hflh's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is a really solid collection. 8 stories that reimagine the past, present, and future from Chelsea Vowel’s Métis worldview that will encourage readers to look at the world and speculative fiction in different ways.
These stories are meant to exist outside conventional SF but to give some perspective on what to expect – The first half (Buffalo Bird to Maggie Sue) swing more to the side of magical realism/supernatural while the last half (A Lodge Within Her Mind to Unsettled) explore technology in a near-future setting (if you liked Black Mirror, you might like these). Unsettled feels more like post climate disaster sci-fi dystopian.
I would say the first story – Buffalo Bird – is one of the weaker entries and would encourage readers to continue if they are thinking of stopping. I would recommend reading all the stories in order as they build on each other thematically and later stories reference earlier ones.
Vowel uses footnotes throughout, and each story is followed by a discussion. Some may find this distracting or frustrating, but it helps you catch anything from Vowel’s perspective you might have missed and often times add necessary cultural context. These are important to ensure readers are understanding the stories through Vowel’s worldview vs. interpreting them from a white dominant, colonial lens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Grief
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Genocide, Drug abuse, Misogyny, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Suicide, Blood, Fatphobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual harassment
multiplyoctopi's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Colonisation, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Suicide, Drug use, and Mental illness
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