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Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction
Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner Ann Leckie is a modern master of the SFF genre, forever changing its landscape with her groundbreaking ideas and powerful voice. Now, available forthe first time comes the complete collection of Leckie'sshort fiction, including a brand new novelette, Lake of Souls.
Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.
Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruledThe Raven Tower.
Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.
And so much more, inthis masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.
Contents:
The Lake of Souls
Stories from the world of the Imperial Radch
Night’s Slow Poison
She Commands Me and I Obey
The Creation and Destruction of the World
Stories from the world of The Raven Tower
The God of Au
The Nalendar
The Snake's Wife
Marsh Gods
The Unknown God
Beloved of the Sun
Saving Bacon
Sci-Fi
Footprints
Hesperia and Glory
The Endangered Camp
Another Word for World
The Justified
Fantasy
Bury the Dead
The Sad History of the Tearless Onion
Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.
Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruledThe Raven Tower.
Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.
And so much more, inthis masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.
Contents:
The Lake of Souls
Stories from the world of the Imperial Radch
Night’s Slow Poison
She Commands Me and I Obey
The Creation and Destruction of the World
Stories from the world of The Raven Tower
The God of Au
The Nalendar
The Snake's Wife
Marsh Gods
The Unknown God
Beloved of the Sun
Saving Bacon
Sci-Fi
Footprints
Hesperia and Glory
The Endangered Camp
Another Word for World
The Justified
Fantasy
Bury the Dead
The Sad History of the Tearless Onion
427 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 2024
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7,496 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 238 reviews
April 5, 2024
The thing about Ann Leckie is she has consistent preoccupations (gender; inequities of power; the weak taking action that changes their circumstances; power backfiring), but a wide range in means of execution. This is convenient when you’re reviewing one of her novels, not so much with respect to her short fiction, what with not being able to assess a collection like this as a unitary whole. That might be the long way around to saying that some of the stories in Lake of Souls are brilliant, many are merely excellent, and a few are forgettable.
For me, the eight freestanding stories are the least memorable, but that might be because several of them are closer to horror than to science fiction, and I’m not the biggest fan of horror. A couple of others (“The Endangered Camp,� for one) are what you could call obvious, if you were feeling pointy, and “The Sad History of the Tearless Onion� is no more than an amuse-bouche. (Yes, I did that on purpose.)
With that out of the way, though ...
Many Leckie fans will have read “Night’s Slow Poison� and “She Commands Me and I Obey� online; the most that needs to be said about those is that the first is as heartbreaking as it was on first reading, and the second, in its way, as twisty and complicated a meditation on power as the Ancillary series. “She Commands Me� gives us Breq at some point in her travels on the way to challenge Anaander Mianaai. How she found herself there is left unanswered, but it’s not difficult to guess at her reasons for participating in the deadly transfer of power that supplies most of the story’s action. “She Commands Me� also answers the question of how Breq came by that icon. You know the one.
The last Radch story, “The Creation and Destruction of the World,� is hard to locate within the universe of the Ancillary books, Translation State, or Provenance; it might be from the mythology of one or another of the religions practiced in the Radch. It’s not a storytelling form that appeals to me, thus not a work I’m well qualified to judge.
To my surprise, because The Raven Tower is the novel of Leckie’s that I least enjoyed, I found the stories set in that universe immensely satisfying. What they all have in common is that gods inhabit the bodies of animals and humans and that they must not lie (though, like the Celtic Fair Folk, they’re Olympic-level prevaricators) � or rather, they can tell an untruth, but then must expend their power to make that statement true. There’s also a little matter of blood sacrifice.
I won’t list the stories one by one to say what made each terrific, but I will single out the two that, for different reasons, made the most impression on me: “The Snake’s Wife,� which is something like a tragic romance while not being like a romance at all, and “Saving Bacon,� which proves that Ann Leckie has been reading P.G. Wodehouse and knows how to channel him, or rather a version of P.G. Wodehouse that has been possessed by demons. Extremely funny, and nasty as all get-out.
I wouldn’t suggest Lake of Souls overall to readers unfamiliar with Leckie’s other work, in the first place because the free-standing stories don’t, in my view, represent her at her strongest, and in the second place because the Radch stories are brilliant but acquire force from their context in the novels. The Raven Tower stories, though, are marvelous without reference to anything outside themselves, and I can’t recommend them strongly enough.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC.
For me, the eight freestanding stories are the least memorable, but that might be because several of them are closer to horror than to science fiction, and I’m not the biggest fan of horror. A couple of others (“The Endangered Camp,� for one) are what you could call obvious, if you were feeling pointy, and “The Sad History of the Tearless Onion� is no more than an amuse-bouche. (Yes, I did that on purpose.)
With that out of the way, though ...
Many Leckie fans will have read “Night’s Slow Poison� and “She Commands Me and I Obey� online; the most that needs to be said about those is that the first is as heartbreaking as it was on first reading, and the second, in its way, as twisty and complicated a meditation on power as the Ancillary series. “She Commands Me� gives us Breq at some point in her travels on the way to challenge Anaander Mianaai. How she found herself there is left unanswered, but it’s not difficult to guess at her reasons for participating in the deadly transfer of power that supplies most of the story’s action. “She Commands Me� also answers the question of how Breq came by that icon. You know the one.
The last Radch story, “The Creation and Destruction of the World,� is hard to locate within the universe of the Ancillary books, Translation State, or Provenance; it might be from the mythology of one or another of the religions practiced in the Radch. It’s not a storytelling form that appeals to me, thus not a work I’m well qualified to judge.
To my surprise, because The Raven Tower is the novel of Leckie’s that I least enjoyed, I found the stories set in that universe immensely satisfying. What they all have in common is that gods inhabit the bodies of animals and humans and that they must not lie (though, like the Celtic Fair Folk, they’re Olympic-level prevaricators) � or rather, they can tell an untruth, but then must expend their power to make that statement true. There’s also a little matter of blood sacrifice.
I won’t list the stories one by one to say what made each terrific, but I will single out the two that, for different reasons, made the most impression on me: “The Snake’s Wife,� which is something like a tragic romance while not being like a romance at all, and “Saving Bacon,� which proves that Ann Leckie has been reading P.G. Wodehouse and knows how to channel him, or rather a version of P.G. Wodehouse that has been possessed by demons. Extremely funny, and nasty as all get-out.
I wouldn’t suggest Lake of Souls overall to readers unfamiliar with Leckie’s other work, in the first place because the free-standing stories don’t, in my view, represent her at her strongest, and in the second place because the Radch stories are brilliant but acquire force from their context in the novels. The Raven Tower stories, though, are marvelous without reference to anything outside themselves, and I can’t recommend them strongly enough.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC.
April 5, 2024
2.0 Stars
Video Review
I really love the Imperial Radch trilogy so I was eager to try this author's short stories.
This collection is divided in thirds. One part is original work, one part ties into the Imperial Radch universe, and the last part ties into the world of the Ravens Tower.
