This is a beautiful collection. Samatar navigates her own imagination with distinctive voices and structures that make each of the twenty stories a fresh revelation. Her style is mythic: she tells the story she wants without making concessions for the demanding tendencies of the reader. This results in a crystalline sense of timing, as revelations often delayed or incomplete deepen her characters rather than merely pushing the plot along. Her prose varies from conversational to poetic, well-fitted to the different modes of her stories. I adore these stories, and would recommend them to anyone. Samatar does not transcend genre; she makes it unnecessary. ( )

De verhalen vond ik niet allemaal even sterk, maar ze waren allemaal érg mooi geschreven, dus ik vind het sneu dat ik het gemiddelde omlaag haal. De novelle Fallow vond ik erg goed. ( )

I don't even know what to say about Samatar anymore....everything I read from her is immersive and breathtaking. I'd read many of these stories before in various spec fic publications but a good portion was new and wholly amazing.

One of my favorites (and it was a favorite of mine when it was originally published) is her "Ogres of East Africa".

Longer review to come.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley! ( )

When I start reading a Samatar story I'm never quite sure where I am or why I'm there... And then something turns, or a heart opens, or a scar (more often something worse, like a cyborg implant or a synthetic sky) is revealed, and nothing matters more than being right there, right now, until I get to the last page.

Plus there are often moments like the one below, appealing especially to acolytes of the written word. I'm smitten, give me up for lost.

"This is not the first time I have written something I intend to submit for preservation. I have submitted a number of works, more than I care to remember. All have been rejected. I have submitted dreams, fantastical stories, novels of Old Earth, children's tales, even hymns. At this point, merely to pass by the archives gives me a queasy feeling. For this reason, I rarely go into town, and if I need something unavailable in Housing, I pick it up from Sister Bundle's little stand, rather than visiting the stores. It is a terrible feeling to have your work pulped. Brother Chalk at the archives--whom I call Ezera, since I knew him at school--tries to comfort me by telling me that pulped paper makes fresh paper possible, that destruction and renewal is the cycle of Life. His remaining hair clumped at the back of his head, his chubby jowls fringed with beard, he is a good man, a father, sympathetic, and one of my best friends. The last time I spoke with him, I thanked God that I had no pencil with me, for I might have succumbed to the temptation to drive it into his hand."

From "Fallow" ( )

Tender has 10 stories grouped as "Tender Bodies," and 10 as"Tender Landscapes."."Selkie Stories Are for Losers" was my favorite, a weird take on selkies (were-seals) and coming of age in America.

"Ogres of East Africa" is about hunting mythical beings on a Kenyan safari, and "Ogres" gives us a different perspective on imperialism. "How to Get Back to the Forest," is more political commentary on an institutionalized utopia, both cruel and beautiful. And there are many more.

These are sharp, concise and impressive stories. I just wish I enjoyed more of them like I did the Selkie one. Still, I'll be watching for new books by this author. ( )