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A review by futurememory
At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories by Kij Johnson
4.0
I always find it so hard to review short story collections. There are always duds, always revelations, always unevenness in enjoyment and quality. Each short story is a particular body, a particular being, singular. I'd read "Spar," "Ponies," and "The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change" before starting in on this collection, so I was familiar with Kij's voice and more famous pieces.
Even though each story in the collection is quite different, there are several themes that repeat. There are lots of tales here of animals, and their relationship to humans. There's also a thread of Japanese mythology running through several of the stories.
My favorites were "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" (a river of mist brings an architect from the capital to two small towns), "The Horse Riders" (the entire concept of the way the earth in this tale moves, and inhabitants' relationship with that rotation), and "Dia Chjerman's Tale" (women reaped via spaceship by an evil empire). "The Evolution of Trickster" might be my absolute favorite. I love it when Kij really delves deeply into world-building. All of the stories above could have benefited from novel-length companion texts, the backdrops were so rich.
That being said, there were several stories that did nothing for me. "The Bitey Cat" was just... blah, and "Schrödinger's Cathouse" completed relied on that particular trick of quantum mechanics.
Overall though, quite enjoyable, and I'm intrigued to see what Kij's novels look like.
Even though each story in the collection is quite different, there are several themes that repeat. There are lots of tales here of animals, and their relationship to humans. There's also a thread of Japanese mythology running through several of the stories.
My favorites were "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" (a river of mist brings an architect from the capital to two small towns), "The Horse Riders" (the entire concept of the way the earth in this tale moves, and inhabitants' relationship with that rotation), and "Dia Chjerman's Tale" (women reaped via spaceship by an evil empire). "The Evolution of Trickster" might be my absolute favorite. I love it when Kij really delves deeply into world-building. All of the stories above could have benefited from novel-length companion texts, the backdrops were so rich.
That being said, there were several stories that did nothing for me. "The Bitey Cat" was just... blah, and "Schrödinger's Cathouse" completed relied on that particular trick of quantum mechanics.
Overall though, quite enjoyable, and I'm intrigued to see what Kij's novels look like.