I have not read Ravens Tower so I don't feel qualified to comment on how those stories interconnect. By themselves, they didn't stand their own. I liked the Imperial Radch stories more but mostly because I already like the universe. As standalones, they were not particularly strong.
My biggest disappointment was the standalone stories. Without relying on an established world, I expected the most from these ones and was ultimately the most underwhelmed. They were fine, but just fine. None of them left a lasting impression on me.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Video Review
I really love the Imperial Radch trilogy so I was eager to try this author's short stories.
This collection is divided in thirds. One part is original work, one part ties into the Imperial Radch universe, and the last part ties into the world of the Ravens Tower.
I have not read Ravens Tower so I don't feel qualified to comment on how those stories interconnect. By themselves, they didn't stand their own. I liked the Imperial Radch stories more but mostly because I already like the universe. As standalones, they were not particularly strong.
My biggest disappointment was the standalone stories. Without relying on an established world, I expected the most from these ones and was ultimately the most underwhelmed. They were fine, but just fine. None of them left a lasting impression on me.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
April 2, 2024
Ahoy there me mateys! I received this short story collection eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .
This is the complete collection of Ann Leckie's short fiction. Given I am a major fan of her work, reading this was delightful. Some of the stories I had previously read. But fans will love to have them all in one place. Plus there is a new novella!
Side Note: I will link to the stories online where ye can read them for free. Not many of them are these days.
I will try to give ye an idea of the bare bones and thoughts on the stories:
"Lake of Souls" - I absolutely loved this novella and could have read a lot more about the sentient crustacean-like creatures and their culture. Felt bad for the humans in this though.
"Footprints" - Cooper is alive after a crash. His nameless companion looks human but isn't. She is unnerving. Her talking teddy bear is just plain creepy. Super short. I want more.
" " - There is not a well in the cellar. Mr. Atkins sure thinks there is. Is he crazy? What is the truth? Where is Hesperia? Loved the ending of this one.
" " - The bird-like creatures are trying to flee Earth and get to Mars. A disagreement breaks out about what to do when the Earth has a catastrophe. Viscous but fun matriarchal culture. The best one won.
"Another Word for World" - I really loved this story! There is an original culture and a refugee culture. One older woman is the daughter of an interpreter for the refugees. The other is a young Sovereign. Deals with the problems with treaty translations when both sides may not want the mistakes to be fixed.
" " - A dictator is justified. Or so they think. A servant is summoned back to deal with insurrection. Interesting consequences occur. Interesting world building and politics.
" " - A short story about what happens on the first Thanksgiving after Grandpa has died. Fun women power! for me original review.
"The Sad History of the Tearless Onion" - A dude tries to make a tearless union. Unintended consequences ensue. Funny!
Tales from the Imperial Radch
" " - A local planet is protected by The Crawl - a monotonous space journey. The planet is afraid of spies. A local member of the Watch starts a friendship with a passenger. The ending brings up interesting ramifications to the planet. for me original review of this. for the Ann Leckie's inspiration for this story.
" " - A ball game determines world politics. A young novice finds out political secrets and is a key figure in determining the outcome of the game. I love this one! for me original review.
" " - This seems to be a myth from the Imperial Radch world. for Ann Leckie's comments on this story.
Tales from the Raven Tower Universe
" " - The Godless on their fleet of ships try to avoid dependence on any god. They arrive at the island of Au and have to deal with its god, Steq. This was long but the ending made it all worth it.
" " - Umri is tricked by a skink shaped god to look for a treasure. She is avoiding a slave holder who wants her as his concubine. Nothing goes as planned. Umri is a fabulous character. Another excellent ending.
"" - The kings of Therete are cursed by Artau Ehat, Lord of the Sky. The curse can be broken in one specific way. Neither humans nor gods play nicely. A rather sad tale overall.
" " - Ten year-old Voud gets three frogs which she trades to a Crane for answers to three questions. She wants to get out of marrying the neighbor. A missing brother shows up. A trial is called. Gods and trickery are involved. Voud helps outsmart them all.
" " - Aworo, Lord of Horses, god of the Western plains has made the river Nalender angry because he cursed one of her own. He is seeking Truth while playing with human characteristics. A unknown frog god and a foolish merchant help him out.
" " - This story was funny. It involves a family of fearsome intelligent women, a silly male whose purpose is to marry for the betterment of the family, a sparrow that is not a sparrow, and a pig that is a pig (named Bacon).
"" - A sacrifice is drawn into a conflict with Lord Sun and other gods. This was a nice ending to the collection.
Now that I have read these stories, I need to reread the Raven Tower. Arrrr!
This is the complete collection of Ann Leckie's short fiction. Given I am a major fan of her work, reading this was delightful. Some of the stories I had previously read. But fans will love to have them all in one place. Plus there is a new novella!
Side Note: I will link to the stories online where ye can read them for free. Not many of them are these days.
I will try to give ye an idea of the bare bones and thoughts on the stories:
"Lake of Souls" - I absolutely loved this novella and could have read a lot more about the sentient crustacean-like creatures and their culture. Felt bad for the humans in this though.
"Footprints" - Cooper is alive after a crash. His nameless companion looks human but isn't. She is unnerving. Her talking teddy bear is just plain creepy. Super short. I want more.
" " - There is not a well in the cellar. Mr. Atkins sure thinks there is. Is he crazy? What is the truth? Where is Hesperia? Loved the ending of this one.
" " - The bird-like creatures are trying to flee Earth and get to Mars. A disagreement breaks out about what to do when the Earth has a catastrophe. Viscous but fun matriarchal culture. The best one won.
"Another Word for World" - I really loved this story! There is an original culture and a refugee culture. One older woman is the daughter of an interpreter for the refugees. The other is a young Sovereign. Deals with the problems with treaty translations when both sides may not want the mistakes to be fixed.
" " - A dictator is justified. Or so they think. A servant is summoned back to deal with insurrection. Interesting consequences occur. Interesting world building and politics.
" " - A short story about what happens on the first Thanksgiving after Grandpa has died. Fun women power! for me original review.
"The Sad History of the Tearless Onion" - A dude tries to make a tearless union. Unintended consequences ensue. Funny!
Tales from the Imperial Radch
" " - A local planet is protected by The Crawl - a monotonous space journey. The planet is afraid of spies. A local member of the Watch starts a friendship with a passenger. The ending brings up interesting ramifications to the planet. for me original review of this. for the Ann Leckie's inspiration for this story.
" " - A ball game determines world politics. A young novice finds out political secrets and is a key figure in determining the outcome of the game. I love this one! for me original review.
" " - This seems to be a myth from the Imperial Radch world. for Ann Leckie's comments on this story.
Tales from the Raven Tower Universe
" " - The Godless on their fleet of ships try to avoid dependence on any god. They arrive at the island of Au and have to deal with its god, Steq. This was long but the ending made it all worth it.
