
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm going to review this in order of the stories I liked the most.
Coriander by Ana Sun - 5 stars
There's possibly a lot of bias in me liking this story best, because well, Ana Sun seems to be a fellow Malaysian. Corianderis the story of Aster, a young woman returning to her great-grandmother's homeland, chasing a cultural inheritance that has been lost along the way to westernisation, colonisation, and the need for assimilation. The details are semi-familiar, an ancestor fleeing this land for greener pastures elsewhere, their descendants return as mere tourists. There's the heat of the equator, the tang of spices and mud, a long description of food. Laksa, in this instance. And omg DOULOS! WHO REMEMBERS DOULOS, I loved Doulos (which has now apparently been converted from a floating bookstore to a hotel??). I spent way too long distracted, trying to figure out which island Aster's great-grandmother was from. Not Singapore, too much Malay; not Penang because dangit Penang Laksa does NOT have prawns, chicken or coriander, that's... AH, that's Sarawak Laksa, and this has to be Sarawak, but it's an island and... dangit Anna, Borneo IS an island. A very big one.
At any rate, Coriander is a story of connection - reconnecting to one's roots, making new connections, rediscovering your place in the world - and being kind and giving to everyone. It's also a story of adaptation - of rebuilding after devastation, of creating new ways to deal with the changing climate, of regreening the earth - and preservation.
What Kind of Bat is This? by Sarena Ulibarri - 4.5 stars
Is this a BAT or is this a DINOSAUR? Is the AI crazy or did a PTEROSAUR really survive in hiding all these years? It's a slightly crazy scenario, but I feel like I like this one quite a bit because the characters are active. They're doing something now to save the world, and they're teens/young adults still learning and growing (even if they're being petty to each other while doing it). Maybe I also like the slight Jurassic Park vibe, without the killer raptors.
Centipede Station by T.K. Rex - 4 stars
What's there NOT to like about interstellar travel and alien contact? And a reminder that sentient aliens might not look humanoid. They may look like clicky space centipedes. Let's try not to murder sentient species on first contact, m'kay?
A Merger in Corn Country by Danielle Arostegui - 3.5 stars
This comes back to community, exploring what it's like to live in a commune - from their confused, old neighbour's point of view. I like the slow shift from curiosity to understanding to acceptance from both sides. It's charming, but it's a little too foreign (lol) for it to truly resonate with me.
The Doglady and the Rainstorm by Renan Bernardo - 3 stars
In a flooded future Rio de Janeiro, Joseane (also known as the Doglady) gets stuck in a thunderstorm while trying to send the dogs she walks back to their owners. She thinks she's alone, ever since she lost her father, but she slowly discovers that she's not, not really. I think where it doesn't quite connect for me is where Joseane keeps making weird (to me) decisions... just very much why on earth would you do that? I know panic and dumb decisions are things, but... idk.
Ancestors, Descendants by BrightFlame - 3 stars
There are sentient trees in this one - and an integrated network of resources previously denied to humans (because you know, humans chop things down and hunt other things). What would integration with nature look like? And how would humans change if they went back to nature? It's a story of integration and ingenuity - and also sacrifice, to protect what these select humans have found while the world outside collapses on itself. The premise was just a little too far out for me to truly enjoy.
The Park of the Beast by T.K. Rex - ??
I dunno what to think of this story of trees in cages and invisible beings??? I cannot tell if this is a fever dream. I think I'm missing something here. I'm assuming this is the prose-poem, which goes to prove that really, poetry confuses me.
Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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