Kinning

Everfair #2

by Nisi Shawl

Kinning, the sequel to Nisi Shawl’s acclaimed debut novel Everfair, continues the stunning alternate history where barkcloth airships soar through the sky, diverse peoples build a new society together, and colonies claim their freedom from imperialist tyrants.

The Great War is over. Everfair has found peace within its borders. But our heroes’ stories are far from over.

Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. Through these spores, they seek to build bonds between people and help spread revolutionary sentiments of socialism and equality—the very ideals that led to Everfair’s founding.

Meanwhile, Everfair’s Princess Mwadi and Prince Ilunga return home from a sojourn in Egypt to vie for their country’s rule following the abdication of their father King Mwenda. But their mother, Queen Josina, manipulates them both from behind the scenes, while also pitting Europe’s influenza-weakened political powers against one another as these countries fight to regain control of their rebellious colonies.

Will Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope, freedom, and equality to anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces inside and out?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Politics, Alternate History, Speculative Fiction

417 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 23, 2024

About the author

Nisi Shawl is a founder of the diversity-in-speculative-fiction nonprofit the Carl Brandon Society and serves on the Board of Directors of the Clarion West Writers’ Workshop. Their story collection Filter House was a winner of the 2009 Tiptree/Otherwise Award, and their debut novel, Everfair, was a 2016 Nebula finalist. Shawl edited Bloodchildren: Stories by the Octavia E. Butler Scholars (2013). They coedited Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler (2013).

Reviews

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This is a rich alternative history story filled with complex political intrigue. The story is dense yet also rewarding. I can understand this series not being for everyone. Overall, I appreciated the work a little more than actually enjoying it. This is a serious and important work, but less immersive than the stories I am typically drawn into.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the vast majority of Kinning while feeling terrible, because my period was draining all of my life force, and found it comfortingly ponderous. Having previously read Everfair, I knew what to expect: a wonderful anti-colonial counter-history concept, told in a rather odd manner. Like Everfair, Kinning has a sprawling cast of characters. The treatment of plot in the two novels is utterly different, though. Everfair covers thirty extremely eventful years in brief, whereas Kinning covers nine months in depth. There is certainly a lot of incident during that time: a king steps down, but not really; a man dies, but not really; many people have sex with each other; several people adopt a pet monkey; everyone does a great deal of weird drugs. However there are no big changes, nor any plot resolution whatsoever. The serious threat to Everfair is no more resolved at the end than it was at the beginning. There is a conspiracy to foment global revolution, which seemingly proceeds during the novel but the actual impact remains entirely unknown at the end. Thus I got to the last page and really wasn't sure whether the plot had really gone anywhere, which was a bit baffling.

The world-building is fun, though. The title refers to a process of using various weird fungus-based drugs (known as Spirit Medicine, amongst other things) to link small groups who can share emotions, sensations, even thoughts. If you've watched the unjustly cancelled netflix drama Sense8 (as you should), it's a lot like that, down to the frequency of sex scenes. The general idea is that linking people in this way should spread peace, love, and empathy, eventually leading to a global anti-capitalist revolution. On several occasions these substances also seems to enable a disturbing type of mind control, but that gets rather glossed over. Maybe if I'd read Kinning while feeling less like compacted garbage, it would all have made more sense. Or maybe not. I enjoyed the distraction, though, and was delighted to spot a cute Janelle Monae reference (Rima plays a character called May Weather Syn-D).

[ambyr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was promised a book about overthrowing hierarchy; I got a book about entrenching monarchy.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Everfair, so was happy to pick up Kinning.

Kinning has a very large, diverse cast whose POVs feel distinctive (which is an accomplishment particularly given the plotline). There are even some brief non-human character POV sections which are really well done. The world-building in these novels is fantastic - a steampunk alternative history - and the engagement with big themes (autonomy, empathy, ideology, anticolonial politics, collective consciousness) is well realized. This book poses some serious questions about independence and interdependence and boundaries and bodily autonomy in interesting ways.

I can definitely see how this series wouldn't be for everyone - it's multi-layered and complex, and at times the massive cast and multiple plotlines and shifting allegiances and relationships can get a bit confusing, particularly toward the end of the book (around 70% or so). All in all though, I definitely enjoyed it and if there are more books set in this world, I'll pick them up for sure.

Content warnings: racism, racial slurs, sexism, colonialism, medical content, mentions of war, mentions of incest

[Venneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked Everfair, so when I saw that this was coming out in January, I may have slammed the request button. This book ends up taking a look at how you come up with the story of who you are as a person, how communism would've unfolded in a world with Everfair in it, and forming new ways of experiencing and looking at the world, ie, the forming of hive minds of individuals via mushrooms (well played). I compared the original to Game of Thrones but in a world that believes in improvement and afrofuturism; the sequel leans full into the afrofuturism but still keeps the political plays, and takes the characters into a completely new and foreign experience. I also like the alternate futures Shawl glimpses into on the in between chapters. If you liked the original, and wanted it to lean into the sci-fi part of sci-fi fantasy, you'll find it here. Definitely pick this up when it comes out in January.