" " - Umri is tricked by a skink shaped god to look for a treasure. She is avoiding a slave holder who wants her as his concubine. Nothing goes as planned. Umri is a fabulous character. Another excellent ending.
"" - The kings of Therete are cursed by Artau Ehat, Lord of the Sky. The curse can be broken in one specific way. Neither humans nor gods play nicely. A rather sad tale overall.
" " - Ten year-old Voud gets three frogs which she trades to a Crane for answers to three questions. She wants to get out of marrying the neighbor. A missing brother shows up. A trial is called. Gods and trickery are involved. Voud helps outsmart them all.
" " - Aworo, Lord of Horses, god of the Western plains has made the river Nalender angry because he cursed one of her own. He is seeking Truth while playing with human characteristics. A unknown frog god and a foolish merchant help him out.
" " - This story was funny. It involves a family of fearsome intelligent women, a silly male whose purpose is to marry for the betterment of the family, a sparrow that is not a sparrow, and a pig that is a pig (named Bacon).
"" - A sacrifice is drawn into a conflict with Lord Sun and other gods. This was a nice ending to the collection.
Now that I have read these stories, I need to reread the Raven Tower. Arrrr!
March 11, 2024
This contains self-contained stories, as well as stories from the Imperial Ranch Universe and the Universe of The Raven Tower.
I struggled to understand and connect to the majority of stories, yet some were engaging and made me wish for a more fleshed out novella on them.
It is clear Leckie has talent and is insightful and extremely imaginative.
My standouts:
Another Word for World:
Two people come together to negotiate a treaty are forced to reevaluate their positions after their flier is shut down and their translator lost.
It appears that each was guilty of translating the treaty in a way to suit them.
This touches on the importance of language, learning, and constantly reassessing and communicating.
Night's Slow Poison:
The only thing that attic between Ghaon and the endless armies of the Radch, which had been the downfall of a thousand worlds and stations, was the Crawl which they could not traverse.
”I say what I think," said the woman. "My people don't hide behind masks.""You certainly do," said Awt equably. "Your mask is rudeness and offensively plain speech. We only see how you wish to appear, not your true self.�
She Commands Me and I Obey:
This one was so cool. A ballcourt game which decides the election and ends in death.
This reminded me of vaguely of Red Rising and Empire.
The God of Au The Fleet of the Godless:
“Perhaps. But we lived"
The Snake's Wife:
The Lord of the Sky promised that the curse will be ended on a neighbouring royal family when the prince marries the sister. The sister was killed and her brother was taken in her place, castrated and clothed in dresses.
A very short and moving story about the treachery and deceit of gods and the blooming love and cleverness of humans.
Saving Bacon:
By far, the funniest one.
First person told from a nephew who doesn’t want to marry, a meddling aunt, and an infant villain sister and her piglet called Bacon.
Now, when a small brown sparrow speaks to one, and further- more one understands said small brown sparrow, several possibili- ties suggest themselves. One might, for instance, be dreaming. I was, however, fully awake. Next on the list� I was losing my sanity.
Thank you to Little Brown Book group for providing an arc in exchange for a review!
I struggled to understand and connect to the majority of stories, yet some were engaging and made me wish for a more fleshed out novella on them.
It is clear Leckie has talent and is insightful and extremely imaginative.
My standouts:
Another Word for World:
Two people come together to negotiate a treaty are forced to reevaluate their positions after their flier is shut down and their translator lost.
It appears that each was guilty of translating the treaty in a way to suit them.
This touches on the importance of language, learning, and constantly reassessing and communicating.
Night's Slow Poison:
The only thing that attic between Ghaon and the endless armies of the Radch, which had been the downfall of a thousand worlds and stations, was the Crawl which they could not traverse.
”I say what I think," said the woman. "My people don't hide behind masks.""You certainly do," said Awt equably. "Your mask is rudeness and offensively plain speech. We only see how you wish to appear, not your true self.�
She Commands Me and I Obey:
This one was so cool. A ballcourt game which decides the election and ends in death.
This reminded me of vaguely of Red Rising and Empire.
The God of Au The Fleet of the Godless:
“Perhaps. But we lived"
The Snake's Wife:
The Lord of the Sky promised that the curse will be ended on a neighbouring royal family when the prince marries the sister. The sister was killed and her brother was taken in her place, castrated and clothed in dresses.
A very short and moving story about the treachery and deceit of gods and the blooming love and cleverness of humans.
Saving Bacon:
By far, the funniest one.
First person told from a nephew who doesn’t want to marry, a meddling aunt, and an infant villain sister and her piglet called Bacon.
Now, when a small brown sparrow speaks to one, and further- more one understands said small brown sparrow, several possibili- ties suggest themselves. One might, for instance, be dreaming. I was, however, fully awake. Next on the list� I was losing my sanity.
Thank you to Little Brown Book group for providing an arc in exchange for a review!
December 28, 2024
After first mixing up the editions, I read this one, which is more complete. A bit too complete I thought, some of the stories were so-so. Most stories seemed to just run out of breath and then got an ambivalent ending, which was often beyond me. It’s strange really because I love Ann Leckies long books, I don’t think I’m very keen on short stories.
May 28, 2024
I love Ann Leckies books and was very excited as a short story collection was announced. So thank you for giving me the chance to explore the shorter fiction of this author.
The short stories are divided into three parts: ones in the world of the Raven Tower, those in the world of the Radch Empire and some without any context to these two worlds.
I loved the first two parts of the collection but had a lot of problems with the ones from the god-filled Raven Tower world. But more about those later.
The first part had a lot of great stories and showed how diverse Ann Lackie can write. I adored especially Footprints (short and sewwt horror!), The Endangered (I mean � dinosaur like creatures escapted the extinction via space travel and have such an awesome way of preserving history and dealing with disputes?) and Bury the Dead. Also great was Another Word for World. Instantly I thought of Le Guins novel which I haven't read yet. But of what I know it seems like an hommage to the story but with more hopefulness.
Leckie proves that worldbuiling is an strength of her writing but is also able to craft such wonderful characters that exist inside this world.
The second part got into more familiar territory. I even knew Night's slow poison and was surprised by how much I remembered - almost nothing =D I love how the theme of poison and snake's poison in particular is like a thread throughout the story. The tension between the slowness of the travel and the threat of the Radch Empire. It makes me want to read the books again!
Another highlight was She Commands Me and I Obey because the use of names, their meaning and what our protagonists endure is phantastic. At the beginning I struggled a little bit with the setting but that was solved very quickly.
And then the stories set in the world of the Raven Tower, the ones I struggled most with. I think my problem is that The Raven Tower was a perfect book for the perfect moment for me. And those additional stories often confused me more than gave me something. And sometimes I really was confused because for example in The Snake's Wife I couldn't understand how our protagonist fell in love. That was in my opinion a complete different reaction than I expected from what happened to him.
The solution in the end was good like in every story in this part of the collection but I only really liked "Marsh Gods".
