Tag Archives: Lis Carey

Lis Carey Review: The Mimicking of Known Successes

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  • The Mimicking of Known Successes (The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti #1) by Malka Older (Tordotcom, March 2023) 

Review by Lis Carey. Holmesian mystery! Sapphic romance!

Earth is no longer habitable, or perhaps, not yet habitable again. The surviving remnants of humanity are living in colonies in orbit around Jupiter. Mossa is an investigator assigned to investigate a man’s disappearance at a rail station. She follows the limited evidence about him back to the university town of Valdegeld — where her former girlfriend, Pleiti, is a scholar working on the re-terraforming of Earth. Awkward as it will be, she needs to talk to Pleiti to get the information she needs to investigate anything in the cutthroat academic politics of Valdegeld.

It’s an awkward reunion indeed, but Pleiti is ready to help her.  

The academic politics are even more complicated and vicious than Mossa thought.

Rekindling her relationship with Pleiti is possibly even more complex and difficult.

The man’s disappearance is entangled in the academic conflict over the right way to terraform Earth. Mossa is a coolly analytical, very observant researcher. Pleiti is smart, capable, but with more emotion and connection to other people.

Together, they make a great team. Whether their relationship will rekindle, and be solid, remains open to question.

A satisfying mystery, in a genuinely sfnal setting.

This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Novella Finalist.

Lis Carey Review: Mammoths at the Gates 

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  • Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle #4) by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom, September 2023)

Review by Lis Carey: Cleric Chih travels widely, gathering stories, with a talking hoopoe bird. The hoopoe, Almost Brilliant, has perfect recall and serves as Chih’s neixin, ensuring that the stories will be retained perfectly, even as Chih records them on paper.

For the first time in years, Chih and Almost Brilliant are arriving home at the Singing Hills Abbey, to add their stories to the archives, and to rest. But there have been some changes at the abbey.

Cleric Thien, mentor to Chih and others when they were young and still new to the abbey, has died. Thien’s hoopoe, Myriad Virtues, is mourning as only a being with perfect memory can, and it’s been somewhat disruptive. 

More disruptive than that, however, are the royal mammoths at the gates of the abbey, and the two sisters demanding the return of the body of their grandfather, once the patriarch of the Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass. Which is to say, the body of Cleric Thien, who intended to be buried according to the rites of the Singing Hills Abbey, not those of his former clan.

The granddaughters are not taking no for an answer, and the mammoths, if given the order, could crush the entire abbey, including all its treasured archives.

Chih finds themself, with less assistance than usual from Almost Brilliant, needing to learn a great deal very quickly about the clan, about Thien’s history both before joining the abbey and since, and about the history of the hoopoe. What’s Almost Brilliant doing instead? Spending a lot of time with Myriad Virtues, helping, comforting and maybe something more.

I’ve loved all the Chih and Almost Brilliant novellas. In this one, because Chih themself needs to learn more about the abbey’s history, there are some fascinating additions to the reader’s understanding of what they are all about.

This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Novella.

Lis Carey Review: Thornhedge 

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  • Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books, 2023)

Review by Lis Carey: We have a princess, sleeping in a tower. The tower is entirely surrounded by a tall, thick, dangerous thornhedge. We know this story!

But no, this is T. Kingfisher, and she does strange and wonderful things to fairy tales.

Our heroine is Toadling, born in the tower, but stolen away by fairies, and raised in the warm waters of faerieland, in the loving care of the toads. And then she is summoned to go on a mission, to make a blessing on a newborn princess in the tower, to prevent harm. Such a simple mission. What could go wrong?

Everything, really. Starting with the fact that the queen thinks she’s come to steal the baby princess.

Toadling finds herself committed to staying to keep the child out of trouble. Or trying to, because the child is the problem. Toadling finally sends the princess into a long, long sleep, after events I shall leave you to discover for yourself. Watching over the sleeping princess and making sure no brave and hearty heroes find and rescue her may not be exciting, but it is, mostly, peaceful. Except when it’s not.

And then comes the first in a long, long time. A knight. A Muslim knight. He is, for reasons, obligated to save the princess. Toadling absolutely must prevent this. They are both intelligent, reasonable, and very likable people.

How can both goals be satisfied? Can either be satisfied?

It’s a lot of fun.

This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Novella Finalist.

Lis Carey Review: The Year Without Sunshine 

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  • “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny, November-December 2023)

Review by Lis Carey: The world has undergone some kind of catastrophe resulting in clouds thick enough to block sunshine — and this is following several lesser disasters that had already created challenges for modern life. Not everything is cut off. Electricity is available several days a week. Medicines are getting hard to get, but authorities, apparently federal authorities, have made life-critical medications, such as insulin, a priority.

When the internet fails, Alexis and a neighbor, Tanesha, set up a booth they call WHATSUP, where neighbors previously communicating via WhatsApp can leave messages for each other.