[Hal Astell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't write a lot of negative reviews because I have no interest being a hatchetman critic, instead seeing my job as to introduce people to what's out there that they may not find otherwise, in film, music and books. However, it does happen and one such review was of 'Everfair', to which this book is a sequel.

Now, I didn't tear it apart, because what Nisi Shawl did with it impressed the heck out of the part of me that wears a writer's hat. The way she structured the book was intensely ambitious and the real historical bedrock she built her story onto was fascinating. I've referenced it often when I've talked about how science fiction and fantasy can so capably shine a light on uncomfortable truths that we may never have heard of but really should know about. Most recently, I brought it up in a conversation about books that aren't horror but are horrific, because even the writers of extreme horror can't match what King Leopold did in the Congo Free State, which he owned individually. It doesn't come much worse than effectively establishing human hands as a unit of currency. It was Nisi Shawl who introduced me to that, via 'Everfair'.

All that said, as a reader, I hated it. If you want to know why, then read that review, but I'll cover some of it here by comparing how its approach was fundamentally different to the approach the author takes with the sequel.

For one thing, the primary character in 'Everfair' was a nation, arguably an idea behind a nation, and that isn't the sort of character it's easy for us to relate to and sympathise with. Here, we have a broad choice of primary characters because there's a large ensemble cast in play, but they're all human beings. I certainly didn't like all of them but I'm sure I wasn't supposed to and I absolutely liked some of them. The nation of Everfair is still in play and there are high-level ideas unfolding, but we can connect to all that through real characters who we can identify.

For another, the biggest constant in the chronology of 'Everfair' is change. Every time we caught up to where we were, it moved on again, skipping from here to there over a thirty-year span. That didn't allow us to find much of a grounding. This book, on the other hand, which is longer by forty pages or so, unfolds in less than a year of Everfair time, from December 1920 to September 1921, with a Chapter Zero that starts four years earlier.

Now, that ensemble cast does put in a heck of a lot of mileage during the book, some characters starting out in Vietnam and others Egypt, all of them gradually working their way through nation after nation to eventually reach Everfair, on the eastern edge of what was the Congo Free State, became Zaire and is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but that's just flavour. I was never confused as to where I was or why I was there, whether it be Cairo, Mombasa or Mogadishu. That I have a large globe by the side of my bed helped but wasn't at all necessary.

I deliberately asked for this book because I wanted to see how Shawl would continue the story that could easily have been done after 'Everfair', but I had two questions going in. One was whether I'd appreciate it as much as a writer and the other was whether I'd hate it as much as a reader. I didn't appreciate it as much, because it's not as ambitious in literary ways, but I did appreciate how well it functioned both as a story for such a large cast of characters and as a launchpad for a collection of themes and ideas. There's a heck of a lot here and it's going to take a while for it all to sink in. I also enjoyed it a lot more. I can't say I loved it, because I do have problems with it, but I certainly didn't hate it.

There are three major threads as we start out, but one peters out surprisingly a third of the way.

That's the battle for succession for the Everfair throne. King Mwendi is about to abdicate and his two children both want to be his successor. That initially seems to fall to fairy tale logic—whoever retrieves the king's shongo from the atolo tree into which he threw it will take the throne—but it gets discarded quickly and we fall into intrigue. Another is the intrigue that surrounds the future of Everfair, given how a deadly influenza pandemic has shifted balances with the British, Italians and Germans all jockeying positions.

There's a lot of intrigue here and I think that it becomes one of the book's problems but it isn't at this point. I was fascinated by whether Princess Mwadi, who's ambitious, capable and willing to do everything differently, or Prince Ilanga, educated and capable but a playboy at heart, would win the throne. The broader intrigue I never cared much about except in how it introduced a new set of characters, from assassins to refugees.

The third thread is the one that takes over everything, appropriately so given that it's kind of the point. This is the thread that starts out in Vietnam because there are competing cures to the flu, one Russian and the other Chinese, but the latter has been finessed into something more by the remaining characters who are dedicated to spreading it far and wide not only to keep people alive but to instill them with a socialist sense of empathy. Whereas the other two threads are all rooted in intrigue, this one is jointly action and intrigue so it's more engaging and it develops into where all the most enticing ideas reside.

There's a major theme of colonialism in both 'Everfair' and 'Kinning' that isn't explored the way it would be by lesser-talented writers. Shawl is a truly speculative fiction writer so she prompts us to think about these themes rather than follow her own views about them. Ironically, the characters in this third thread absolutely have their own view of how things will end up and are driven to get to the endgame they've seen all along. That doesn't quite happen, because there are unintended consequences that constitute the most fascinating ideas in the book, looking at individuality and personal identity and how that might function in collective beings.

While they travel around inoculating people with their particular secret medicine spores, so many that we start to wonder whether there's anyone left in the story who hasn't been inoculated, the true goal is to inoculate telegraph cables with the goal of tapping into communication in a fashion that resembles a sort of biomechanical internet of symbiosis. This is like reinventing the Borg as a medical implementation of socialism. It's radical but it's fascinating and this thread trumps that international intrigue with growing emphasis.