What I especially learned with this part: It is not good to take a break in the middle of one of those stories because it was quite confusing to remember who I follow and what the actions of them were up to the point I picked my reader up again.
It is unfortunate that the collection ends with (in my opinion) the weakest part. I still want to read everything by Leckie but I look forward to the two novels I still have on my tbr.
The short stories are divided into three parts: ones in the world of the Raven Tower, those in the world of the Radch Empire and some without any context to these two worlds.
I loved the first two parts of the collection but had a lot of problems with the ones from the god-filled Raven Tower world. But more about those later.
The first part had a lot of great stories and showed how diverse Ann Lackie can write. I adored especially Footprints (short and sewwt horror!), The Endangered (I mean � dinosaur like creatures escapted the extinction via space travel and have such an awesome way of preserving history and dealing with disputes?) and Bury the Dead. Also great was Another Word for World. Instantly I thought of Le Guins novel which I haven't read yet. But of what I know it seems like an hommage to the story but with more hopefulness.
Leckie proves that worldbuiling is an strength of her writing but is also able to craft such wonderful characters that exist inside this world.
The second part got into more familiar territory. I even knew Night's slow poison and was surprised by how much I remembered - almost nothing =D I love how the theme of poison and snake's poison in particular is like a thread throughout the story. The tension between the slowness of the travel and the threat of the Radch Empire. It makes me want to read the books again!
Another highlight was She Commands Me and I Obey because the use of names, their meaning and what our protagonists endure is phantastic. At the beginning I struggled a little bit with the setting but that was solved very quickly.
And then the stories set in the world of the Raven Tower, the ones I struggled most with. I think my problem is that The Raven Tower was a perfect book for the perfect moment for me. And those additional stories often confused me more than gave me something. And sometimes I really was confused because for example in The Snake's Wife I couldn't understand how our protagonist fell in love. That was in my opinion a complete different reaction than I expected from what happened to him.
The solution in the end was good like in every story in this part of the collection but I only really liked "Marsh Gods".
What I especially learned with this part: It is not good to take a break in the middle of one of those stories because it was quite confusing to remember who I follow and what the actions of them were up to the point I picked my reader up again.
It is unfortunate that the collection ends with (in my opinion) the weakest part. I still want to read everything by Leckie but I look forward to the two novels I still have on my tbr.
March 11, 2024
I have been a fan of Ann Leckie's books since reading Ancillary Justice about ten years ago. As the certified bookworm I am, I read everything else she'd published back then, which included several short stories in anthologies and online. Earlier this week, I talked about how short form fiction feels particularly "science fictiony" to me: SF authors treat short stories and novellas like an important part of developing their work. You can often see them working out worldbuilding kinks, trying out new narrative styles, or paying homage to their greatest influences.
This is a collection of all of Leckie's short fiction to date (except for one I noticed that was missing, a kindle exclusive called "The Long Game"). It includes several that I'd read before, but plenty was new as well. It's divided into three sections: first, an "unclassified" section of short stories that aren't in any specific universe; the Imperial Radch universe; and the Universe of the Raven Tower. The unclassified stories are a mixed bag, with Leckie trying out different narrators and narrative styles, including an epistolary story that seemed like a play on John Carter of Mars, some alien POVs, and both fantasy and science fiction stories.
The best portion are the stories set in the Universe of the Raven Tower. I'd read one of these, "Beloved of the Sun," in the past. This collection feels like a staging ground for her to understand the world building of that book. There are plenty of stories that round out the world, and it feels like a fun addition to the more serious Raven Tower. "Saving Bacon" in particular showcases Leckie's humor.
For those who come to Leckie through the Imperial Radch universe, this section might feel the most lacking. Only one of the three stories refers to the Radch at all (one of the ones I'd previously read), and the others don't have any explicit link. Readers missing Breq are likely to feel slightly unsatisfied.
All in all, a great place to start if you want to try Leckie that will also satisfy her fans.
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the book.
This is a collection of all of Leckie's short fiction to date (except for one I noticed that was missing, a kindle exclusive called "The Long Game"). It includes several that I'd read before, but plenty was new as well. It's divided into three sections: first, an "unclassified" section of short stories that aren't in any specific universe; the Imperial Radch universe; and the Universe of the Raven Tower. The unclassified stories are a mixed bag, with Leckie trying out different narrators and narrative styles, including an epistolary story that seemed like a play on John Carter of Mars, some alien POVs, and both fantasy and science fiction stories.
The best portion are the stories set in the Universe of the Raven Tower. I'd read one of these, "Beloved of the Sun," in the past. This collection feels like a staging ground for her to understand the world building of that book. There are plenty of stories that round out the world, and it feels like a fun addition to the more serious Raven Tower. "Saving Bacon" in particular showcases Leckie's humor.
For those who come to Leckie through the Imperial Radch universe, this section might feel the most lacking. Only one of the three stories refers to the Radch at all (one of the ones I'd previously read), and the others don't have any explicit link. Readers missing Breq are likely to feel slightly unsatisfied.
All in all, a great place to start if you want to try Leckie that will also satisfy her fans.
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the book.
May 5, 2024
I got this from NetGalley but ended up reading the paper copy I had pre-ordered anyway. It's new Leckie, what else is one supposed to do.
And it's just so profoundly satisfying. There are a couple of stories that I didn't quite love (the humour of Saving Bacon was hit-and-miss, for instance) but the entirety of the collection was lovely. I particularly enjoyed visiting the world of The Raven Tower, which I would love to see followed up with another novel set there. But really, I'll read anything Leckie writes. She has a way with words but, more importantly, she writes people and their ways of living in the world in a way that feels real and moving. It was a treat to see her earlier short work, and I hope new novels and stories will follow.
And it's just so profoundly satisfying. There are a couple of stories that I didn't quite love (the humour of Saving Bacon was hit-and-miss, for instance) but the entirety of the collection was lovely. I particularly enjoyed visiting the world of The Raven Tower, which I would love to see followed up with another novel set there. But really, I'll read anything Leckie writes. She has a way with words but, more importantly, she writes people and their ways of living in the world in a way that feels real and moving. It was a treat to see her earlier short work, and I hope new novels and stories will follow.
May 6, 2024
I enjoyed this collection thoroughly. The culture-building and breadth of imagination in these stories really impressed me.
Lake of Souls - strong open; this may be my favorite story in the bunch. It's challenging to describe anything without giving away key plot points, so I'll say it's about cross-cultural and cross-species understanding and leave it at that.
Footprints - a tantalizing (and creepy) flash fiction morsel
Hesperia and Glory - ... "ghost story" doesn't really cover it, but it kind of does, too: it's told in a very particular "let me tell you about this strange occurrence" style one associates with mild horror and detective stories from the 19th and early 20th centuries, including epistolary format, but gets decidedly weirder than that setup might lead one to expect.
The Endangered Camp - A reptilian race is headed out of earth orbit for Mars when something goes terribly wrong back on-planet--the use of folklore and story/history In deciding what to do next is really neat. Layers to this one.
