Her brother, her little brother, had pulled his hand out of hers and gone down into the dark to save her life, and she hadn't run down the hill shouting, begging a shepherd, a priest, a rich man for help.
So it was her lie, too. She was in the lie, and the lie was in her, and the lie couldn't go any further into the dark. ['Buried Deep': loc. 1444]
Like many collections of short stories, this selection of Novik's shorter work is interesting because of the author's introductions to each story, as well as for the stories themselves. There's a cautionary note in the Introduction, though: "only the stories themselves can tell you what I was thinking".
The stories range widely, from an after-dark adventure at an alternate Scholomance to a Pride and Prejudice-flavoured novella set in the world of Temeraire: there's a story about medieval Europe that's inspired by Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, and the original novella which grew into Spinning Silver. 'Seven Years from Home', the most science-fictional of the tales, reminded me of Le Guin, while the title story is a dark meditation on the myth of Ariadne and the minotaur. I greatly enjoyed the piratical 'Araminta, or, the Wreck of the Amphidrake', with its Amulet of Tiresias: and 'The Long Way Round', which is set in the world of the novel she's working on now, piqued my interest.
While the mood and style varies from story to story. There are often queer characters, often women who are coping with difficult or lonely situations (very few of these stories are romances in the conventional sense), and often a sense of revolution or change. While I've read some of the stories before, it was very interesting to immerse myself in this book and appreciate the breadth of Novik's interests and of her style. Definitely worth reading, and rereading.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 17 SEP 2024.
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