A review by megatza
Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

 

Genre: short stories of speculative fiction, fantasy, and science fiction 

I could give this book 5 stars for The Tearless Onion alone. 

Anthologies are notoriously hard to rate, because there are always some stories that stand out to you more than others (there are SF anthologies I read 25+ years ago that still have random short stories that stand out to me!). But as a collection, this works really well overall. Ann Leckie gives us short stories from the Imperial Radch universe but also a large portion revisiting the Raven Tower universe, and others that are not connected. She hits on themes of sentience and discovery, imagination, communication, and strength. 

My favorites, in no particular order: 

 Another Word for World

 Hesperia and Glory

 The Marsh Gods

 Saving Bacon

 The Sad History of the Tearless Onion 

Leckie's Lake of Souls anthology is a perfect blend of very short (some only 2-5 pages) and very long, and an even more perfect balance of her insight as well as humor. 

You don't need to have read her other books to understand these, and if you're a short story/novella/novelette fan, this is a great entry point to Leckie's work because of the variety. 

Adjoa Andoh (best known to bookstagram for her role as Lady Danbury) is the narrator, and her voice work is a perfect fit for Leckie’s writing. Having listened to nearly all of Leckie’s other books, I knew I would really enjoy this on audio. 

Thank you to Orbit for an eARC for review. Lake of Souls is out now!