Another Word for World - Super cool story of translation and politics and the politics of translation.
The Justified - a story of Het and Dihaut, two freely self-modifying organisms that are part of a privileged species ruling over what sound like humans on what may(?) be a colonized earth. Both serve an insecure ruler who is obsessed with the possibility of rebellion.
Bury the Dead - Intergenerational family dynamics, (possibly misplaced) veneration of the dead, and our ghosts. Well done.
The Sad History of the Tearless Onion - a sweet, absurd, fun little flash fiction piece
[From the Imperial Radch Universe]
Night’s Slow Poison - espionage and sabotage and skullduggery. Ööf, I really liked this one.
She Commands Me and I Obey - a "well now that you put it that way, of course I totally see it" fusion of sportsball and religion with incredibly high stakes. Ann Leckie manages to do political intrigue in a way that I don't find boring, which is such a feat.
The Creation and Destruction of the World - this is supposedly a Radch story, but it sure reads like a Raven Tower story, what with gods being required to carefully and narrowly adhere to the letter of their words.
[From the Universe of "The Raven Tower"]
The God of Au - I am awfully fond of the stories set in the world of The Raven Tower. The world is fairly lousy with pesky, gonna-be-trouble gods, some more accomplished and successful than others, all as hungry for prayers and as principled as pigeons or seagulls, nearly all scheming. In this one, the humans eventually (a few of them) manage to level the field.
The Nalendar - more sneaky, tricksy gods - I particularly like this one
The Snake’s Wife - scheming and politicking; also a bit dark (CW for castration and sexual assault)
Marsh Gods - mysterious return of a missing brother and humans get caught in the middle of battles between gods (that latter bit is a definite theme for Raven Tower stories, but I really love this story)
The Unknown God - this is the only one in the collection that I had read before, and I enjoyed it even more on a reread.
Saving Bacon - a caper story involving a pig named Bacon, a wayward youth (whose matriarch intends to marry him off) and his school friend, and the bright idea to apply to a god for rescue.
Beloved of the Sun - Gods can't lie outright, but a god can get a human to lie *for* them...
The plotted triumphant return of a tricksy god and the hapless humans used as pawns or getting in the way. A lovely story, though!
All around, a lovely collection! Thanks to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the digital ARC --my opinions are all my own.
Lake of Souls - strong open; this may be my favorite story in the bunch. It's challenging to describe anything without giving away key plot points, so I'll say it's about cross-cultural and cross-species understanding and leave it at that.
Footprints - a tantalizing (and creepy) flash fiction morsel
Hesperia and Glory - ... "ghost story" doesn't really cover it, but it kind of does, too: it's told in a very particular "let me tell you about this strange occurrence" style one associates with mild horror and detective stories from the 19th and early 20th centuries, including epistolary format, but gets decidedly weirder than that setup might lead one to expect.
The Endangered Camp - A reptilian race is headed out of earth orbit for Mars when something goes terribly wrong back on-planet--the use of folklore and story/history In deciding what to do next is really neat. Layers to this one.
Another Word for World - Super cool story of translation and politics and the politics of translation.
The Justified - a story of Het and Dihaut, two freely self-modifying organisms that are part of a privileged species ruling over what sound like humans on what may(?) be a colonized earth. Both serve an insecure ruler who is obsessed with the possibility of rebellion.
Bury the Dead - Intergenerational family dynamics, (possibly misplaced) veneration of the dead, and our ghosts. Well done.
The Sad History of the Tearless Onion - a sweet, absurd, fun little flash fiction piece
[From the Imperial Radch Universe]
Night’s Slow Poison - espionage and sabotage and skullduggery. Ööf, I really liked this one.
She Commands Me and I Obey - a "well now that you put it that way, of course I totally see it" fusion of sportsball and religion with incredibly high stakes. Ann Leckie manages to do political intrigue in a way that I don't find boring, which is such a feat.
The Creation and Destruction of the World - this is supposedly a Radch story, but it sure reads like a Raven Tower story, what with gods being required to carefully and narrowly adhere to the letter of their words.
[From the Universe of "The Raven Tower"]
The God of Au - I am awfully fond of the stories set in the world of The Raven Tower. The world is fairly lousy with pesky, gonna-be-trouble gods, some more accomplished and successful than others, all as hungry for prayers and as principled as pigeons or seagulls, nearly all scheming. In this one, the humans eventually (a few of them) manage to level the field.
The Nalendar - more sneaky, tricksy gods - I particularly like this one
The Snake’s Wife - scheming and politicking; also a bit dark (CW for castration and sexual assault)
Marsh Gods - mysterious return of a missing brother and humans get caught in the middle of battles between gods (that latter bit is a definite theme for Raven Tower stories, but I really love this story)
The Unknown God - this is the only one in the collection that I had read before, and I enjoyed it even more on a reread.
Saving Bacon - a caper story involving a pig named Bacon, a wayward youth (whose matriarch intends to marry him off) and his school friend, and the bright idea to apply to a god for rescue.
Beloved of the Sun - Gods can't lie outright, but a god can get a human to lie *for* them...
The plotted triumphant return of a tricksy god and the hapless humans used as pawns or getting in the way. A lovely story, though!
All around, a lovely collection! Thanks to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the digital ARC --my opinions are all my own.
August 5, 2024
Lake of Souls is divided into three sections � stories with no particular provenance, stories set in the Radch universe, and stories set in The Raven Tower world.
The best stories (IMO) are from The Raven Tower, though there are no clunkers in the collection (except for “Footprints,� which was a bit too ambiguous for my tastes), and Leckie shows she can handle a range of writing from serious (“The Snake’s Wife�) to comedy (“Saving Bacon�). I would recommend this to both Leckie fans and to readers new to the author. You don’t need to have read any of the Radch novels or The Raven Tower to enjoy those sections of the collection, and you get an idea of Leckie’s writing style. If you like it, I’d definitely recommend moving on to her novels.
The best stories (IMO) are from The Raven Tower, though there are no clunkers in the collection (except for “Footprints,� which was a bit too ambiguous for my tastes), and Leckie shows she can handle a range of writing from serious (“The Snake’s Wife�) to comedy (“Saving Bacon�). I would recommend this to both Leckie fans and to readers new to the author. You don’t need to have read any of the Radch novels or The Raven Tower to enjoy those sections of the collection, and you get an idea of Leckie’s writing style. If you like it, I’d definitely recommend moving on to her novels.
Currently reading
January 23, 2025I read the first two stories tonight. The first one (Lake of Souls) was both creepy and heart-warming, and the second one (Footprints) � only two pages long � just very creepy.
July 22, 2024
A solid story collection overall. Like most collections, some stories were great and some were okay. I only ended up abandoning one, and that was mostly because it was focused on something from the Imperial Radch universe that I didn’t remember.
