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A review by adamgeorgandis
And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed
4.0
I recently read all of the novels nominated for this year's Nebula and Hugo Awards. Now, I have turned my attention to the Nebula- and Hugo-nominated novellas. I began with Catherine E Tobler's The Necessity of Stars, a novella I enjoyed very much. Premee Mohamed's And What Can We Offer You Tonight was the second on my list of Nebula nominees.
I am unfamiliar with Mohamed's work, though her website tells me there is a good deal of it - short stories, novellas, and novels. Perhaps I will give one of her other titles a chance; unfortunately, I enjoyed And What Can We Offer You Tonight somewhat less than I wanted to.
The novella boasts some real positives. The setting is fascinating to me, and richly evocative. As I read, I imagined an eldritch Venice, a flooded city whose inky depths are home to menacing creatures and a host of other dangers. I wanted much more detail than Mohamed provided, however, and I will look forward to any future work she chooses to set in this world. I found the city's social hierarchy similarly engaging, but again, I wanted much more detail than Mohamed provided.
Mohamed's narrator, the courtesan Jewel, interested me (especially at the end of the book, when the role Jewel plays in her House changes significantly), but I was often distracted by the tedious sentences Mohamed uses to convey Jewel's thoughts.
There is certainly a lot to like here. Perhaps Mohamed will develop the novella further, turning it into a full-length novel. I believe the setting and the narrator are well worth it!
I am unfamiliar with Mohamed's work, though her website tells me there is a good deal of it - short stories, novellas, and novels. Perhaps I will give one of her other titles a chance; unfortunately, I enjoyed And What Can We Offer You Tonight somewhat less than I wanted to.
The novella boasts some real positives. The setting is fascinating to me, and richly evocative. As I read, I imagined an eldritch Venice, a flooded city whose inky depths are home to menacing creatures and a host of other dangers. I wanted much more detail than Mohamed provided, however, and I will look forward to any future work she chooses to set in this world. I found the city's social hierarchy similarly engaging, but again, I wanted much more detail than Mohamed provided.
Mohamed's narrator, the courtesan Jewel, interested me (especially at the end of the book, when the role Jewel plays in her House changes significantly), but I was often distracted by the tedious sentences Mohamed uses to convey Jewel's thoughts.
There is certainly a lot to like here. Perhaps Mohamed will develop the novella further, turning it into a full-length novel. I believe the setting and the narrator are well worth it!