kristamccracken's review
5.0
As usual I loved this issue of Uncanny. My favourite parts:
1) "How to Survive An Epic Journey" by Tansy Rayner Roberts. This is a fantastic retelling of the Jason and the Argo from a female perspective. Great voice and prose.
2) "Making Us Monsters" by Sam J. Miller and Lara Elena Donnelly. I loved the idea of framing this piece around historical characters writing letters and these letters being received out of time. This story was also full of so many feels, and so many queer feels. I finished it and immediately wanted to read it it to take in more of the beautiful depth and language throughout.
1) "How to Survive An Epic Journey" by Tansy Rayner Roberts. This is a fantastic retelling of the Jason and the Argo from a female perspective. Great voice and prose.
2) "Making Us Monsters" by Sam J. Miller and Lara Elena Donnelly. I loved the idea of framing this piece around historical characters writing letters and these letters being received out of time. This story was also full of so many feels, and so many queer feels. I finished it and immediately wanted to read it it to take in more of the beautiful depth and language throughout.
bailym's review
5.0
“No, we are having a very simple funeral,” said Vivian. “Nai Nai didn’t believe in religion so much.”
“But what about the dog cat all that?” said Auntie Wendy. “Did it work? Did your sister manage to keep her in the coffin?”
Vivian’s mind whirred to a stop. Then it started up again, buzzing louder than ever.
a malaysian expat returns to her family home for a funeral, and comes to terms with her heritage, in this truly funny supernatural family drama.
deciphering the plot along the way relies on some prior knowledge of taoism and malaysian folklore, so if you have unlike me not read two (sadly bad) ya novels hinging on taoism in the past four months you may want to do some research, because this throws you in the deep end with unfamiliar words and concepts in the grand tradition of sff but... for malaysian culture.
also features a really immersive and cool rendition of dialogue between hokkien L1/english L2 speakers! i love reading dialogue like this but it’s hard to have insight into the kinds of syntactic errors second-language english speakers tend to make unless you also speak both languages. it’s expertly done here.
mikewhiteman's review
3.0
Making Us Monsters - Sam J Miller & Lara Elena Donnelly ***
The Bone Plain - Karin Tidbeck ***
Learning To See Dragons - Sarah Monette ****
Pipecleaner Sculptures And Other Necessary Work - Tina Connolly ***
Sorrow And Joy, Sunshine And Rain - Troy L Wiggins ****
How To Survive An Epic Journey - Tansy Rayner Roberts *
The First Witch Of Damansara - Zen Cho ***
Elemental Love - Rachel Swirsky ***
The Bone Plain - Karin Tidbeck ***
Learning To See Dragons - Sarah Monette ****
Pipecleaner Sculptures And Other Necessary Work - Tina Connolly ***
Sorrow And Joy, Sunshine And Rain - Troy L Wiggins ****
How To Survive An Epic Journey - Tansy Rayner Roberts *
The First Witch Of Damansara - Zen Cho ***
Elemental Love - Rachel Swirsky ***
setauuta's review
4.0
There is some solid world-building here, along with some great character development.
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