Favorite stories were:
-“Lake of Souls�
-“Another Word for World�
-“Night’s Slow Poison�
-“The Nalender�
-“Marsh Gods�
Favorite stories were:
-“Lake of Souls�
-“Another Word for World�
-“Night’s Slow Poison�
-“The Nalender�
-“Marsh Gods�
October 3, 2024
Banger after banger after banger after BANGER!!
December 22, 2024
This is a partial review of the first half of this collection. I plan to read the second half (the Raven Tower universe stories) when I re-read Raven Tower toward the end of 2025. I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley, but I'm actually reading it in audiobook from my library.
This is a enjoyable collection, and I liked that it started out with a selection of original works not tied to her published novels. The titular "Lake of Souls" had all of the imagination and thoughtfulness that I think characterizes Leckie's work. This was a great story to start the collection with and really pull the reader into Leckie's vision. I didn't love the two stories that followed it - I found "Footprints" a little too creepy for me, and "Hesperia and Glory" successfully captures some of the feel of classic planetary romance, which I think will work for others but was not appealing to me. However, "The Endangered Camp" caught my attention - dinosaurs going to Mars! It's a bit whimsical, and although it is nominally sci-fi, actually feels more folkloric. "Another Word for World" is a decent story, but I have to admit I was distracted by the title. I spent the entire story looking for connections to Le Guin's novel of a similar title, and found afterward that Leckie says the story has no connection. I may try this one again later with this information. "The Justified" is another very strong entry, original and thought-provoking. "Bury the Dead" and "The Sad History of the Tearless Onion" are both short and vivid, doing a lot in just a few pages.
There are three Imperial Radch stories in the book. I've read "Night's Slow Poison" before - an interesting story, but the inconclusive ending makes it also a bit unsatisfying. I think I've read "She Commands Me and I Obey" previously as well. Although this is also somewhat open-ended, it's more successful for me as a story. And "The Creation and Destruction of the World" is another piece of folklore, a bit odd but also very charming. I loved that Adjoa Andoh actually sang the songs in the audiobook.
Adjoa Andoh's narration on the whole was of course excellent - I now have a hard time thinking of experiencing Leckie's writing in any other way than read by Andoh.
This is a enjoyable collection, and I liked that it started out with a selection of original works not tied to her published novels. The titular "Lake of Souls" had all of the imagination and thoughtfulness that I think characterizes Leckie's work. This was a great story to start the collection with and really pull the reader into Leckie's vision. I didn't love the two stories that followed it - I found "Footprints" a little too creepy for me, and "Hesperia and Glory" successfully captures some of the feel of classic planetary romance, which I think will work for others but was not appealing to me. However, "The Endangered Camp" caught my attention - dinosaurs going to Mars! It's a bit whimsical, and although it is nominally sci-fi, actually feels more folkloric. "Another Word for World" is a decent story, but I have to admit I was distracted by the title. I spent the entire story looking for connections to Le Guin's novel of a similar title, and found afterward that Leckie says the story has no connection. I may try this one again later with this information. "The Justified" is another very strong entry, original and thought-provoking. "Bury the Dead" and "The Sad History of the Tearless Onion" are both short and vivid, doing a lot in just a few pages.
There are three Imperial Radch stories in the book. I've read "Night's Slow Poison" before - an interesting story, but the inconclusive ending makes it also a bit unsatisfying. I think I've read "She Commands Me and I Obey" previously as well. Although this is also somewhat open-ended, it's more successful for me as a story. And "The Creation and Destruction of the World" is another piece of folklore, a bit odd but also very charming. I loved that Adjoa Andoh actually sang the songs in the audiobook.
Adjoa Andoh's narration on the whole was of course excellent - I now have a hard time thinking of experiencing Leckie's writing in any other way than read by Andoh.
June 22, 2024
I won an ebook of this anthology through a goodreads giveaway. The book contains a range of short stories, some that stand alone, others that are part of the Imperial Radch universe or that of the Raven Tower. As is sometimes the case with anthologies, I found this a very mixed bag of stories. Some I really enjoyed while others I just wanted to skip over. Of the two universes, I’m more inclined towards that of the Imperial Radch, and that’s also the only one in which I’ve read any of the novels, which I really enjoyed. And though I generally didn’t enjoy The Raven Tower stories as much there were a couple winners in the group, especially “Saving Bacon,� the story with the best humor in the anthology.
December 23, 2023
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.
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.
Want to read
April 15, 2024honestly, this sounds p fun, cant wait to start it! ty Hachette Book Group & Orbit <3
Read
September 10, 2024A good mix of rereads and new stuff. I have a bit of trouble following the plots of her short works but maybe I was just a bit sleepy while reading some of them. I found the titular story extremely charming, and I love the Raven Tower setting, but the Edwardian one didn't have the juice that the prehistoric/iron age ones do. Her last novel was so recent and I'm already pining for another one... time to reread the Raven Tower I guess!
December 26, 2024
The way I’ll cry tears of joy if Ann Leckie ever writes another book in her Raven Tower Universe
January 16, 2025
"Let cowards retreat. We go forward. We live!" (68)
January 8, 2024
Thanks to Orbit books and NetGalley for an e-ARC.
I'm a big fan of Ann Leckie - her Imperial Radch series has to be one of the top series I read last year.
I absolutely loved the short stories in this that were outside Radch/Raven Tower - it starts off with a beautiful little story about a lobster dog alien named Spawn who goes on an adventure of self actualization. Also a big fan of the story about gene hacking onions to stop people crying, and the repercussions of it. The Radch/Raven short stories were a little more hit and miss for me, a bit too bogged down in details and lacked the faster pace of the other short stories. Fave of the Radch stories was set in the beige boredom of being stuck in interstellar travel for six months which reminded me a lot of working at a remote mine.
I'm a big fan of Ann Leckie - her Imperial Radch series has to be one of the top series I read last year.
I absolutely loved the short stories in this that were outside Radch/Raven Tower - it starts off with a beautiful little story about a lobster dog alien named Spawn who goes on an adventure of self actualization. Also a big fan of the story about gene hacking onions to stop people crying, and the repercussions of it. The Radch/Raven short stories were a little more hit and miss for me, a bit too bogged down in details and lacked the faster pace of the other short stories. Fave of the Radch stories was set in the beige boredom of being stuck in interstellar travel for six months which reminded me a lot of working at a remote mine.
May 23, 2024
Love Leckies writing style!
July 15, 2024
There's too many stories in here to go into great detail. I'll just say that almost all of them hit it out of the park. I really love Ann Leckie's longer works and that's the feeling I was left wanting from many of these shorter ones. Some brilliant short story authors leave you feeling like that story form was perfect for the tale being told. Leckie's feel like I'm getting the introduction to a world I want to immerse myself within. Thank goodness for the series!
January 9, 2024
The Lake of Souls collects all the short stories previously published by Ann Leckie, plus her new, eponymous novelette. The book is divided into three parts: the first has 8 stories unaffiliated with her published novels, the second has 3 stories set in the Imperial Radch universe, and the last has 7 stories from the Raven Tower universe.
