Jaine Fenn

I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program, thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Really enjoyed reading these short stories. I liked the writing, most of the stories are very well constructed and they build gradually. I also liked the unexpected final twist in some of them, like "King of Pain". I'm no expert but I noticed some stories are different than others, for example "A Dormitory Haunting"'s style felt different. I liked a lot the stories in a story in "Twilight at the Change House" and was happy to discover the Hidden Empire universe. The author's notes at the end of each story were interesting in parts but some of them were unnecessary and quite a few of them need some editing love.

This is my first contact with Jaine Fenn's writing but it convinced me to look into her Hidden Empire and Shadowlands series. Overall, this collection is a great read for fans of speculative fiction and anyone who enjoys well-crafted stories with some unexpected twists.… (més)

[Disclaimer: I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program]

Jaine Fenn is a well-known writer, especially for her series "Hidden Empire". In this collection she collected a number of short stories written in two decades; each one has an appendix where she explain its genesis. The stories vary in genre, and I must say in quality too: or maybe it's just me, since I think that the one which won a BSFA was among the worst. There are however some gems. My one-line reviews:

▪ The Path to the Sun: what if Cortez were defeated by Aztec, and their Empire fought against Europe? 5/5
▪ Crown of May: it does not tell me a lot. 2/5
▪ The Chatterslee Circle: Never make fun of a conspiracy :) 5/5
▪ Paying for Rain: well built, but it left me cold. 3/5
▪ What You Came For: another story in second person, but I think it misses the point. 2/5
▪ Death on Elsewhere Street: the last pages are good, but I did not like how it began. Why did the girl run, for example? How is the people divided? 3/5
▪ Fear Not Heaven’s Fire: the story is interesting and a bit unexpected. 4/5
▪ High Ground: it starts slow and boring, but the last part is quite poignant. 4/5
▪ King of Pain: nice final twist. 4/5
▪ Twilight at the Change House: the stories which sort of overlap are odd but interesting. 4/5
▪ Down at the Lake: I did not know of Odette (shame on me) but the retelling is very good. 5/5
▪ The Sky Weeps, The Earth Quakes: well built! I liked how the authot managed to avoid the logical outcome. 5/5
▪ Liberty Bird: This story won an award, but it says nothing to me. 2/5
▪ A Dormitory Haunting: an odd story tangential to Holmes' canon. 4/5
▪ Sin of Omission: ok, that's good. The fictional universe where the story is set blends well with the novel. 5/5… (més)

Not quite as impressive as the first - the invention has been and gone and we're just left with the consequences. I wasn't impressed with the duex et machina that provided the motivation for the latter half of the story, it wasn't explained and just gave the characters more obstacles to overcome without much justification.

The differences between sun and shadowlander don't seem so profound, and we get an explanation of their histories and the cause of the divergence. However when the sky falls in they both have to try and live together.

Clever, but ultimately lacking in enough spark to make it thrilling.… (més)

Provided by the publishers as part of the Library Thing's early reviewers.

More information on both the book and the publishers can be found here:

http://www.clarionpublishing.com/books/downside-girls/

The book is a set of 4 short stories, 3 of which have been published previously and which are linked with Angels - state sponsored assassins - as some of the primary characters.

The 4th story is set in the same world, touches briefly on Angels, but is about a musician and follower of one of the planet's religions.

One of the questions I ask myself when reading short stories is: would this story have made it in a full novel length?

Of the four stories, I think the last one was marginally weaker than the others, in that it was, perhaps a little too short (better at Novella length perhaps?).

The other stories however were much stronger at their presented length and I dont think they would have made it to novel length.

Whilst the stories here are perhaps at the right length as short stories, I think this is a very strong world to build upon, and I would be interested to see if Jaine can/will/has already built a set of stories set in this world.… (més)