Maps to Nowhere

by Marie Brennan

Ebook, 2017

Library's rating

Library's review

LibraryThing has done wonders for expanding my reading comfort zone. One genre that I've started to read much more widely is science fiction/fantasy (apologies to those who think of those as two separate genres, but I tend to lump them together when I think of them). So it's no surprise that I
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first heard of Marie Brennan right here on LT when I saw reviews of A Natural History of Dragons, the first in her Lady Trent's Memoirs series. I've still not managed to read that one, although it's on my wishlist; I guess my local library is not as enamored of dragons and dragon stories as I am. When this book of short stories came up as an October selection of the Early Reviewers program, I requested it to get a feel for Brennan's writing and worldbuilding. As with any collection of short works some are stronger than others, but overall it's quite good.

Although there is a Lady Trent story included here, Brennan is clearly not a one-note author. She has created a wide variety of worlds and creatures in these stories. Among my favorites in this volume: "Once a Goddess," which had an intriguing premise and unexpected depth; "The Mirror-City," set in an alternate-universe Venice; "Nine Sketches in Charcoal and Blood," nicely foreboding; and "From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review," which finds Lady Trent engaged in a bit of humorously savage old-style feuding with an academic rival, all carried out in an exchange of letters published in the newspaper.

In addition to how varied the settings and situations are, I like how Brennan doesn't drag a story to a screeching halt to explain details of how things work; she trusts readers to be able to fill in the gaps with their own imaginations and other SF/F experiences.

Among the lesser lights (though none are terrible) was "Love, Cayce," meant to be a breezy and humorous letter home from a group of young friends of indeterminate magical abilities who have set off on a series of adventures much as all of their parents did together at the same age. I think people who are big into Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games would really like this one, though. Also, "A Thousand Souls" fell rather flat for me.

Each story has a short accompanying essay in which Brennan recounts her inspiration or interesting tidbits about the writing process. Sometimes these sorts of things can be ho-hum, but I enjoyed them here. And the ebook was nicely formatted so that at the end of each short story, there was a link to the appropriate author's note, and then links back to that story or the next story in the volume, so that you could choose to read the notes with each story or skip them altogether without having to flip a bunch of pages back and forth.
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Description

Two cities joined by their reflections. A realm of feathered serpents and jaguar-men. A desert where a former goddess seeks the ultimate truth. In this collection, award-winning author Marie Brennan takes you to ten different fantastical lands, including the world of her famed scholar-heroine Lady Trent. Journey with her to places rich and strange: here there be more than just dragons.

Language

Original publication date

2017-09
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