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Title: Conservation of Shadows
Author: Yoon Ha Lee
Published: Germantown: Prime Books, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 330
Total Page Count: 197,965
Text Number: 585
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback received in a Tor.com giveaway (multiple years ago, oops)
Review: Sixteen short stories, of magic systems based in music or math, of political intrigues and rebel battles, with diverse Asian influence, written a dense, stylized voice. All single author collections run the risk of repetition, but this especially so: there's a lot of overlap in plot structure, as well as worldbuilding technique. But taken individually, over half the stories are outright successes; the ones I remember best are those that deviate from convention, like the vignettes of "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel," the compelling character dynamic of "The Black Abacus" which is absent from most stories, the exaggerated style and second person address of "Conservation of Shadows," or simply length that develops "Iseul's Lexicon." I wasn't eager to pick this up between stories—I find Yoon Ha Lee's work distant and inscrutable; I like the concepts, but the human element sparks little investment. But while it may not have been to my taste, this was certainly an interesting read. I recommend it ambivalently.
Author: Yoon Ha Lee
Published: Germantown: Prime Books, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 330
Total Page Count: 197,965
Text Number: 585
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback received in a Tor.com giveaway (multiple years ago, oops)
Review: Sixteen short stories, of magic systems based in music or math, of political intrigues and rebel battles, with diverse Asian influence, written a dense, stylized voice. All single author collections run the risk of repetition, but this especially so: there's a lot of overlap in plot structure, as well as worldbuilding technique. But taken individually, over half the stories are outright successes; the ones I remember best are those that deviate from convention, like the vignettes of "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel," the compelling character dynamic of "The Black Abacus" which is absent from most stories, the exaggerated style and second person address of "Conservation of Shadows," or simply length that develops "Iseul's Lexicon." I wasn't eager to pick this up between stories—I find Yoon Ha Lee's work distant and inscrutable; I like the concepts, but the human element sparks little investment. But while it may not have been to my taste, this was certainly an interesting read. I recommend it ambivalently.
