Jimmy Brewster

Thank you to Orbit for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my review.

I wanted to read The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope because the premise of a missing sister who disappeared from reality sounded interesting.

The novel has themes of family, sacrifice, and generational trauma along with a good amount of suspense and action. The story is presented from the perspective of a young black woman in setting of the Y2K era with a heavy dose of magical realism. It starts mostly as a mystery and then transitions into more of an action story. I was very interested in the mystery and magical aspects of the story, but once the story moved into the action sequences, I found myself less interested.

If you enjoy Neal Stephenson, I think you would also enjoy this novel.

I wanted to read Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy because I have been curious to read more Nebula & Hugo award winners and nominees. This novel was nominated for both, and though it did not win either, it did win the Locus First Novel award in 1984.

The story itself is a very fun crime mystery that reminds me of something along the lines of the TV show "Murder, She Wrote". It features two older people who develop a relationship and attempt to solve the mystery of a missing daughter. The plot is a fun adventure. Additionally, at only 166 pages, it is a very quick and easy read.

Unfortunately, the story is steeped in cultural appropriation, orientalism, stereotypes, and racism. I went into the story expecting some of that, but it was more distracting than I expected. Nearly every single chapter must remind us that the protagonist is Chinese, and often in uncomfortable ways.

I would probably not recommend this novel, unless you are very curious to read something by this author.

I obtained a copy of Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre from a Humble Bundle collection of women authors in science fiction. I have been working my way through the collection, and I chose to read this one next because I saw it had won both the Nebula (1978) and Hugo (1979) awards.

This novel is an interesting sci-fi story. It drops us into a post-nuclear apocalypse Earth. The time period is undetermined, but it feels like it could be just as near-future as I am sure it felt when it was written in the 1970's. Civilization is broken into sparse communities, and much technology has been lost. A healer named Snake, who uses snakes as a method of catalyzing and delivering medicine to patients, is traveling and offering her services as part of the final stage of her training. She encounters much tragedy along the way. Despite her struggles, she manages to keep a headstrong attitude and a belief in doing good which is inspiring.

The elements of biology and science fall into the hard science fiction category, but the overall feeling of the novel leans into the fantasy genre for much of the time. I enjoyed the mix of the two elements. The book also contains positive representation of a polyamorous relationship and acceptance of different sexual orientations, which was nice to see in a novel published almost 50 years ago.

I would highly recommend this novel to fans of Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia E. Butler. If you enjoy novels like the Earthseed series, you should check out Dreamsnake!