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richardleis's review
5.0
I really love this issue of dazzling science-fantasy short stories, a mash-up I haven't read often and am now eager to read more of. A mermaid longs to travel to the stars. A subterranean people divide up a body. A queen is dying and another must take her place. A glassblower crafts an unexpected future on another planet.
ninj's review
4.0
Wonderful combination of fantasy and sci-fi, for a mermaid who wishes to travel on ships amongst the stars, what she'll do to achieve it, and the effect it has on her.
Merged review:
Wonderful combination of fantasy and sci-fi, for a mermaid who wishes to travel on ships amongst the stars, what she'll do to achieve it, and the effect it has on her.
Merged review:
Wonderful combination of fantasy and sci-fi, for a mermaid who wishes to travel on ships amongst the stars, what she'll do to achieve it, and the effect it has on her.
chirson's review
3.0
Another retelling: nice enough, but not particularly striking.
Merged review:
Another retelling: nice enough, but not particularly striking.
Merged review:
Another retelling: nice enough, but not particularly striking.
titusfortner's review
4.0
This review is for The Mermaid Astronaut
What a fun story. It makes good use of the format and I enjoyed the ending quite a bit.
What a fun story. It makes good use of the format and I enjoyed the ending quite a bit.
wanderlustlover's review
5.0
Spring 2020 (April);
-- specifically "The Mermaid Astronaut"
This was so amazingly good. It's part Little Mermaid retelling, part Girl Runs Away on an Adventure, all wrapped up in the gorgeous cosmos of space. I have a warm net woven around my heart about this story. I loved the way the Mers were described under the sea, how they were, how names happened, and choices. I loved how the spacefaring was handle, from the bottom up realistically, and how families are formed and mourned everywhere.
And I love, love, lvoe the retake on The Sea Witch, both previous to the space travel, and when she returns. The compassion and understanding, but, also, the price, and you continue to fill the roles that came before you, walking the steps of those who were just like you not so many turns of the wheel ago.
-- specifically "The Mermaid Astronaut"
This was so amazingly good. It's part Little Mermaid retelling, part Girl Runs Away on an Adventure, all wrapped up in the gorgeous cosmos of space. I have a warm net woven around my heart about this story. I loved the way the Mers were described under the sea, how they were, how names happened, and choices. I loved how the spacefaring was handle, from the bottom up realistically, and how families are formed and mourned everywhere.
And I love, love, lvoe the retake on The Sea Witch, both previous to the space travel, and when she returns. The compassion and understanding, but, also, the price, and you continue to fill the roles that came before you, walking the steps of those who were just like you not so many turns of the wheel ago.
aspyre's review
4.0
Mermaid Astronaut is a lovely, lyrical re-imagining of a fairy tale that hits all the right notes.
bookaneer's review
4.0
Rating for Yoon Ha Lee's short story, The Mermaid Astronaut. Finally, a mermaid story that I enjoyed, involving no sacrifice for a guy. Featuring sisterhood story too. A heartwarming science fantasy, kinda reminded me of [b:The Vanished Birds|45422268|The Vanished Birds|Simon Jimenez|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562699959l/45422268._SY75_.jpg|70173100].
nataliya_x's review
3.0
This is a review for Hugo Awards-nominated short story “Mermaid Astronaut” by Yoon Ha Lee. (Adding review here in case individual entry for that story gets deleted.)
———
It’s a spacefaring retelling of Andersen’s “Little Mermaid”, I guess — and despite my ambivalence of fairytale reimaginings, it’s actually alright. But the problem is — unlike it’s earthly inspiration, this one has no real stakes. It’s sweet and pleasant and comforting, but that’s it. It needs something else there, something to give just it a bit of a bite.
It’s a story full of kindness, compassion, understanding, biological AND found family, and the dangers and threats hinted at early on do not have a payoff. There’s a price to pay sometime in the future, perhaps, but it’s hidden comfortably under layers of wondrous sweetness. I doubt I’ll remember it tomorrow, let alone months or years later.
Too easy, too sweet. Nothing wrong with it, but I suspect Hans Christian Andersen would have disapproved.
3 low-stakes unimpressed stars.
———————
Read it free here: https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-mermaid-astronaut/
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3701332299
———
It’s a spacefaring retelling of Andersen’s “Little Mermaid”, I guess — and despite my ambivalence of fairytale reimaginings, it’s actually alright. But the problem is — unlike it’s earthly inspiration, this one has no real stakes. It’s sweet and pleasant and comforting, but that’s it. It needs something else there, something to give just it a bit of a bite.
“That’s not the kind of difficulty I meant,” the witch said. “I can give you two legs like the humans, that you might walk on land, or upon the deck of a starfaring ship for that matter. The rest, though—the rest is up to you. For there’s more to starfaring than having legs. You’ll have to familiarize yourself with their alerts, read oxygen gauges, watch out for toxic atmospheres and flesh-eating pathogens, and that’s just the beginning.”
It’s a story full of kindness, compassion, understanding, biological AND found family, and the dangers and threats hinted at early on do not have a payoff. There’s a price to pay sometime in the future, perhaps, but it’s hidden comfortably under layers of wondrous sweetness. I doubt I’ll remember it tomorrow, let alone months or years later.
Too easy, too sweet. Nothing wrong with it, but I suspect Hans Christian Andersen would have disapproved.
3 low-stakes unimpressed stars.
———————
Read it free here: https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-mermaid-astronaut/
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3701332299
sunnybopeep's review
4.0
Four very goob sci-fi fantasy stories. I particularly liked the speculative fiction piece about the insect-human society. That one was my favorite, even though the author doesn’t have any other published works really?? The Aliya Whiteley story had a good concept, but I feel like it could have been fleshed out more. Mermaid Astronaut was very feel-good. The glassblower one was somewhere between interesting and boring.