To level-set, I came to this book having read the Imperial Radch novels but none of Leckie's short stories or Raven Tower.
My impression of the first section is that the stories were dark and strange � more akin to Translation State than Leckie's other books. Many dealt with the themes of (mis)translation and history / story-telling.
Although set in the Imperial Radch universe, knowledge of that series is not necessary to understand the stories in the second section. Each was a tiny gem of world-building that experimented with a different storytelling vibe. In addition to history, the effects of power and empire were focal points here.
Section three, which comprised about half the book, was disappointing overall. The core premise of the Raven Tower universe has a lot of potential: the gods of various geographic features interfere with the human world on a daily basis, exchanging favors for worship to increase their power, and losing power if they ever lie. This leads to a few interesting short stories on the nature of truth and divinity. But, on the other hand, their events often become convoluted to the point of incomprehensibility. And Leckie's two-dimensional characterization of virtually everyone as power hungry (gods) or mercenary (humans) leaves little positive for the reader to latch onto when the plot falls through.
Stories that I found enjoyable and/or intriguing included:
- Lake of Souls
- The Endangered Camp
- She Commands Me and I Obey
- The Unknown God
- Saving Bacon
Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for an e-ARC. All opinions are my own.
To level-set, I came to this book having read the Imperial Radch novels but none of Leckie's short stories or Raven Tower.
My impression of the first section is that the stories were dark and strange � more akin to Translation State than Leckie's other books. Many dealt with the themes of (mis)translation and history / story-telling.
Although set in the Imperial Radch universe, knowledge of that series is not necessary to understand the stories in the second section. Each was a tiny gem of world-building that experimented with a different storytelling vibe. In addition to history, the effects of power and empire were focal points here.
Section three, which comprised about half the book, was disappointing overall. The core premise of the Raven Tower universe has a lot of potential: the gods of various geographic features interfere with the human world on a daily basis, exchanging favors for worship to increase their power, and losing power if they ever lie. This leads to a few interesting short stories on the nature of truth and divinity. But, on the other hand, their events often become convoluted to the point of incomprehensibility. And Leckie's two-dimensional characterization of virtually everyone as power hungry (gods) or mercenary (humans) leaves little positive for the reader to latch onto when the plot falls through.
Stories that I found enjoyable and/or intriguing included:
- Lake of Souls
- The Endangered Camp
- She Commands Me and I Obey
- The Unknown God
- Saving Bacon
Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for an e-ARC. All opinions are my own.
July 29, 2024
I first encountered Ann Leckie as editor of audio fantasy magazine and then read her Ancillary trilogy. That blew me away so much that she was added to the "automatic buy" group, with this collection being the latest book from that policy, and it's a cracking collection! There's an incredibly strong start with the title story that interconnects the lives of a pre-contact species with an anthropologist, who awakes in orbit to find the rest of the crew killed and the shuttle missing. It's one that stuck with me for ages after finishing it. Subsequent stories involve dinosaurs colonising Mars, cross-cultural tension and communication and an immortal planet-wide tyrant and her coterie. There's also a handful of Radch stories, although they all put their focus outwith the Imperial Radch itself, with the other human groups that the Radch as well as a couple of what appear to be myths from that universe.
Fully half the book consists of stories from the Raven Tower universe. I've read that book, but not in quite some time, and so approached these stories with some trepidation. Trepidation that was unwarranted, as the stories themselves remind you of the basic facts of the universe: what gods say must be true, either true already, or they must expend power to make it true, hence they're very careful what they say. There's a lot of ways to play with this basic idea and Leckie has fun with exploring many of them.
My favourite story involves a bumbling, not overly bright chap trying to get out of getting married while dealing with an overbearing aunt. Remind you ? It's a pitch-perfect, and quite hilarious, pastiche, a delightful contrast to the majority of the stories in the book, which are serious and thoughtful in tone.
If you're already a Leckie fan then dive in, the stories are wonderful; and if you're not, this is a perfect taster of the wide variety of her work.
Fully half the book consists of stories from the Raven Tower universe. I've read that book, but not in quite some time, and so approached these stories with some trepidation. Trepidation that was unwarranted, as the stories themselves remind you of the basic facts of the universe: what gods say must be true, either true already, or they must expend power to make it true, hence they're very careful what they say. There's a lot of ways to play with this basic idea and Leckie has fun with exploring many of them.
My favourite story involves a bumbling, not overly bright chap trying to get out of getting married while dealing with an overbearing aunt. Remind you ? It's a pitch-perfect, and quite hilarious, pastiche, a delightful contrast to the majority of the stories in the book, which are serious and thoughtful in tone.
If you're already a Leckie fan then dive in, the stories are wonderful; and if you're not, this is a perfect taster of the wide variety of her work.
March 27, 2024
Lake of Souls is a collection of short fiction divided into three sections � standalone short stories, stories set in the Imperial Radch universe, and stories set in the universe of The Raven Tower. I read this collection having read both the Imperial Radch trilogy and The Raven Tower, which I think has really impacted my experience. I had also already read one of the Radch stories included here, “She Commands Me and I Obey,� as well as one of the standalones, “The Justified,� which previously appeared in Lightspeed.
Inevitably, with a shorts collection a reader is bound to like some stories more than others. For me, I tended to prefer the stories set in established worlds over the standalones. That said I did really love the standalone story “Another Word for World,� which is one of the longer ones and which explores what happens when two treaty negotiators� translating device is lost in a plane crash, leaving them alone and wondering who shot down their plane. This was absolutely a standout for me. I also really enjoyed some of the Radch and Raven Tower stories but wonder how much my enjoyment would translate to a reader who is unfamiliar with these worlds � Leckie is a masterful world-builder in long fiction, and I think some of the stories are stronger for having established background contexts.
I recommend this book as a solid short story collection, but if you’ve never read any Ann Leckie before, I’d absolutely suggest starting with Ancillary Justice.
Content warnings: sexism, violence, medical trauma (castration � not consented to), xenophobia, war
Inevitably, with a shorts collection a reader is bound to like some stories more than others. For me, I tended to prefer the stories set in established worlds over the standalones. That said I did really love the standalone story “Another Word for World,� which is one of the longer ones and which explores what happens when two treaty negotiators� translating device is lost in a plane crash, leaving them alone and wondering who shot down their plane. This was absolutely a standout for me. I also really enjoyed some of the Radch and Raven Tower stories but wonder how much my enjoyment would translate to a reader who is unfamiliar with these worlds � Leckie is a masterful world-builder in long fiction, and I think some of the stories are stronger for having established background contexts.
I recommend this book as a solid short story collection, but if you’ve never read any Ann Leckie before, I’d absolutely suggest starting with Ancillary Justice.
Content warnings: sexism, violence, medical trauma (castration � not consented to), xenophobia, war
April 3, 2024
Lake of Souls is one of the excellent stories in this eponymously-named anthology by Ann Leckie. All the stories have been previously published, but I hadn’t encountered most of them, and even the ones I’d read before, such as Lake of Souls, are well worth a re-read.
