On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu

Posted on by eabrenner

On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Gorgeous and heartbreaking.

I decided to read this novel after enjoying Yu’s short story “The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight” (Uncanny Magazine, Sept/Oct 2016), and I was expecting more fairy tales, less haunting, and less un-couched trauma. I wasn’t expecting it to be so brutal, but I’m glad it was. The way the world treats migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers is disgusting and should be talked about and changed.

On Fragile Waves is a coming-of-age story, and a migrant story, and a trauma story, and is about storytelling and human rights and the impact of war. Rich with details, and very much in the same vein as Aliette de Bodard, and the way she weaves the lingering, inter-generational impact of war, and the silence of the older generation, into her work. Yu’s work here is not as overtly fantastic as de Bodard’s space operas, but is every it as visceral and powerful and beautifully rendered.

I recommend to readers who like the literary fantastic.




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Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

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A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Luckily, I get to rave about what makes this book so great.

Master of Djinn is more than just an extremely fun adventure-romance (in the literary and popular sense)-murder mystery. (There’s also clockwork/steampunk elements, because Clark saw us all coming and threw as many things into this blender as possible.) It puts colonialism and racism, the patriarchy, disenfranchisement, and slavery under a microscope, all while infusing it with humor, sarcasm, and memes. (Clark reminds us that the 21st century didn’t invent that shit, bless him.)

I love Clark’s re-imagining of a Cairo – of an Egypt – independent of British rule, establishing itself as a world player in a critical moment in time. The unmasking of the conspiracy at the tangled heart of the story mirrors the real history of Otto von Bismarck and the complex web of secret deals he brokered amongst world powers that led to the outbreak of World War One. I don’t know how Clark managed to do that so elegantly while including those same world powers on the precipice of their conflict in the story. That’s what makes this book so powerfully good: the use of bombastic adventure tropes to distract you from the reality that you’re reading some sophisticated and subtle storytelling. Layers of misdirection, for the characters and the readers!

Let’s talk about the characters. Fatma is complicated and willful and deeply good. She makes mistakes and does better next time, and does it with style and panache. Siti is funny and sexy and has sharp edges and claws and always shows up when someone she cares about needs her. Hadia is ambitious and smart and skillful and sly. They are all devoted to family in their own way. It shouldn’t be so rare to find a book written by a man with female characters who feel like they were written by a woman, but it is, making this book a rarity twice over.

I highly recommend reading at least “A Dead Djinn in Cairo“, if not also The Haunting of Tram Car 015 , before reading this novel.




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I.D by Emma Rios

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I.D. by Emma Ríos

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Loved the characters in this graphic short – Charlotte especially had a strong and sarcastic voice. The moodiness of the piece, the violent social unrest and commentary, and interplay of minimalism and chaos on the page, married well with the emotional landscapes of the characters and the choice they were making. Although I found the artwork and the monochromatic color choice difficult at times (I couldn’t always tell what I was looking at), overall I like the art style and enjoyed the book.



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The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

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The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is all about messy, complicated relationships, and how they’re even messier and more complicated by colonialism and power dynamics. It’s also about the messed-up choices people make in pursuit of their ideals and goals, the lies they tell themselves and others, and the how vulnerable they become when they start telling the truth. The interpersonal dynamics of both the major and minor characters in The Unbroken are what take a good story and make it great.




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Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

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Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was not prepared for the emotional journey in this novella. It walloped me with beauty and sadness, fear and frustration. I rooted for Thanh to stand up for herself, create a genuine connection with someone who would care about her. I was afraid and frustrated when she made poor choices, stung when she was misunderstood and rebuked, and I celebratory at the end. If you’re in the mood to feel all the feels in a short amount of time, Fireheart Tiger is a rich, quick read.



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