The Hands That Are Not There, by Melinda Snodgrass

The Hands That Are Not There is another story that is only available in the Dangerous Women anthology.  It's a bit of a throwback--exotic aliens conquered by humans, serving in low class positions.  A highly class and gender conscious (and conservative) society.  A story from the point of view of a fallen aristocrat, describing a threat from within.  OK but a little clumsy, very spelled out like a not-that-ambitious TV script (Snodgrass writes for television).  2 stars from me.

Nora's Song, by Cecelia Holland

As far as I know, Nora's Song is only available as part of the Dangerous Women anthology.  It's a good little story about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and how they had many more children than was really good for them.  From the third youngest's perspective.  2 stars.

My Heart is Either Broken, by Megan Abbott

Continuing Dangerous Women--My Heart Is Either Broken is a very good story.  It's not speculative fiction, but I'll review it here anyway.  The story has a very interesting take on how a woman's behavior is judged in the media, particularly when the family undergoes tragedy--in this case the kidnapping of their daughter.  Told from the father's perspective, it frames a real dilemma, since on one hand it seems apparent that she doesn't deserve the treatment she is getting, but on the other that she actually might.  Good stuff.  3 stars.

Some Desperado, by Joe Abercrombie

I have just started George R. R. Martin's Dangerous Women anthology.  Got it as a gift so definitely qualifies as free, even if I'm not so stiff about that in this blog anymore.  My usual practice is to review all the stories individually, but in this case I'll also make comments on what I see in the anthology as a whole as I go along.

Some Desperado is an action story--a woman outlaw on the run, from the law and her erstwhile partners.  It's a gritty fight scene that shows Shy, the protagonist, as a tough but now quite desperate survivor.  It was OK to read, but I don't know if it would really stand alone as the link's marketing implies.  On its own it's two stars.

As I was reading it, it made me think about what to get out of this anthology.  It is supposed to be about strong women who will fight, with wits, wiles, or force.  And sure enough this one is a fighter, with a reflective backstory.  But other than a couple of paragraphs that indicated one of the other outlaws had kept her bedroll warm, it pretty much felt like reading about a man.  Contrast this with Pyre of New Day, by Catherine Asaro, which also features a physically strong woman but ends up to be a more clever role reversal.  I am thinking Asaro wasn't invited to this particular party, not sure she would fit here.  Onward.

The Land Across, by Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe is one of the most literary writers that speculative fiction has ever had, and he has probably been the subject of more literary criticism than any other SF writer.  This is a good thing.  He is getting toward the end of his time as a writer, so he is starting to go deeper into his own mind in his writing.  That can make him a little hard to follow, but I think he's still pretty interesting. I've read several short stories and The Book of the New Sun,  In The Land Across, he works on a smaller scale than the ambitious series volumes set in outer space.

Grafton (we don't find out his name until over halfway into the book) is a travel writer looking for a really obscure place to visit.  We don't ever find out the name of this country, it is some vaguely eastern European place run by a dictator.  We know one city name, Puraustays, which is a name really elegantly constructed not to indicate where it is.  The closest analog I can think of would be pre-Aung Son Suu Kii Myanmar.  He has a difficult time getting there, and when he finally does he is immediately arrested and has his passport taken away.  Thus begin the adventures.  Grafton generally rolls with the punches and manages to take everything in, even as he's imprisoned and drafted into the JAKA, the "secret" police.

Wolfe is by now a complete master of voices.  Grafton is literate but relatively plain spoken.  The people of the unnamed country have German as a second language, so their voices are translations of somewhat stilted German into English.  Some can't get into it, but I was intrigued and enjoyed it all the way through.

Wolfe's more ambitious works try to say something relatively deep about humanity, and give you a real insight into the very complex inner workings of the protagonist.  I can't say that happens here--Grafton definitely is a complex person, but one doesn't see all of it.  Wolfe seems to be making a more concrete point about people living under dictatorships, and their essential humanity.  He makes that clear in an appendix.  The dictator in this story does play a role, though it's rather unusual and otherworldly.  Reminds me a bit of Philip K. Dick.

In any case, I can solidly give The Land Across three stars and recommend it for those who enjoy good writing. 

A Stranger in Olondria, by Sofia Samatar

A Stranger in Olondria was nominated for both a Nebula and a World Fantasy Award this year.  And in this case it's easier to understand why.  This is a writer's book, interesting but essentially introspective in style.  The protagonist, Jevik, is a fascinating character, a young man itching to go to the Big City and see the culture for himself--he had been exposed to it by a tutor brought to his remote island by an equally remote father.  He throws himself into the scene and pays the price innocents often pay--he loses that innocence and goes on a journey of discovery. 

That journey is driven by the ghost of Jissavet, a girl dying of a wasting disease thought to be a spiritual sickness.  She is at the end of her life, but manages to convey her bright, disdainful personality when they meet briefly on his chartered ship.  How she comes to haunt him is a long story best read in the book.

There is one parallel to the last book I read, A Natural History of Dragons--the world is made up whole.  But the sensibility feels somewhat South Asian (though Samatar herself is from South Sudan), so the tropes are less familiar.  And Samatar writes from a very foreign point of view within this space.  This is interesting but in the end becomes a critique--my mind grew tired trying to wrap itself around metaphors like "her eyes were as one who had come from the country of herons".  ???  They almost work, you strain to make the connection, but in the end are quite unsure.

Samatar also gives a nod to writers by portraying the role of books in this world as heady, absorbing, dangerous things.  Dwelling on the danger more than the fascination, though not in such a way as to imply that they should be censored.  In this context Jevik is of course very much a bookworm.

A very interesting achievement in this book is an extended portrayal of Jissavet as a haughty, unkind person yet one worth working to get to know.  Jevik certainly thinks so, even in death. 

The book did not continuously hold my interest, it gets a bit carried away with writing and settings.  The plot gets slightly obscured in those difficult metaphors.  But it certainly gave me some mental exercise, and I felt like my boundaries of what I could read were stretched.  I give it three stars for style. 

A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, by Marie Brennan

A Natural History of Dragons was nominated for a World Fantasy Award this year.  It's one of those books that's a bit tough to review.  It's well-written--Brennan picks a style (Elizabethan) and sticks with it.  The protagonist is a feminist role model, at least for her setting.  I finished it and stayed somewhat engaged.  What stands out, for me, is what it lacks:

1. Dragons: The protagonist (the future, but not present, Lady Trent) is obsessed with them, and dragons do figure prominently.  But the cover, title, and early part of the book led me to expect that we would learn much more about them than we do.  We get some anatomy, particularly bone structure and a little social habits, but that's it.  The speculation about sparklings is mildly interesting, I guess it counts.
2. Obsessive detail: Books of this sort can engage by taking a deep dive into their fantastic subject matter, making for geek fun and material for Cons and cosplay.  But see #1, we have not a lot of depth.  And if you don't have detail, you need:
3. Compelling action: There is adventure and danger in this book, but it's pretty carefully described and doesn't arouse much in the way of emotion.  Stuff happens.
4. Grounded culture: Anthiope is a fully make-believe place, though the culture takes an Elizabethan Europe background mostly for granted.  There's some development of what makes Scirland unique, but not much.  It could sort of be anywhere, as long as anywhere is mostly like here.
5. Fresh and insightful social commentary: Lady Trent is minor royalty in Scirland, and bucks current social trends by being a woman interested in science.  Her father and husband "indulge" her.  OK, but it's been done.  For a long time.

So while it's a competent book, it's not compelling in any way.  I see there's a sequel, and there is definitely room to grow here, but not much to say you should start.  I say two and a half stars--never done that before, but you have to start somewhere.