We never get the details of what caused that dust cloud. Instead, we see Alexis and Tanesha, initially just trying to keep communication open so people can share information and get assistance when needed, becoming the core of a larger effort at mutual aid and maintaining civilization. People start going through their garages and attics for anything that might be useful. 

One house where they’ve never met the residents turns out to be an older couple, one of whom is on bottled oxygen. They have a generator to run the oxygen compressor, but they’re running out of propane cannisters. The husband is good at carpentry — and that’s a potentially tradable skill. Someone else has a nail gun, and carpentry skills.

Someone else suggests using broken bicycles to generate power, and someone else has the skills to make it work. And a lot of people have battered, unused bicycles.

Someone knows how to can food — and others have the means and knowledge to tear off pavement, till the ground, and start planting. Soon everyone has their own background gardens, and with time, stashes of canned food that might get them through the winter.

It’s not all smooth sailing, though. They do some trading with other communities, though, and word gets around that they have plenty of food when others are running short…

It’s a community coming together, with interesting and varied people sharing skills and resources. It’s not conflict-free, especially when some of their neighbors become aware of their relative prosperity. Can they keep it together? Can they spread the success, or will violence win?

I love this story, this community, their personalities, and their resilience.

This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Novelette Finalist.

Lis Carey Review: On the Fox Roads

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  • “On the Fox Roads” by Nghi Vo (Tor Books, 2023)

Review by Lis Carey: A Chinese American girl in 1930s America hooks up with two Chinese American bank robbers, Jack and Lai. The girl’s parents had lost the deed to their store to the bank, and then Jack and Lai robbed the bank and took the deed with the rest of what they stole. Now, the girl wants to steal it back from them.

Two adult bank robbers aren’t overcome by a young teen girl, but they offer her a chance to earn it back. She becomes their lookout, getaway driver, and occasional more active participant in some crimes.

Along the way, she gets dressed up as a boy for one job, and finds this feels much more natural to her. Or rather, him. He learns the ways of Chinese magic, and not just the “fox roads,” or spirit roads of Chinese mythology.

There’s something of a bond between these three characters, but they don’t all have the same goals. They also all have secrets they’re keeping, and as they bank rob and shoplift their way across the country, it eventually all comes to a head, as it must.

It’s an interesting and well-done story, but for some reason it just didn’t connect for me the way Vo’s Singing Hills stories do. Maybe 1930s bank robbery just isn’t as compelling for me?

This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Novelette Finalist.

Lis Carey Review: “One Man’s Treasure” 

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  • “One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny January-February 2023)

Review by Lis Carey: Aden, Nash, and new crewmate Renny are city trash collectors in a world where magic is just a fact of life, and bulk trash day in the wealthy neighborhoods can be exciting.

Sometimes it’s neat stuff the wealthy throw away, often with magical enhancements. Sometimes it’s dangerous stuff that can potentially kill you — which is what happened to Blue, the teammate Renny is replacing.

This time, it’s a statue quietly asking for help.

City regulations say that a statue, talking or not, is an inanimate object, and if it’s been thrown out, it’s trash.

Aden can’t, and doesn’t, accept that. Nash and Renny somewhat reluctantly go along. Aden’s girlfriend, Nura, a medical student whose training includes magical complications and tools, is more committed.

And as they’re all planning how to defy the rules to help the man who is now a statue, they also start to think about how to change the rules to help themselves. The city doesn’t even provide protective equipment for bulk trash day. When Renny has his own magical accident, thankfully a minor one, they start drawing up a list of demands, and Nura does some research at the library.

Renny has a secret, and it’s about to come out.

It’s a fun story, that I really enjoyed.

This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Novelette.

Lis Carey Review: Ivy, Angelica, Bay

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  • “Ivy, Angelica, Bay” by C. L. Polk (Tor Books, 2023)

Review by Lis Carey: Miss l’Abielle –Theresa Anne l’Abelle, but only for people outside the community is she anything but Miss l’Abielle –has just buried her mother, who was the witch protecting their whole community. She’s got to take over now, but she’s flattened by grief, and doesn’t really believe she’s up to the task. It seems a little worse, a little harder, when a visit from a desperate young woman results in her becoming the guardian of a mysterious orphan girl.

The girl’s name is Jael Brown, and she’s an innocent, frightened child abandoned on Miss l’Abielle’s doorstep with a battered suitcase with her only possessions. But something else makes itself felt; an insinuating, threatening magic touched them both before being dispersed. Something is wrong, and it’s just the first of many signs that something threatens her community.

She takes Jael with her as she goes around the neighborhood, and a bee leads them to a house that three days ago had a family in it. This leads to further question, which reveal that an outside, aggressive developer is after their community, and especially the park and the area around it, for a freeway.

But there’s something more than the freeway behind this–a powerful, landless magician who wants Miss l’Abielle’s community for their own property. Miss l’Abielle doesn’t yet fully inhabit her mother’s powers, and isn’t sure how to fight this, but she has to do it.

