Tag Archives: novella

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Book Review: Stone and Steel, by Eboni Dunbar

I bought a the Pride 2021 Story Bundle, earlier this year, and Eboni Dunbar’s Stone and Steel was included in it.
stone and steel eboni dunbar
When General Aaliyah returns triumphant to the city of Titus, she expects to find the people prospering under the rule of her Queen, the stone mage Odessa. Instead, she finds a troubling imbalance in both the citizens’ well-being and Odessa’s rule. Aaliyah must rely on all of her allies, old and new, to do right by the city that made her.

my review

I liked this a lot. It’s not perfect. For a person who grew up without legitimate connections, Aaliyah turns out to gather some surprisingly powerful allies (largely without trying), which felt too coincidental. The version I read didn’t make it clear enough when speakers were changing. So, dialogue was sometimes hard to follow. (I don’t know if this was just formatting or what.) And as a not huge fan of novellas, I, of course, wish it was longer and more developed. But, for such a short piece, it does what it sets out to do. It evokes a real sense of place and time, gives you characters you care about, is chocked full of diversity, and wraps up with a satisfying conclusion. I’ll happily read more of Dunbar’s writing.

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Other Reviews:

Review: “Stone and Steel” by Eboni Dunbar

Regular Sip – Stone and Steel by Eboni Dunbar (Neon Hemlock)

 

https://www.scifiandscary.com/stone-and-steel-review/

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Book Review: The Unremarkable Man, by Lauren Coffin

Lauren Coffin‘s The Unremarkable Man has been hanging out in my Kindle cloud since July of 2013. I recently had reason to explore TBR and decided to give an oldie a chance. I’m pretty sure I picked it up as a random freebie.

the unremarkable man

Wendell Coombs is not invisible. He is, and always has been, supernaturally ignorable. After thirty-seven years of coping with the difficulties of his condition- the struggle, for instance, to simply attain a cup of coffee, let alone a place to live- Wendell does not mind. In fact, he is quite comfortable in his anonymity. Or rather, as he discovers when someone notices him for the first time in decades, he is quite afraid of people. Esme Middaugh knows none of this when she offers Wendell what she thinks to be an innocuous “Hi.” Having spent the past year in the company of books rather than people, having, indeed, cut out people from her life altogether, Esme only knows that she has little business interfering in the affairs of this man and the ailing houseplant he carries with him. But she may be the only one who can save the plant- a ficus benjamina that has been the one constant in Wendell’s life. Wendell is willing to go to extremes to keep it alive, including asking Esme to help him. The Unremarkable Man is the story of two deeply isolated, slightly absurd people struggling to connect. And to save a ficus.

my review

Despite being several years old, this novella doesn’t have many reviews. I saw one on Goodreads, however, that referred to it as “endearingly awkward” and I just don’t think I can improve on that description. Wendell and Esme are both too dear for words. But also blithely bumbling through life, with no real clue about how to people; how to exist in a world that requires them to interact as a person. I think it would be hard to read the 106 pages of this story and not fall a little bit in love with them.

the unremarkable man photo

the flowers of vashnoi

Book Review: The Flowers of Vashnoi, by Lois McMaster Bujold

I borrowed a copy of Lois McMaster Bujold‘ s The Flowers of Vashnoi from my local library.

the flowers of vashnoi

Still new to her duties as Lady Vorkosigan, Ekaterin is working together with expatriate scientist Enrique Borgos on a radical scheme to recover the lands of the Vashnoi exclusion zone, lingering radioactive legacy of the Cetagandan invasion of the planet Barrayar. When Enrique’s experimental bioengineered creatures go missing, the pair discover that the zone still conceals deadly old secrets.

Short, but satisfyingly self-contained.

I read this without knowing it was part of a series. (I only discovered that when I went to Goodreads to review it.) Despite being number 14.1 in the Vorkosigan Saga, I was able to follow it with ease. I simply took the vagueness around characters, and such, as normal for a novella. I enjoyed the characters, the obvious love between the Lord and Lady, and the complexities around the contaminated zone and it’s inhabitants. I think I’d be interested in searching up the beginnings of the series and giving it a try.

the flowers of vashnoi