Not quite half of the stories are not set in either the Imperial Radch or Raven Tower universes, and display a wide range of worlds and beings. You don’t have to have read any of the series to enjoy the Radch or Raven Tower stories, but it will add to your enjoyment of them if you have.
Even though these stories are not novel-length, many of them contain a novel’s worth of ideas. This is not an anthology which can be read quickly. The stories, like most of Leckie’s work, will make you think. I read LeGuin’s works when I was much younger, and reading Leckie’s stories gives me that same familiar/not familiar feeling when encountering new species and worlds.
Why you should read it: Leckie excels at world-building and intrigue. While there’s always a ‘big picture,� the machinations and interactions of individuals who may not even know their own motivations, much less those of others, provide satisfying reading.
Why you might not want to: You might feel you’re missing out by not having read the two series before reading these short stories. It’s also a pretty heavy time investment, and you’ll want to devote some time to thinking about the story you’ve just read before moving on to the next.
I received an advance copy from Orbit via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
4/5 stars - recommended.
Not quite half of the stories are not set in either the Imperial Radch or Raven Tower universes, and display a wide range of worlds and beings. You don’t have to have read any of the series to enjoy the Radch or Raven Tower stories, but it will add to your enjoyment of them if you have.
Even though these stories are not novel-length, many of them contain a novel’s worth of ideas. This is not an anthology which can be read quickly. The stories, like most of Leckie’s work, will make you think. I read LeGuin’s works when I was much younger, and reading Leckie’s stories gives me that same familiar/not familiar feeling when encountering new species and worlds.
Why you should read it: Leckie excels at world-building and intrigue. While there’s always a ‘big picture,� the machinations and interactions of individuals who may not even know their own motivations, much less those of others, provide satisfying reading.
Why you might not want to: You might feel you’re missing out by not having read the two series before reading these short stories. It’s also a pretty heavy time investment, and you’ll want to devote some time to thinking about the story you’ve just read before moving on to the next.
I received an advance copy from Orbit via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
4/5 stars - recommended.
Shelved as 'dnf'
April 2, 2024dnf p. 128
Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley for providing me an eARC to review!
After recently reading and really enjoying the original Imperial Radch trilogy, I was looking forward to trying something new from Leckie. Unfortunately, I think a lot of elements of why I liked that series are missing because of the short story format.
In the novels, you have time to really build out the world without info dumps, and to create compelling and complex characters. Here, none of that really happens, so you're left with fragments you don't really care about or if you do start to care, the story is over before you can really get too into it.
I also think it's weird to have grouped these three 'eras' together as they are - the stories in the first section are all pretty separate from each other, but then the other two sections feel pretty reliant on you having read the series (and even so they suffer from the same issue as the above).
Sadly a bit of a miss for me, but I hope that it finds its audience, perhaps with fans who have read all of Leckie's catalogue and are hungry for more.
Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley for providing me an eARC to review!
After recently reading and really enjoying the original Imperial Radch trilogy, I was looking forward to trying something new from Leckie. Unfortunately, I think a lot of elements of why I liked that series are missing because of the short story format.
In the novels, you have time to really build out the world without info dumps, and to create compelling and complex characters. Here, none of that really happens, so you're left with fragments you don't really care about or if you do start to care, the story is over before you can really get too into it.
I also think it's weird to have grouped these three 'eras' together as they are - the stories in the first section are all pretty separate from each other, but then the other two sections feel pretty reliant on you having read the series (and even so they suffer from the same issue as the above).
Sadly a bit of a miss for me, but I hope that it finds its audience, perhaps with fans who have read all of Leckie's catalogue and are hungry for more.
March 11, 2024
**TL;DR**: A really fantastic collection, some more challenging than others but nearly all were winners for me.
Ann Leckie makes my brain really work. Her writing is just involved enough and her ideas so creative, that I am always happy to put in the effort and time to see what she’s come up with. These stories, on the whole, did not disappoint.
Ranging from stories in her hard SF world of the Imperial Radch to stories in her fantasy world of the Raven Tower, and more in between there is a fantastic range. The best part to me was the fact that even without prior knowledge of The Raven Tower story I was easily able to pick up context, and I think those stories might have been some of my favorites. Even the one story that made me deeply uncomfortable (The Snake’s Bride), I can understand what she was aiming for or attempting to say.
I highly recommend this collection, in fact I pre-ordered my own copy on finishing the arc. A great collection from an author quickly becoming a favorite for me.
4 out of 5 tiny talking salamander gods
Ann Leckie makes my brain really work. Her writing is just involved enough and her ideas so creative, that I am always happy to put in the effort and time to see what she’s come up with. These stories, on the whole, did not disappoint.
Ranging from stories in her hard SF world of the Imperial Radch to stories in her fantasy world of the Raven Tower, and more in between there is a fantastic range. The best part to me was the fact that even without prior knowledge of The Raven Tower story I was easily able to pick up context, and I think those stories might have been some of my favorites. Even the one story that made me deeply uncomfortable (The Snake’s Bride), I can understand what she was aiming for or attempting to say.
I highly recommend this collection, in fact I pre-ordered my own copy on finishing the arc. A great collection from an author quickly becoming a favorite for me.
4 out of 5 tiny talking salamander gods
November 20, 2024
Really enjoyed the first two sections, but then it was a struggle to push through the last section, but very much enjoyed Saving Bacon and Beloved of the Sun. I would reread those in a heartbeat, and Lake of Souls. Wish there were more Imperial Radch stories though, could always enjoy jumping back into that weird world.
Lake of Souls ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
Footprints ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Hesperia and Glory ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Endangered Camp ⭐⭐�/5
Another Word for world ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Justified ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Bury the Dead ⭐⭐/5
The Sad History of the Tearless Onion ⭐⭐�.5/5
Night's Slow Poison ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
She Commands Me and I Obey ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
The Creation and Destruction of the World ⭐⭐�/5
The God of Au ⭐⭐�/5
The Nalender ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Snake's Wife ⭐⭐�/5
Marsh Gods ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
The Unknown God ⭐⭐�/5
Saving Bacon ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
Beloved of the Sun ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
= 3.97 ~ 4 �
Lake of Souls ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
Footprints ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Hesperia and Glory ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Endangered Camp ⭐⭐�/5
Another Word for world ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Justified ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Bury the Dead ⭐⭐/5
The Sad History of the Tearless Onion ⭐⭐�.5/5
Night's Slow Poison ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
She Commands Me and I Obey ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
The Creation and Destruction of the World ⭐⭐�/5
The God of Au ⭐⭐�/5
The Nalender ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Snake's Wife ⭐⭐�/5
Marsh Gods ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
The Unknown God ⭐⭐�/5
Saving Bacon ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
Beloved of the Sun ⭐⭐⭐⭐�/5
= 3.97 ~ 4 �
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