Jael herself proves to have witching talent, and is eager to help–and something other than what she seems. Something very other from what she seems. Is she a friend and added strength, or an enemy inside Miss l’Abielle’s defenses? And can Miss l’Abielle overcome the main enemy, with or without Jael?

Despite what’s going on, it’s a surprisingly gentle, positive story, despite some of what’s going on. Very different from “Even Though I Knew the End,” To me, that’s a very good thing. 

This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Novelette Finalist.

Lis Carey Review: How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub

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  • “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark

Review by Lis Carey: Trevor Hemley is an ambitious young man in 19th-century London. The precise period isn’t clear, but to me it feels more Victorian than Regency. Those terms may be inappropriate, though, because this is a world in when Mermen are real, have lost a war with the British, and many live in Britain doing whatever work they can get.

It’s also a world in which krakens are real, well-documented, and until relatively recently, a major threat to shipping. Now they are believed to be extinct, or nearly so.

Which leads us to Trevor Hemley’s ambitions.

He is determined on greatness, and believes ambition is the key ingredient. He married well, owns a house (a gift from his wife’s family), has money (also a gift from the wife’s family), and a job in a bank, also a…well, you get the idea. And has great ideas. He found a wonderful opportunity to achieve greatness, by bringing back the kraken, in captivity, for display to an eager public that has grown bored with the machines that are now everywhere. Live monsters will be the thing!

He has purchased a kraken’s egg, via mail order, from Doctor P.D. Bundelkund, who is a dealer in “fantastic sea pearls, baubles, and collectibles.”

What could possibly go wrong?

Trevor is not fortunate enough merely to have been scammed out of his money. Nor is he smart enough to wonder why P.D. Bundelkund isn’t putting krakens on display himself.

What ensues is horrific if you think about it too closely, but also very entertaining, if you view it through the lens of Trevor being an archetypically smug Englishman, with contemptuous attitudes and beliefs about the Lesser Folk from other lands. Or seas. This is a 2024 Hugo Awards Best Short Story Finalist.

Cider Reviews: Voyage of the Dogs

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Voyage of the Dogs by Greg van Eekhout (HarperCollins, 2018)

Review by Cider: Hi, there. I’m Lis’s service dog, Cider. Lis finally got me a book for me to read and review.

 I’ll just say this up front, because I’m one of those readers for whom this is important: No dogs die in this book. We do get the story of Laika*, told by one of the dogs to the others so that, at a critical point, they can make an informed choice, but Greg Van Eekhout kills none of his fictional dogs in the course of this story.

Lopside, Bug, Daisy, and their pack leader, Golden retriever Champion, are Barkonauts, dogs specially trained and equipped to be part of the crew of Laika, the first Earth ship to head out to start a colony on an alien world in a distant solar system. There are four human crew as well, and we only meet two of them before one, Roro, helps the dogs into hibernation for the FTL portion of their travels.

When the dogs wake up, the humans are gone, having taken the lifepod, and the ship is badly damaged.

They’re on the outskirts of their destination star system, but with the ship’s drives not working, too far from their destination planet, Stepping Stone. The dogs struggle to make repairs. They manage to redirect the communication antenna, and send a call for help to Earth.

They are good dogs, and they are Barkonauts. Barkonauts complete their missions, and their mission is to get to Stepping Stone.

There are real personalities at work. There is both conflict and cooperation among the dogs. Lopside, a little terrier mix, the only non-purebred, is our viewpoint character. From time to time he reminds us that unlike the others, he wasn’t bred to please everyone. (Champion’s a Golden, Bug is a Corgi, Daisy a Great Dane puppy. All bred to work with people, not to consider people’s opinions and then make their own decisions.)

Looming over their efforts is the name of the ship, Laika. They know Laika was the first dog in space, the very first Barkonaut, but for some reason, her story is missing from The Great Book of Dogs, the book Roro read to them, full of the stories of heroic dogs. Lopside really wants to know that story. He’s sure it would help inspire them to even greater heroism and ingenuity.

But with or without the story of Laika, these dogs love their people and their jobs, and are determined to succeed They don’t quit. They don’t fail.

This is a very satisfying story.

Recommended.

Lis bought this book.

*Considering how long it’s been, and how much younger than Lis are the people raising young children today, I think I have to say outright what Laika’s story is. She was the first dog in space, yes. She went up in Sputnik 2, on November 3, 1957. There was never a plan to bring her back, but she died within hours, when a malfunction caused the Sputnik cabin to overheat. This was the result of the Soviet space program taking barely four weeks to design Sputnik 2, and that wasn’t enough time to make a reliable temperature control system for Laika. Laika’s story is one of humans behaving badly. Greg Van Eekhout, on the other hand, is a good human, who gets well-deserved cuddles from his dogs.