Review: Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell

Slight disappointment – I did not love this book the way I loved Someone You Can Build A Nest In.

But it was also about what I would expect from Wiswell. He gives us a Heracles who resolves his labors with love, not conflict (except for the stables, which he resolves with brains, not brawn). A Heracles who gets his strength from divine magic, not working out, and it shows.

An Olympus every bit as messed up as you might imagine. And the odd bit of monsterf-ing.

And “not as good as Someone You Can Build A Nest In” is still very good. Thoroughly enjoyable, in fact.

The details remind me that any kind of mythological retelling is fanfic, and this book feels in that spirit…in a good way.

I am very curious to see what Wiswell does next. I have no doubts that it will be both more of the same and very different…and probably involve monsterf-ing.

Review: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Some books are nearly impossible to review. This is the kind of book that can only truly be experienced blind. Which just makes it hard to do anything with in a review. I can’t tell you what makes it great. I can’t tell you anything.

So what I’m going to say on this one is…you have to finish it. You have to trust me, and the author, and finish it. Only then will you understand.

Okorafor has written a story that is about stories, about creativity, about science fiction. It’s also inherently Nigerian and inherently diaspora.

And that’s all I can say. Read this book. You won’t regret it. (I reread it after this and hold to the fact that the first read should be with little or no information).

I received copies of these books for award consideration purposes.