in some of writer Caroline's real-world problems and her own love interest in her Hot Editor™ Henry.
The book was a lot of fun, very easy to read and delightfully meta. It was also surprisingly tender at times, with Rosamund's grief over the loss of her husband still very real and very raw. Caroline's characters very much get away from her and absolutely refuse to have any truck with well-worn tropes such as Enemies To Lovers or There's Only One Bed, and instead prefer to communicate clearly and sensibly. Who'd have thunk it! If you have any fondness for romance at all, I suspect you'll enjoy this book....more
It's been many years since I read The Fall of the House of Usher (so much so that I read the Wikipedia plot summary before starting this as a reminderIt's been many years since I read The Fall of the House of Usher (so much so that I read the Wikipedia plot summary before starting this as a reminder) but this was a great retelling. I'm not really a fan of horror, so had initially avoided this, but a friend whose taste I trust recommended it, and I'm glad I gave it a go. I nearly stopped after the first page, to be honest, with its tone of dark menace, and mycological threat, but then Miss Potter stepped on to the page and she just makes everything better. An English lady of a Certain Age, mycologist and (fictional) aunt of Beatrix Potter, she stops our narrator, Alex Easton, from poking the wrong sort of mushroom.
Easton is also interesting, being a "sworn soldier", from a country with an abundance of pronouns, there's one specifically for soldiers (the country that Alex is from being very fond of their soldiers, even if they aren't very good at fighting) and this causes some embarrassment for those from uncouth places like America that don't have such pronouns. Although to be fair, the American doctor, Denton, gets used to it pretty quickly. Easton is summoned by their old friend Madeline as she says she's dying (hence Denton's presence in the house). There is all the tension and horror that comes from that, and from the gothic house set beside a disquieting lake beset by various kinds of horrific fungus. Oh the fungus.
This is Easton's story as they tell of the last of the Ushers, but it's the redoubtable Miss Potter who's the heart of it for me. She might not drive the plot, but she's very sensible and English about things, while vibrating with a righteous anger at not being allowed to join the learned society for mycologists just because she's a woman.
It's a great gothic horror story, and a very Kingfisher twist on the original story. Avoid if you're mycophobic, but for everyone else it's a cracking read....more
A friend recommended this to me with the synopsis that it involves an AI investigating the circumstances of zir own murder. With a plot like that, howA friend recommended this to me with the synopsis that it involves an AI investigating the circumstances of zir own murder. With a plot like that, how could I resist? Scorn is an artificial person, who awakes to find ze has been restored to a backup nearly 10 days old, and all traces of anything more recent than that have been wiped. Oh, and ze was on the moon. So, being the good investigative reporter that ze is, ze picks up the pieces of the story, and gets back to it, while also trying to figure out who "killed" zir in the first place.
This was a lot of fun, and had had a lot going on in its slim length (I finished it in an afternoon). On top of the mystery which was the primary plot driver, there was a lot of musing about the human condition, and what it means to be, and be beyond, human. The only thing I found a bit disappointing was the worldbuilding, which leant heavily on the sort of corporate dystopia that feels like it was old when Neuromancer was doing it.
All in all, this was a satisfying and thoughtful story, and I feel smug because I more or less worked out whodunnit, which I almost never do....more
Temerity is sixteen and helps her mother run an inn in a small town, while her father and brothers have gone into the Dragon's Game - a series of dungTemerity is sixteen and helps her mother run an inn in a small town, while her father and brothers have gone into the Dragon's Game - a series of dungeons where you have to acquire magical items, level up and generally dungeon crawl, in the hopes of a great prize at the end. Temerity decides to follow them into the Game, her only companion being the hobgoblin, Half-Pint, who has helped her family for generations.
