A review by kathrynhoss
Winterglass by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
5.0
This is a story about living under colonization, about the slow self-annihilation necessary to live to fight another day. I found the descriptions of Nuawa's mindset as she does this incredibly powerful.
It's got prose like an expressionist painting-- bright brushstrokes of color that both bring the narrative to life and obfuscate it. It's not for everyone, but I like it.
The worldbuilding is a strong point, with its centering of South Asia (calling Westerners "occidentals" is a nice touch) and the irrelevance of sex and gender in this society. I was repeatedly confused by General Lussadhe's gender presentation vs identity, but that's what good art does. It disrupts, disarms, reveals our biases and forces us to rethink them.
I wish it were a full-length novel. I should have liked to see the romance unravel further into dysfunction, watch Nuawa's plan unfold. We barely get to see the Winter Queen herself. This feels unfinished to me, but I would still recommend it to anyone who likes queer speculative fiction.
The cold first, before the sight. Senses rouse to urgent stimuli far in advance of cognition, the vanguard: the heart clogging, the blood in roar, the muscles locking into paralysis. Nuawa fights against it as she turns. The Winter Queen, then. Behind the shrine, just out of sight of the novices or the bhikkuni busy with the hound. A hundred sets of calculation fleet through Nuawa, a hundred sets of admonitions and cautions from her mother. They collide with a single image, of the queen in martial regalia, the formal wear of mass executions.
“Your Majesty,” Nuawa says, poised to perform obeisance; bending the knee is a price so miniscule it is not one at all.
It's got prose like an expressionist painting-- bright brushstrokes of color that both bring the narrative to life and obfuscate it. It's not for everyone, but I like it.
The worldbuilding is a strong point, with its centering of South Asia (calling Westerners "occidentals" is a nice touch) and the irrelevance of sex and gender in this society. I was repeatedly confused by General Lussadhe's gender presentation vs identity, but that's what good art does. It disrupts, disarms, reveals our biases and forces us to rethink them.
I wish it were a full-length novel. I should have liked to see the romance unravel further into dysfunction, watch Nuawa's plan unfold. We barely get to see the Winter Queen herself. This feels unfinished to me, but I would still recommend it to anyone who likes queer speculative fiction.