Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach - Book Review

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach
by Kelly Robson

What is it about:
Discover a shifting history of adventure as humanity clashes over whether to repair their ruined planet or luxuriate in a less tainted past.

In 2267, Earth has just begun to recover from worldwide ecological disasters. Minh is part of the generation that first moved back up to the surface of the Earth from the underground hells, to reclaim humanity's ancestral habitat. She's spent her entire life restoring river ecosystems, but lately the kind of long-term restoration projects Minh works on have been stalled due to the invention of time travel. When she gets the opportunity take a team to 2000 BC to survey the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, she jumps at the chance to uncover the secrets of the shadowy think tank that controls time travel technology.

What did I think of it:
I have wanted to read this book for a while, but never got to it, so my attempts to read some of the Hugo nominations was a good excuse to finally pick it up.

And this is such a great story!

Maybe you know I have a weakness for time travel stories, but that I'm often disappointed or frustrated by the flaws or logical errors in those stories. This story did everything right in my opinion. I loved the time travel theory that was used here, I loved how Robson applied it to the story, and I could actually believe it would work like this. Just for that this novella deserves praise!

But that's not the only praise it gets! I also loved the characters, the world building, and the story. That Minh has tentacles for legs was just the yummy icing on an already delicious cake. I was hooked from the start and wanted to find out more about this future, Minh, her coworkers, and if they could pull off the project they set themselves.

There's more I want to tell you, because it was so cool in my opinion, but that would lead into spoiler territory, so I'll just say I recommend this novella to everyone who loves a well thought-out time travel story.

I'll be investigating what other stories Robson wrote.

Why should you read it:
It's a really cool Time Travel story.


Buy from:
Bookdepository - Amazon

Hugo Reads - Short Stories

Being a member of Worldcon 2019 I get to vote in the Hugo Awards. And as a lot of th authors and publishers were kind enough to provide digital copies of nominated books and stories I decided to try to read some of the books and stories I didn't read yet so I can actually vote for what I think is the best story instead of just voting for the one I recognize.

I started with the short stories. All of them were provided in the Hugo package, so I read all of them and will list them below with my thoughts and how I voted.

Best Short Story

“The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, January 2018)
This story was nice enough, but didn't really draw me in.
It ended up in 3rd place for me.

“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)
Mythical seducers whine over a mortal woman and get drunk. Not my kind of story. 5th place.

“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, February 2018)
Alternate universe. Very much enjoyed this one. There were some really intriguing characters and I wouldn't mind to learn more about some of them. 2nd place.

“STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Magazine, October 2018)
This one really annoyed me and hit on some personal pet peeves. 6th place.

“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August 2018)
A fairy tale as told by a dinosaur. Totally my kind of story: dinosaurs, a smart princess, and the dinosaurs get their snacks. We have a winner. 1st place.

“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)
Although the idea behind this story was interesting, I didn't much care for the lead character, so it was Meh... 4th place.



Next I'll try to get the novelettes and novellas read.