I'm not really that familiar with the litRPG genre. I picked this up as it was in the free section of books at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon, not really knowing what to expect. But it turned out to be an awful lot of fun. There were a lot of tropes that I could identify, both from my own experience of tabletop roleplaying, and cultural osmosis from video games, which I never really got into. It's pretty lightweight and there's not a huge amount of character depth. We get the usual sorts of quests that you'd expect for inexperienced adventurers and get to see Temerity become a pretty good melee warrior. Like video games, there's no real death in the world of the Dragon's Game - if you die, you're just chucked out, back to the start of the level, so although the first time she "kills" someone, Temerity is pretty shaken up, by the time we get to the end of the level, she's hacking and slashing with the best of them.
This is popcorn reading, easy to consume without much substance to it. I'd certainly be happy to go on and read the next one, once it's out (and it seems like the author has planned quite a lot of them) but I could also put it down and not think about the series again. Definitely fun though, especially if you have any RPG experience....more
I picked this book up mostly sight unseen off the back of House in the Cerulean Sea, which I enjoyed a lot. This one, it turns out, didn't grab me neI picked this book up mostly sight unseen off the back of House in the Cerulean Sea, which I enjoyed a lot. This one, it turns out, didn't grab me nearly as much, even though it seems to contain all the elements that should appeal to me. A boy, Victor, and his (android) dad, along with two robot chums live in the forest. One day Victor finds a new android in the nearby scrapyard, repairs him and then his dad ends up being kidnapped and the little found family going on a quest to rescue him.
I've been pondering for a few days now, trying to figure out why this didn't really work for me, but don't have a good answer. The burgeoning relationship between Victor and the android Hap is delightful, but I found the other two droids tiresome. Someone thought it would be hilarious to name the "acts psychotic but is secretly a softie" nurse droid after a real psychotic nurse, calling her Nurse Ratched, while Rambo the vacuum cleaner is so twee to be slightly unbearable, especially in the city, where he doesn't doesn't seem to be able to grasp the idea that talking to strangers might put, not just him, but his entire party, in grave danger. I'd have not shed a tear if he'd been dismantled for spare parts.
The whole reverse Pinocchio thing has its charms, but either it didn't do a lot with it, or what it did went right over my head. It's not a bad book, but it failed to keep my attention. I did quite enjoy the short story at the end though....more
I had thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of this Scottish-themed anthology which had been written for the 2005 Glasgow Worldcon, so was excited when I had thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of this Scottish-themed anthology which had been written for the 2005 Glasgow Worldcon, so was excited when I heard about volume 2, written for the 2024 Glasgow Worldcon. In order to showcase how the Scottish SF scene has changed over the last two decades or so, the editors made a conscious decision not to include any contributors from vol 1 (except themselves [editors' privilege], and Ken Macleod, who was a guest of honour at Glasgow 2024).
There were some great stories here and it was a strong collection overall. Like the first volume, the editors were very broad about what they counted as "Scottish" SF. This could be writers who were born here, those who have made Scotland their home, or stories with a strong sense of the country running through them. The collection gets of to a cracking start with Ken Macloed's Weak Gods of Mars about a folk singer who was reincarnated on Mars, followed up with Eliza Chan's excellent When You Are The Hammer, Strike.
Morag Edwards' Shoals is hauntingly beautiful and packs an awful lot into its short length. Andrew J. Wilson's paragraph long story about an alternate history version of the Robert the Bruce parable with the spider had me laughing in surprised delight at the last line, excellent work!
Not every story hit the mark for me. For example, I found Grant Morrison's Peter's Thoughts a bit impenetrable, but then I have a troubled relationship with Morrison at the best of times, and the tone of a few doesn't work (especially those that lean towards the horror end of the spectrum). But these are few and far between; this is a remarkably strong collection. EM Fauld's Love, Scotland is a story of refugees finding shelter in Scotland, but not shying away from the bigotry that they can still face.
