Lake of Souls

I read this book knowing nothing of Ann Leckie's books. The collection is broken into 3 parts.

The first part is a few short short stories not linked to any of the book series the author has written. The story which the book collection takes its title from was the best out of those. The author was great at crafting a world with a mixture of sci-fi and spirituality in that story.

The second part contained stories from her sci-fi Ancillary series. They were interesting, but I had the sense I was missing a larger picture somehow so it was a little difficult to get into without having read the series.

The third part contained stories based off the Raven Tower universe, which is more fantasy based. I enjoyed all of those stories very much. The author was able to establish simple rules of the world and create a variety of stories with them. They all had different tones as well, which left the stories feeling more contained despite being set in this larger whole. I am very interested in reading the Raven Tower to see what the author comes up with using a longer format.

This collection was definitely worth a read, even for someone like me who knows nothing of the author's other works.

I have been a long-time Ann Leckie fan, but in long-form I only enjoyed the Imperial Radch books, and I don't usually enjoy short stories at all, so I was hesitant approaching this, but it was mind-blowingly good. Each story had a new take, even when it felt like it was going to retread speculative fiction genre conventions. Almost all of the stories were about negotiation, persuasion and diplomacy and I liked that it felt like they were in dialogue with each other, but each story had a unique perspective to add.

I thought the first third, the stand alone stories, were shockingly the strongest: I really liked the first-contact and symbiosis set up of the titular story, which really immersed me in the setting and world very quickly.

Hesperia and Glory also packed a punch in its short pages, about how perception defines reality

Another Word for World, which is clearly a descendent of Ursula Le Guin's A Word for World is Forest cut to the quick with its exploration on how well-meaning people could still fail to connect across linguistic and cultural boundaries

The imperial Radch stories were in fact the weakest, in part because they were all quite distant from the Radch we know. If they hadn't been marked as belonging to the same universe, they could easily have stood alone. The only one I remember is She Commands Me and I Obey, another great look at negotiation and what happens when we take the status quo for granteed.

The Raven Tower stories were somehow very successful (even though I really didn't like the Raven Tower?) with the one exception that each of them recited the rules for the gods not being able to lie -- it would have been better if they'd been edited to be in a collection made to be read together. Of those, the Snake's Wife was by far the strongest -- a disturbing read, but captivating and really a capstone on the themes of negotiation, manipulative practices and the ways that scheming to get the upper hand can fail.

Overall, a really strong collection organized along a powerful central theme with very little redundancy or "duds"

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie is a fantastic collection of works that showcase the author's innovative and deeply creative approach to fantasy and science fiction writing. This was a wonderful and extensive variety of stories from her Imperial Radch Universe, her Raven Tower Universe, and stand alone works as well. I couldn't get enough of these and, to varying degrees, found myself enjoying each and every one. So much so, that I actually wanted to take the effort to individually rate each one very briefly!

First up, we have her stories that are independent, unassociated with either of her existing universes.

Lake of Souls - 5 stars, love it. Love the mix between a short, sweet coming of age story and the almost shocking body horror for such a short story.

Footprints - 2 stars, just too short. Brief introduction to something uncanny, but not long enough to actually find engaging.

Hesperia and Glory - 3 stars, quite interesting. A bit of historical fiction, magical realism, and science fiction bundled into one. Self contained and brief.

The Endangered Camp - 5 stars, dinosaurs go to space just as the meteor strikes. Filled with emotion and mythology, tragedy and hope. Loved it.

Another Word for World - 4 stars, very enjoyable! Interesting setting where two figurehead leaders of two different peoples, one native to a planet, the others recent refugees, are forced to work together to survive while their respective societies clash over settlement rights. Pacing dipped from time to time, but overall very good.

The Justified - 5 stars, righteous white hot revenge on a corrupt and class divided world. This was such a satisfying read, if a bit violent.

Bury the Dead - 3 stars, cute little quirky story of a family having Thanksgiving dinner, involving the recently deceased grandfather who apparently is a zombie. I liked it.

The Sad History of the Tearless Onion - 3 stars, itty bitty one page story of a man who tried to create onions that don't make you cry, but almost caused the collapse of society. Humorous.

These next three occur in the Imperial Radch Universe which I was excited to revisit after reading Translation State earlier this year. Each did its part in expanding this already fascinating universe, and while I found that I prefer the longer works in this universe, each of these were quite enjoyable.

Night's Slow Poison - 3 stars, returning to the Radch empire, we get to learn about an idyllic, isolated system plagued by spies for the Radch empire, protected only by a unique barrier to their system. Espionage, cultural exchange, and a brief dive into what it means to be human.

She Commands Me and I Obey - 5 stars, wow what a ride! A tale of intense politicking mixed with an election, a sports event, and extreme religious piety. I loved this, even if it was hard to follow at times with the long ass names.

The Creation and Destruction of the World - 2 stars, enjoyable mythological story about the wrath of a storm god and the pleas of a desperate mother to save her child and humanity. Felt out of place here, but it was fine.

The rest of these all occur in the universe of The Raven Tower, which I absolutely adore. I was most excited for these stories, and I think they really paid off. While the themes could be repetitive, each story was so captivating that I didn't mind diving into them over and over.

The God of Au - 2 stars. Ah getting into the Raven Tower world! This was interesting, but there was a lot of background setup for not a lot of payoff. It felt both slow and rushed at times and I wish it could have been tightened up a bit.

The Nalendar - 3 stars, very cute little story about a helpless god, a woman in need of an escape, and shady deals made along the way. Something that Leckie does often is move the story along through dialogue, reserving non-dialogues text to serve as information, but not forward progression. This is a case where I found that stylistic choice to be a bit weak, the dialogue was just obscure enough to be a bit confused as to where the story was going, but not in an intentional way.

The Snake's Wife - 4 stars, wow this really packed a punch. Some trigger warnings here for dysmorphia, castration, and sexual assault. This is a complicated story that I think others might try to dig to find fault within regarding "good representation" but I think it was handled well and I liked the story overall.

Marsh Gods - 5 stars, I really liked this one. A straightforward story about deals between humans and gods, and the ancient rivalries between gods.

The Unknown God - 5 stars, this was a great story, exploring the limitations of what gods can do, the uniqueness of humans in this world, and learning to think before you speak.

Saving Bacon - 3 stars, not much to say about this one. It was lighthearted and cute, but not wholly memorable.

Beloved of the Sun - 4 stars, what a way to end the book. A cultivation of all of the things that had been explored in this world up to this point. Scheming between gods, using humans, and an ultimate battle. This was great.

I really can't recommend this collection enough. If you enjoy science fiction or fantasy, there's something here that you'll fall in love with.