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Book rec: The Iron Children
May. 13th, 2023 09:20 pmIt's always a joy when someone you know and like creates something that's really good. When you can unequivocally say, "[Friend X] has created a good thing! You should seek it out!"
Rebecca Fraimow has created a lot of good things, including short stories I actually like (and short stories are not my thing! so you know that's a big deal!) like the Yudah Cohen stories and "This Is New Gehesran Calling" (which I continue to request for exchanges) and now a novella called The Iron Children, which you can buy! And should! Because it is good!
It's got good world-building, good characters, and good prose, the triple threat! It's one of those fun fantasies-but-with-technology-that-are-kind-of-magic, which I always enjoy! It's got gender variety built right in and uncommented on! It's got lots of questions about free will and the limits of choices and conflicting identities and also how both sides in war always end up doing terrible things because war! And it's short enough that you can read it on a Saturday afternoon, which is what I did!
Being me, I kind of wished it was a longer story so I could spend more time in this world with these characters, but I do genuinely think it works on a objective level at the length it is. And it made me even more excited for all of Becca's future work, including a novel she describes as "a nonsense lesbian retrofuture sci-fi rom-com about a fake debutante con artist infiltrating space high society", which, I, for one, cannot wait to get my hands on!
Rebecca Fraimow has created a lot of good things, including short stories I actually like (and short stories are not my thing! so you know that's a big deal!) like the Yudah Cohen stories and "This Is New Gehesran Calling" (which I continue to request for exchanges) and now a novella called The Iron Children, which you can buy! And should! Because it is good!
It's got good world-building, good characters, and good prose, the triple threat! It's one of those fun fantasies-but-with-technology-that-are-kind-of-magic, which I always enjoy! It's got gender variety built right in and uncommented on! It's got lots of questions about free will and the limits of choices and conflicting identities and also how both sides in war always end up doing terrible things because war! And it's short enough that you can read it on a Saturday afternoon, which is what I did!
Being me, I kind of wished it was a longer story so I could spend more time in this world with these characters, but I do genuinely think it works on a objective level at the length it is. And it made me even more excited for all of Becca's future work, including a novel she describes as "a nonsense lesbian retrofuture sci-fi rom-com about a fake debutante con artist infiltrating space high society", which, I, for one, cannot wait to get my hands on!