So a great collection. Now we need another Glasgow worldcon in a decade or two for volume 3!...more
Gen is a thief who'd boasted that he could steal anything, proved it by stealing the king's Seal, and then got caught when he was boasting about havinGen is a thief who'd boasted that he could steal anything, proved it by stealing the king's Seal, and then got caught when he was boasting about having stolen the king's Seal. Now the king's closest advisor gets him out because he needs him to steal something. But Gen has plans of his own.
This has been sitting on my Kindle for a while and I picked it up because the other book I was reading kept making me cry and I didn't really feel in the mood that day. It was a good book to read while travelling, since the first half is mostly just Gen and his comrades travelling. Unusually for a book like this, the senior advisor (magus) who ordered him to steal this item also comes with them, along with two of his apprentices, who are scholars and the obligatory silent hunk of muscle there to keep Gen in line. This feels like it was really just world building for future volumes, since we got a lot about the political situation in our secondary world as well as the gods.
And this is a secondary world fantasy, but one that was very light on the magic. Apart from crossing paths with some gods there's no other fantastical element, so bear that in mind if you're going in expecting a magical heist story. The heist itself is pretty straightforward, just dealing with a dungeon with traps, but no monsters, and then they have to flee (for Reasons).
The travel isn't hugely exciting, we just get to follow Gen and his companions bickering at each other. Gen can be stubborn and sometimes just petulant which isn't exactly endearing. The magus is pompus but surprisingly fair, while there's a Nice Apprentice and a Naughty Apprentice and the guard has no personality other than to loom.
There's a nice reveal right at the end which I should really have seen coming, but didn't and it's a nice closed ending, so it's perfectly fine to read standalone, although there's another five books in the series, which I haven't decided yet if I'm going to pick up or not....more
This one gets a content warning for grief, mental health, and for suicide.
Mukesh is a widower, still grieving over the loss of his beloved wife, whileThis one gets a content warning for grief, mental health, and for suicide.
Mukesh is a widower, still grieving over the loss of his beloved wife, while his daughters try to look after him in their own ways amongst their own busy lives. Aleisha took a summer job in the local library before starting university. As Mukesh tries to get closer to his dead wife, who loved books, by going to the library and trying to read, he forms an unlikely friendship with Aleisha and they bond over the books they read.
As someone who loves books, this was an easy sell to me. But what I wasn't expecting was to spend half the book crying (and that's before the Big Event towards the end of the book). My own parents are elderly but both hale and healthy, but the descriptions of grief here still hit home strongly and I felt very strongly for Mukesh. Kudos to Adams for that writing. Aleisha has her own problems, as her mother has pretty severe mental health problems, and she and her brother have to take care of her, as her father left a long time ago.
I've read under half the books on the reading list that forms the core of this book, but I'm now interested in reading some of the others, especially Little Women, which I avoided as a kid because it seemed like it was a "girl book" (ah, the joys of internalised patriarchy).
The only thing I'd say is that at times it felt a bit heavy handed with the emotional palette - shoving it in your face while shouting "do you feel something yet???". Still, a powerful book, and it gets points from me for having an elderly, Indian protagonist, which is representation you don't see often in literature....more
This book very much feels like an origin story for the "Derring-Do Club", composed of the three Deering-Dolittle sisters. But while I always enjoy a MThis book very much feels like an origin story for the "Derring-Do Club", composed of the three Deering-Dolittle sisters. But while I always enjoy a Marvel origin story, until very near the end, two out of the three sisters were really quite unlikeable. The eldest, Ernestine, especially so. For much of the book, she's self-obsessed, a bully to her sisters and obsessed with manners above all, more worried that her sister was unchaperoned in the company of a man than about the slaughter of everyone else in her school. Youngest sister Charlotte is an airhead, more interested in the natty uniforms of the Austro-Hungarians than in their plan to attack Britain. Only middle sister Georgina seems to behave in any reasonably human way in the face of the undead hordes.
