She’d eaten Jedao’s memories, crunched down the carrion glass and felt it pierce her on the way down. They were part of her now, sharded through her in ways that she couldn’t explain in ordinary human terms. [loc. 3866]
I bought and read this mostly for 'The Glass Cannon', a novella which wraps up some loose (and sparking) ends in the Machineries of Empire trilogy. Set two years after Revenant Gun: Jedao finds himself obsessed by the memory of his long-dead schoolfriend Ruo, and decides that he needs to get his memories back from their guardian.
Cheris, meanwhile, is teaching mathematics on a backwater planet that isn't even wholly terraformed. She has changed her name and her appearance. But that's not enough to keep her past from knocking at the door.
Cue body-horror, some unpleasantly visceral scenes, and virtuosic levels of scheming from Mikodez and Zehun. The ending is perfect.
I'd already read quite a few of the other stories on the author's blog, but it was good to have them brought together in a single volume, and it's interesting to see Lee's experiments with various narrative voices. The authorial notes are charming and give a glimpse of how the author's work is informed by his own interests and life experiences. The stories range from humorous to poignant: there are quite a few focussing on Jedao, some that feature Cheris, and a delightful vignette of Zehun and one of their cats. I especially liked the glimpses of Jedao's life before Hellspin, and his family interactions. (Of course Jedao would buy his nieces toy assassin's tools!)
No comments:
Post a Comment