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The Hundredth House Had No Walls
Laurie Penny
5 stars
A charming and humourous fantasy short that teases all the old tropes in an amusing way. Read with a smile on my face all the whole time and a few guffaws sprinkled liberally throughout. Reminiscent of the better parts of Xanth and utterly delightful.

The Vetting
Michael Cassutt
3 stars
A lawyer battling cancer finds a new perspective while vetting a Syrian man who has been detained by ICE

Zeitgeber
Greg Egan
3 stars
A significant portion of the population suddenly finds their sleep schedules jumped 12-hours out of synch. An interesting premise but the story didn't really feel like it went anywhere.

Water: A History
K.J. Kabza
4 stars
A woman in her twilight years bonds with a youth seeking a bright future. As she reminisces about her youth on Earth and her adulthood on this new planet, she wonders if she has regrets. Beautifully executed and thoughtful.

As the Last I May Know
S.L. Huang
5 stars
A nation once devastated by a powerful weapon of mass destruction sets in place an unthinkable restriction to prevent themselves from casually inflicting the same on others. Now at war, their leader and a member of the Order must face a horrifying choice.

In Xanadu
Lavie Tidhar
3.5 stars
Wishing for something, anything at all, to happen to relieve your boredom has always been a dangerous game. An exhilarating break in routine leads to a sad sad surprising discovery.

The Touches
Brenda Peynado
4 stars
In a world overrun by mutated viruses, can humans living in the virtual world survive without genuine touch? Fascinating universe, but I'm not quite sure what I think of the ending.

Preciousl Little Things
Adrian Tchaikovsky
5 stars
A woman fighting to improve her position in society makes a discovery that upends the worldview of her entire community.

The Time Invariance of Snow
E. Lily Yu
5 stars
A magical blend of physics and fairytales. One of the best short stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading.… (more)

An excellent collection of novellas. Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway and Lina Rather's Sisters of the Vast Black were exceptional, and Katharine Duckett's Miranda in Milan lagged not far behind. The story concepts of all three were intriguing and the characters nuanced. Very pleased with this anthology overall despite the last tale being one I DNFed.

INDIVIDUAL NOVELLA COMMENTS AND RATINGS

Miranda in Milan
Katharine Duckett
4 stars
This historical fantasy is a sequel to Shakespeare's The Tempest that centers the experience of Miranda. She has come "home" only to find that her past is not what she thinks. Despite a romantic subplot strong enough to qualify the story as a romance, the protagonist is so well-developed and the story spiraling around the affair so intriguing that I was well caught up regardless.

Every Heart a Doorway
Seanan McGuire
5 stars
What happens to children after they return from their trip through a portal into a magical land? Can life ever return to normal? Do they want it to? Nancy has been sent to a special boarding school by her parents who believe that she is delusional. But the school is not quite what it seems, and when a body turns up, everyone's life may be in peril. Clever and magical, this novella speaks to the longings within us all.

Sisters of the Vast Black
Lina Rather
5 stars
In a space-faring Catholic convent, the sisters dedicate their lives to providing aid and services to far-scattered colonies, but there are more secrets among these women than one might suppose. Soon the biological turmoil of their living ship and the fate of one group of settlers will bring everything out into the open. A compelling story full of complex characters deciding how to best live their truth.

The Sorcerer of the Wilds
Kalashante Wilson
2 stars
DNF 20%
Around 1/5 of the way through this, I simply couldn’t tell, or bring myself to care, where this story was going. The lengthy descriptions of GI life in a fantasy setting were of no interest to me at all.… (more)