Reviews

I only read 2 out of the 5 stories, out of personal preference. Of the 3 I didn't read, two of them revolved around infidelity and uncomfy relationship drama, and one dealt with really dark cyber bullying (and was a little on the nose). These are all my personal preference and don't reflect the quality of the stories, especially since I didn't finish reading them.

Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women was perfectly dark, plenty of horror that reminded me of Shirley Jackson. Very excellent, 4.75 out of 5

Uranians was exceptional, gave me feelings of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet but a little darker, moodier. But also had parts that were pretty funny. A beautiful imagining of queers in space, very affirming and hopeful in the end. 5 out of 5

nbicks's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

livforreading's review

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3.0

I enjoyed the premise of most of these! Very out of my usual comfort zone, and a little rambling at times but overall I’m glad I gave it a shot!

nolemdaer's review

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challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I struggle to enjoy short story collections, so I made it my goal to read one this year. Uranians had a great title, a gorgeous cover, and a relatively intriguing synopsis—plus, it’s not very long—so I decided to jump in. Each story, of course, might be better or worse than those around it, so I’ll do individual reviews before a final one.

Toward a Theory of Alternative Lifestyles: the relationship tension was more interesting than the ~possibility of seeing other worlds. Given how much the latter actually played a role in the story, I feel like the narrative might agree.

Lacuna Heights: the ongoing mystery of what Andrew’s memory kept concealed and what was happening with his “Private Mode” ramped up in a thrilling way, and the visions of a dystopian future where your brain can be turned into a phone were appropriately bleak and menacing, but the conclusion was so underwhelming I almost wish it hadn’t been explained.

Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women: much stronger than the first two, especially in its ability to evoke emotion (I was disturbed by how men responded to the appearance of the “Protection” by enacting even more violence, as I should be) and the use of a unexplainable and ambiguous event to examine misogyny. However, it did feel wildly out of place with the other stories—why are we reading about magically realistic turn-of-the-century gender relations amidst these stories about technology?

Talk to Your Children About Two-Tongued Jeremy: the actual premise wasn’t very inspired (it’s giving Black Mirror episode), but the emotions of the narrative and the protagonist were engaging enough to make this story substantial. Like, it was ridiculous, but at least there was a story arc.

Uranians: the collection’s eponymous novella honestly surprised me by providing a genuinely emotional story at what felt like the right length for the topics and premise it explored. For better or for worse, I’m sensitive to the type of mortality-meaning-loneliness-connection storylines that pop up whenever you detach people from our world as we know it (think anything from Station Eleven to The Last Question), so this one was kind of bound to make a impression on me. It took the time to think through queerness, purpose, queer relationships, and existence when the parameters of existence are completely isolate and undone, and the balance of art/science/humor/wonder/pain was definitely a high point among all the stories in this book.

There were definitely times throughout the first stories that I thought I’d rate this at 2 stars, but the novella cemented a solid 3 stars for the whole collection. I think the author just needed some more room with the majority of the beginning entries to give a truly satisfying story. "Six Hangings" seemed out of place with the themes of the collection as the whole, which was unfortunate, because I think it's the strongest of the truly short stories. However, "Uranians" stuck the landing enough to leave a positive impression.

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