There's chunks of body-horror here, as the dead are brought back to (un)life, and also horror-horror in terms of how an entire school is mown down with barely a blink. Given the quite lightweight, winking tone of the book as a whole, scenes like that are especially gruesome. There's some real humour in here as well though. For example, we get a glimpse into Georgina's wedding night via her elder sister, who's hiding in the closet which is genuinely funny.
One thing that I'm not sure we can get away from though is the treatment of empire. Any steampunk book written in the twenty-first century really has to deal with the negative side of empire, and this one doesn't. The British Empire is a Force For Good, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire is Evil, and that's that. There's no nuance, although since our protagonists are three wealthy white women, then maybe that's not entirely surprising.
In the end, I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. Once the heroics kicked in, with Lottie turning out to be a military strategist and crack shot; Gina being a technical whizz; and Ness leaning into her leadership position, I enjoyed it much more. But I'm not sure it was enough to make me want to read the next book....more
I honestly can't remember why or how I acquired this, but I picked it off my Kindle to read during downtime at this year's Worldcon. Not long into it,I honestly can't remember why or how I acquired this, but I picked it off my Kindle to read during downtime at this year's Worldcon. Not long into it, I nearly put it back down again, but I'm eventually glad that I persevered. It's a book that's very slow to get going. The first three characters we're introduced to are really not nice people and are dead within a couple of chapters. Then it turns into a western, with a stranger (our nameless protagonist, from a crashed spaceship) coming into town, having a wee adventure of some kind and then leaving again, always in search of something. That something, it eventually emerges, is her lost love, but you don't find out any details until about two thirds the way through the book.
The setting is a post-apocalyptic far-future Earth which was evacuated by most inhabitants centuries ago. Those that remained have turned to a new religion focussed on the Earth itself, and accept their horrible living conditions as punishment from the divine. So you can imagine the chaos that our Woman Who Fell To Earth gunslinger causes. The problem is that characters come and go quickly without much time for development and I struggled to care much about the Stranger and her mystery quest as well.
I'm fairly glad I persevered though since I ended up enjoying it, although I think I enjoyed it most once it had given up the western formula and was actively driving the plot forward....more
This is an interesting book to read so soon after Frontier, which I thought was just okay, whereas I enjoyed this a lot. It's a collection of two relaThis is an interesting book to read so soon after Frontier, which I thought was just okay, whereas I enjoyed this a lot. It's a collection of two related novellas, and a couple of short stories, all in the same setting, which is that of an alternative United States, which dammed the Mississippi and introduced hippos for meat, with "hoppers" (cowboys) to round them up. We follow one of these hoppers, Winslow Remington Houndstooth, as he gathers up a crew for a caper operation to clear out feral hippos from the "Harriet" (the dammed, swampy mess that the Mississippi became) while falling in love with one of his gang.
This is a pleasingly diverse world. We first meet Houndstooth just as he seduces the man who hired him for the job, before he goes to Hero, the non-binary explosives expert he needs. Archie is a female hopper who's also a thief/rogue and Adelia is the best assassin in the country. She's also heavily pregnant. None of this is treated as unusual or looked down upon. It's a great setup, and I loved the idea (which I've heard before) of introducing hippos into the US and using them instead of horses in the marshy land that they would inhabit, so you'd get some varieties for meat and some for ranching. All our hoppers love their hippo mounts but you also get an impression of how dangerous they can be from the ferals that roam the Harriet and snap up any passing idiot who takes a dip in the river.
The second novella picks up pretty much from where the first left off, and deals with Adelia's newly born baby being kidnapped and Houndstooth going a bit crazy, having lost Hero. The two of them tell a pretty complete story and the shorts at the end just fill in some gaps (the first explaining how Ruby got her gold tusks and the second the nine and a half times that Archie saved Houndstooth's life).
Westerns have never really been my thing, but for some reason, the idea of cowboys on hippos really tickles my fancy. I liked hanging around with the characters and enjoyed this book a lot....more
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