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suchmeow's review
4.0
Favorites from this issue:
The Nine Scents of Sorrow by Jordan Taylor 4/5
The World Ends in Salty Fingers and Sugared Lips by Jenn Reese 3/5
The star rating I give magazine issue reflects the score of my favorite story, not the issue as a whole.
The Nine Scents of Sorrow by Jordan Taylor 4/5
The World Ends in Salty Fingers and Sugared Lips by Jenn Reese 3/5
The star rating I give magazine issue reflects the score of my favorite story, not the issue as a whole.
wanderlustlover's review
3.0
Spring 2021 (April);
-- Specifically “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”
This story very much was reaching for that gritty punk noir feel, except with the twist being that all the mob bosses & vigilante/detective heroes are basically fallen angels, negotiating the politics of their fall and why they fell and it's so long ago everyone in the room but their (pet-) people really know what happened and who did what.
This story tried really hard, but I just couldn't find myself much invested in it, which deeply surprised me. I really like retellings on things, and so few retellings dig into the meat of the fallen from any heaven with a new twist.
-- Specifically “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”
This story very much was reaching for that gritty punk noir feel, except with the twist being that all the mob bosses & vigilante/detective heroes are basically fallen angels, negotiating the politics of their fall and why they fell and it's so long ago everyone in the room but their (pet-) people really know what happened and who did what.
This story tried really hard, but I just couldn't find myself much invested in it, which deeply surprised me. I really like retellings on things, and so few retellings dig into the meat of the fallen from any heaven with a new twist.
fclancy93's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
bookaneer's review
2.0
Total average rating for two stories:
The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard **
Urban fantasy with fallen angels and repressed feeling. Zzz.
The Nine Scents of Sorrow by Jordan Taylor **
Like a mix between Kelly Robson's The Water for Versailles and the novel Perfume. I feel like I should like it - a pretty story - but I just could not get around the magic and basically just shrugged at the end. Next!
The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard **
Urban fantasy with fallen angels and repressed feeling. Zzz.
The Nine Scents of Sorrow by Jordan Taylor **
Like a mix between Kelly Robson's The Water for Versailles and the novel Perfume. I feel like I should like it - a pretty story - but I just could not get around the magic and basically just shrugged at the end. Next!
nataliya_x's review
3.0
This review is for Hugo-nominated novelette The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard.
————
Urban fantasy with fallen angels* and a serial killer murder mystery, told in noir style.
Arvedai the Fallen Angel is the noir version of Crowley, with a heart of gold hiding somewhere under the mafia boss dealing in angel bones exterior. Calariel “Cal” the Fallen Angel is supposedly a good person but with dark secrets hiding behind that angelic exterior. Squishy humans Sam (a witch) and O’Connor (a hired thug) are being angsty over them and become involved with forces seemingly too big for them to handle. All while someone is murdering the Fallen in the city of Starhollow.
The good: This novelette reads like it should belong in an established Urban Fantasy world — and for all I know it may be, as this is the first (but probably not the last) work by Aliette de Bodard I’ve read. Something about it reminds me of P. Djèlí Clark’s [b:A Dead Djinn in Cairo|29635542|A Dead Djinn in Cairo (Dead Djinn, #0.5)|P. Djèlí Clark|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459173382l/29635542._SX50_.jpg|49993780] — the use of mythology, the supernatural murder mystery, the human investigation of supernatural crimes. And although I’m not a big fan of noir overtones in general, here they work well and set a moody, gloomy atmosphere that feels like it should be filmed in black and white palette, with wisps of cigar smoke obscuring the view. It’s grim and moody and well-done.
The not-so-good: Deux ex machina. Thematically fitting, but still cheap.
3.5 stars.
——————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3701332299
————
“I knew all too well how former angels balanced on a knife’s edge between despair and madness, and how easy it was for them to let go—in a city which sold their bones as drugs.”
Urban fantasy with fallen angels* and a serial killer murder mystery, told in noir style.
