It's difficult to rate anthologies because the stories tend to differ largely in quality, but this was a really strong collection. Young, queer-centered voices with a sci fi theme, all set in the future.

There was a huge amount of representation of identities and experiences across these 17 stories. I made a (probably incomplete) list here:
 

Rep: 

I wish there was disability representation.

We get a range of plots – some were deeply emotional, some were witty & fun, and some were so sweet & hopeful. The writing quality is overall very high.

Some stories were pretty bleak (centered around climate struggle and apocalypses // and futures in which transphobia and homophobia feel just as extreme as our current reality). There is certainly joy as well, but please don't expect an entire collection of queer triumph. 

My personal favorites were: Doublers, The Rift, Translating for the Machine, Present: Tense, Nick and Bodhi, Concerto, and H O M E.

 
CW: queerphobia, outing, misgendering, death, domestic abuse, murder, racism, bullying, climate disaster, medical content, classism, gun violence, dysphoria, military themes, grief, stalking, religious bigotry, mental illness, cancer
 

There was so much potential for The Atlas Six. Unfortunately, for me it did not live up to its premise.

The characters felt flat & unlikeable, and it was very clear the author chose favorites and dismissed others with surface level characterization. There were interesting backstories here, but ultimately it's a lot of telling the audience each character's trauma (lazy writing) instead of expanding on their thoughts & lives organically. And the stakes weren't clear ... why exactly was each character so compelled to join the Society (the, um, very-clearly-evil Society)? Also, the way they all talked about Libby was so off-putting and uncomfortable to me.

The plotting ... was painful. Way too slow and overwritten (put down the thesaurus, please!) and oftentimes scenes would skip around without establishing essential action. We're told interesting tidbits but only given description of mundane moments. The magic system was  interesting but under explained. I didn't believe that the six had bonded in any way because there were hardly any group scenes or group interaction at all. 

At times, it felt like a meandering philosophy paper. Lots of thought-provoking questions and curiosity, but ultimately not a lot of real depth. Overcomplication for the sake of overcomplication. Which made it kind of boring. The stakes should have been SO HIGH. But it was too convoluted and vague and hollow.

Olivie Blake has great ideas. Really! Maybe in the future - with a better editor - I'll have a more favorable experience with her writing.

I did like the talking plants. :) 

CW: death, murder, suicide, alcohol, toxic friendship, emotional abuse, kidnapping, gaslighting

I'm a little torn on this one. I enjoy stories about time travel – and I enjoy stories about time travel with lyrical, dream-like writing and complex questions. But some of the actual content fell flat.

We cross huge spans of time in this novel, but the writing style stays the same. I wanted more differentiation between the voices of characters in 1912 and 2020 and far into the future. I also felt that there was a lack of creativity or perhaps "realism" when we go far into the future. Why are things EXACTLY the same as they are in 2020? Yes, people live on the moon, but there isn't any nuance here.

I also felt some frustration at the recklessness and thoughtlessness of Gaspery's decisions. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but the choices he made and the shifting of timelines felt too simplistic and didn't make sense. And in general, I didn't find myself making deep emotional connections to any of the characters. (And there was some content around Olive as a writer of pandemic stories that felt like a clear self-insert and was a little silly.)

Overall, I enjoyed the concept. I enjoyed the weaving together of the stories (though it became a little cliche by the end). I enjoyed the writing style. But once I zoomed in and thought a bit more critically about the material, I found myself disappointed. 

CW: chronic illness, confinement, death, colonisation, murder, gun violence, suicide, war, alcohol, pandemic, sexism

“It's an awful thing to miss someone who's still here.”

Very painful, very affecting, very human.

Backman has the skill to unfurl these beautiful, specific characters within the most narrow parameters. This is a haunting yet earnest tale, following a old man with a dementia diagnosis. He is losing his memories and struggling to hold onto the essence of himself ... but is supported by his family. Specifically framed is the relationship between the man and his young grandson.

The grandfather is written with care, the relationships are beautiful, and there is brilliant precision in the layering threads of floating memories that all comes together by the end.

This is a clearly a personal story & a bit of a love letter - and I also think it would be a perfect piece to read with a young person with a grandparent or someone in their life affected by dementia who would be going through these exact pains. 

CW: dementia, death, death of parent, grief, medical content, terminal illness

A peculiar, atmospheric novella told in pseudo-documentary style. 

In a series of flash forwards and flashbacks, we're dropped into the fictional town of San Cristóbal that suddenly becomes home to a large group of feral children, seemingly from the jungle. While the children start by begging and merely irritate the rest of the community, their behavior sharply heightens and culminates in a stabbing incident in supermarket. Our narrator is a social worker piecing together these events, both from his personal perspective and through a variety of primary and secondary sources.

I have to admit that I hoped for more here. More eeriness, more specificity, more affectedness. The narrator was quite detached ... which led to my personal detachment. There was a LOT of rumination and rhetorical questions, which led to some thought-provoking moments, but also a bit too much lag. This could have been an intense, visceral experience. It has been labeled as horror, but I don't find that to be accurate.

The topics and overarching themes are interesting for sure. The sense of the "other', the labels and assumptions we place on children//childhood "innocence", a sharp criticism of a society that both bemoans and neglects those that are suffering, and so on.

CW: child death, murder, violence, grief, terminal illness, torture, forced institutionalization, injury

This is a collection of short stories - but all linked to and interwoven with the life of one specific character, Yunior.

