Empathetic, clear-eyed, nuanced.

This is a beautiful, stunning poetry collection. I loved the minimalist, thoughtful style and how it was divided into sections that explored different themes. The poems all manage to be very deep but light in feeling at the same time. Some poems took my breath away. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more by this poet.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jemisin’s world-building is *perfect* here, but there was too much of it and too little character development/plot/exploration of themes for my taste. The themes got really interesting mid-way through but then dwindled again, and the nature of the relationship between the main characters was confusing to me. But again the world she builds is fascinating and so well-thought out. I’ll definitely be back for the second book, because I’ve heard it’s good, and because it’s Jemisin.

I really enjoyed reading these stories. As with many short story collections, some stories were stronger that others, but the great ones really blew me away. All together, it was a fascinating reading experience. My favorites were the stories by Charlie Jane Anders, Malka Older, Justina Ireland, Violet Allen, Kai Cheng Thom, and Alice Sola Kim.