* When I hear “Fallen Angel”, my mind immediately counters with one A.J. Crowley, of Pratchett/Gaiman superb Good Omens, who “did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards.”
Arvedai the Fallen Angel is the noir version of Crowley, with a heart of gold hiding somewhere under the mafia boss dealing in angel bones exterior. Calariel “Cal” the Fallen Angel is supposedly a good person but with dark secrets hiding behind that angelic exterior. Squishy humans Sam (a witch) and O’Connor (a hired thug) are being angsty over them and become involved with forces seemingly too big for them to handle. All while someone is murdering the Fallen in the city of Starhollow.
The good: This novelette reads like it should belong in an established Urban Fantasy world — and for all I know it may be, as this is the first (but probably not the last) work by Aliette de Bodard I’ve read. Something about it reminds me of P. Djèlí Clark’s [b:A Dead Djinn in Cairo|29635542|A Dead Djinn in Cairo (Dead Djinn, #0.5)|P. Djèlí Clark|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459173382l/29635542._SX50_.jpg|49993780] — the use of mythology, the supernatural murder mystery, the human investigation of supernatural crimes. And although I’m not a big fan of noir overtones in general, here they work well and set a moody, gloomy atmosphere that feels like it should be filmed in black and white palette, with wisps of cigar smoke obscuring the view. It’s grim and moody and well-done.
The not-so-good: Deux ex machina. Thematically fitting, but still cheap.
3.5 stars.
——————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3701332299
mlemzor's review
3.0
I feel it's a little hard to rate a magazine... 4,5* for the magazine and the articles in the back, but most of the short stories in this edition did not do much got me (with the exception of "The Ruby of the Summer King"! Full marks for cuteness)
8bitlapras's review
2.0
Fiction
Once More Unto the Breach (But Don't Worry, the Inflatable Swords Are Latex-Free) by Tina Connolly: 3/5
The World Ends in Salty Fingers and Sugared Lips by Jenn Reese: 3.5/5
A Pale Horse by M Evan MacGriogair: 3/5
A Long Song for Herkinal as composed by Ashkernad amid the ruins of New Haven by Chinelo Onwualu: 3/5
The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard: 2/5
The Ruby of the Summer King by Mari Ness: 3.5/5
The Nine Scents of Sorrow by Jordan Taylor: 2/5
Non-fiction
Will I Live to See My Utopia? by P. Djèlí Clark: 4/5
Hands On by Caitlin Starling: 4/5
Transforming Anxiety by Danny Lore: 3/5
The People You Only Think You Know by Hillary Monahan: 5/5
Average rating: 3.27/5, but rounding down to a low 2/5 just because I felt this issue was really lacking for me.
Once More Unto the Breach (But Don't Worry, the Inflatable Swords Are Latex-Free) by Tina Connolly: 3/5
The World Ends in Salty Fingers and Sugared Lips by Jenn Reese: 3.5/5
A Pale Horse by M Evan MacGriogair: 3/5
A Long Song for Herkinal as composed by Ashkernad amid the ruins of New Haven by Chinelo Onwualu: 3/5
The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard: 2/5
The Ruby of the Summer King by Mari Ness: 3.5/5
The Nine Scents of Sorrow by Jordan Taylor: 2/5
Non-fiction
Will I Live to See My Utopia? by P. Djèlí Clark: 4/5
Hands On by Caitlin Starling: 4/5
Transforming Anxiety by Danny Lore: 3/5
The People You Only Think You Know by Hillary Monahan: 5/5
Average rating: 3.27/5, but rounding down to a low 2/5 just because I felt this issue was really lacking for me.
crunden's review
that cover though
Started with Tina Connolly's Once More Unto the Breach (But Don’t Worry, the Inflatable Swords Are Latex-Free)! Available online here.
Really liked this one!
Started with Tina Connolly's Once More Unto the Breach (But Don’t Worry, the Inflatable Swords Are Latex-Free)! Available online here.
You are at the birthday party that lasts forever, and you look through the smear of your face paint and raise your inflatable hammer high.
Really liked this one!