It's difficult to love Yunior; he doesn't seem to evolve much and treats those in his life (especially the rotation of women throughout the collection) quite poorly. But he has this sense of cheeky optimism that is endearing - and this shines through in the more haunting portraits of Yunior and his brother and parents.

I'm not sure if I would call these "love" stories. There are no happy endings here, and each story heavily features infidelity and machismo and the general mistreatment of women.

The language was both raw and effective. Yunior's got an incredibly well-defined voice. And the last short story, The Cheater's Guide To Love, where he finally owns his mistakes and accepts some responsibility for his challenging relationships, is by far my favorite.

CW: infidelity, cancer, adult/minor relationship, alcoholism, cursing, drug use, misogyny, chronic illness, fatphobia, racism, classism, grief, suicidal thoughts, sexual content

I know they say not to judge a book by its cover .. but WHAT a cover!

This was a complex (& dense) high fantasy read. I would strongly recommend taking it easy and reading small chunks at a time to slowly become immersed and gain a better understanding of the world.

There was a lot of richness here (and I don't think I've read a Jamaican-based fantasy before – so, very cool!), but it was very slow and often overwritten.

Here's what I enjoyed:

• The worldbuilding and lore was new and fresh and rich 
• I also really liked the magic system and how the viewpoints of different characters physically changed the way they were able to utilize magic
• Both POVs played with power & victimhood in interesting ways, leading to a unique and complicated setup of good vs. evil and general villainy
• The premise is awesome! Two rival witches ... an examination of revenge and leadership and sacrifice

 

Here's what didn't quite work for me:
• The book needed some editing (it was unnecessarily long & some word choices were peculiar) and the pacing was off; the first 75% was incredibly slow with most action happening offscreen but  then everything came together in an overwhelming way
• I'm speaking for myself but I think other readers can probably relate: I desperately needed a glossary for the amount of names/positions and terminology 
• While the POVs were theoretically very different, their voices blended together for me and it wasn’t obvious who was speaking - this was especially frustrating because it was told in first person 

• Some of the plot points converged a little too conveniently at the end 

• The introduction to the romance wasn’t strong in my eyes. I’m curious how this will play out in book 2 

CW: violence, blood, death, murder, child death, death of parent, war, torture, confinement, body horror, vomit, bullying, sexual assault (mentioned), suicide (mentioned)

This was an interesting read for sure!

We're dropped into a world where the created Automae have overtaken humans (their once-makers) and forced them to live as lesser beings. Enter our two perspectives: Crier, an Automae princess, and Ayla, a human rebel who wants nothing more than to kill Crier. They're two small players in a war they don't quite understand, navigating politics and questions of morality and their blossoming romance.

I enjoyed Crier's War and was decently entertained, but I didn't love it.

What I liked: 
• An interesting premise, as mentioned above.
• A well developed sapphic romance! Angsty and emotional and heartfelt.
• Sparks an interesting commentary around oppression and genocide.
• Simple yet effective writing style.

Here's what didn't work for me:
• The world building was inconsistent and vague. I had so many questions - like how did this world without advanced technology build perfect AI robots?
• The "humanity" of the Automae differed drastically. The villains were perfectly cold robots who seemed to not have a capacity for human emotions, and that just seemed convenient to the plot rather than thoughtful character development.
• I did not think there was enough of a distinction between Ayla's and Crier's voices.
• I know this is YA, but Ayla is just painfully immature. I was much more aligned with Crier's perspective. (And

Ayla's twin brother is much more mature.)

CW: death, death of a parent, death of a child, grief, violence, murder, blood, war, emotional abuse, genocide

This book was pure joy for me. I mean, I cried a lot but it had nothing to do with heartbreak or tragedy – as the tagline promises, nobody dies in this one.

While I don't share a diagnosis with Ibby or Sasha, I felt so very seen by this book. I saw my thoughts and experiences represented on the page. The scene when Ibby's test results came back and they looked "good" ... the disconnect when friends & family don't understand what you're going through ... minimizing your experience to not be a bother to your friends ... pushing yourself to do something fun but paying the price for the whole following week ... navigating invisible illnesses and "looking sick enough" and speaking up for yourself when you need help ... there was just so much here.

Pulling back from the chronic illness representation, there was so much else I loved about this book. The dialogue between Ibby & Sasha felt real and witty and funny. I didn't find it cheesy or grating at all (which is sometimes ... okay, maybe often the case in contemporary romance stories). They weren't annoying or overdramatic.

The theme of family was explored in a dynamic and layered way; we witnessed tough relationships and wholesome & supportive relationships and a whole lot of in between. I was particularly charmed by Sasha's sister, Nadia. And I thought Ibby's complicated relationship with her always-working father (especially because he is also a doctor) was handled thoughtfully.

Ibby & Sasha's friendship and then relationship felt natural and honest. They have flaws and stumbles and teenage selfishness, but built up their romance on trust and deep care for each other.

I really loved Ibby's question columns and the way they were integrated into the flow of the story. 

They're also both Jewish and that representation was included super casually (which I appreciated). Sasha is bisexual and mentions that once or twice as well. And there's a decently diverse set of supporting characters.

I felt healed by this book - I think it's beautiful that it's both written for those with chronic illnesses and opening up conversations in a healthy (no pun intended?) way, but it's also great representation and education for those with no experience of disability. 

A small criticism would be the "dead" character, Claire. I found her intriguing as a way for Isabel to basically self-reflect, but felt that she was underutilized and never quite resolved. 

CW: chronic illness, ableism, medical content/medical trauma, toxic friendship, vomit, emotional abuse