This is still historical, I should add, and there are still steampunk elements, like a prosthetic brass hand and steam-powered aircanoes, which still ought to have a space in it because they're canoes in the air and that word does not rhyme with volcanoes. Given that, it's highly retrofuturistic, to a degree that 'Everfair' never reached. This isn't just future to the past, it's future to us too, with a lot of these questions about identity applicable to today's gender politics and beyond, all the way to the Borg, which avoided the question and never factored in non-human elements. They went for assimilation as an end state, while the characters here see it as transhuman enhancement.

All in all, I enjoyed this. I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time, because there's a huge amount here to digest, but I think its ideas outstrip its implementation, especially in the second half of the book and increasingly so as it builds towards its finalé. However, I doubt I'll come back to re-read, because it's too long, too complex and, especially during the third act, too repetitive. Those problems are big ones that matter much more than a couple of characters avoiding the use of apostrophes on abbreviated words like takin, makin and comin that annoyed me intensely. I'm happy I read it, especially after hating 'Everfair' so much, but I doubt I'll read it again.

Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in May 2024:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Books...

Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/

[Lisa Eckstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the wake of the early twentieth century's Great War, a group of revolutionaries aim to prevent future conflicts by spreading peace and empathy. Their method is the fungus-based Spirit Medicine that creates bonds between fellow inoculants, who become able to sense each other's emotions and even communicate telepathically. The sister and brother scientists, Bee-Lung and Tink, along with the rest of the crew of their aircanoe, are on a mission to distribute the Spirit Medicine in their travels across Asia and Africa. Meanwhile, another sister and brother, the royal children Mwadi and Ilunga of Everfair, are vying to inherit the throne when their father abdicates. Their stories and those of many other characters converge over questions of Everfair's future, and then become further entwined through Spirit Medicine.

This sequel to EVERFAIR brings back many of its characters, but the story has a different focus and scope than the decades-long nation-building of the original, and it's not particularly important to know what happened before. Though I was curious to return to the story world, this book's plot didn't interest me nearly as much as the first. The idea of an empathy-spreading fungus is intriguing, but I didn't care for the way it played out. The characters spend a lot of time being caught up in sensuality that I wasn't feeling, and the mechanics of strains and cores eventually become tedious. While this wasn't for me, I applaud the originality of the concepts, and I hope the story finds the right readers.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rec. by: Previous work
Rec. for: Fun guys and fun gals

Although Nisi Shawl's novel Kinning would stand on its own, I believe you will want to have read its predecessor Everfair anyway (as I did, back in 2018) before tackling this one. And even with that experience, I struggled through the dry beginning of this not-quite-a-sequel—a dozen pages of alternative history lessons, a series of "Imaginary Chapters" addressed to the reader, before the story itself begins.

But my perseverance was rewarded. There is a science-fictional concept at the core of Kinning, and amazingly it's even more of a game-changer than the changes in Everfair.

Kinning is... well, it is that game-changer: the effect of a fungal treatment called the "Spirit Medicine" that gives the people of Everfair—and other places where people have seen and followed Everfair's example—a significant advantage. In addition to conferring immunity to the so-called "Maltese 'flu" that disrupted European colonial expansion, the Spirit Medicine connects people, directly enhancing their senses and empathy, and creating a mycelial network of "cores" which people can use, and spread. The Kinned become cells in a conspiracy of kindness and mutual benefit, integral parts of a network that wants to be spread, with all the fervor of a benign infection. (I was reminded in a small way of my own brief dream in "Planet of the Kind: the Optfield".)

In an interview from January 2024, Shawl calls Kinning "mycopunk." I think that's an excellent term.

"The Spirit Medicine solves all difficulties."
—p.170

Well, no, not quite. The fungi—both the Spirit Medicine and a rival treatment, the similar if cruder and weaker "Russian Cure"—connect people intimately, but they cannot completely erase competition and jealousy... especially when it comes to the inevitable conflicts between the inoculated and the so-called "pre-inoculated."

No one will be left unchanged.

Everfair also faces an external threat: those thwarted imperialists have hatched a plan to drain the Mediterranean Sea, annexing millions of hectares of arable land to southern Europe in a plan called "Atlantropa"—but also flooding central Africa, including Everfair, and most likely devastating the climates of both continents. This fever dream is obviously insane and counterproductive... but of course that doesn't mean it lacks supporters.

"Business. Government. How are they different? I trust neither of them," Princess Mwadi replied.
—p.113

Princess Mwadi and her brother Prince Ilunga are not just siblings, by the way, and not just rivals for the throne of Everfair... they are also vectors for the spread of the Spirit Medicine.

And no one will be left unchanged.

*

As a sexagenarian myself, I was heartened a bit by this forceful statement:

"Sixty isn't the end of the world, you know," the Poet objected.
—p.148

And I also enjoyed Shawl's consistently beautiful prose. Take this brief example, from rather late in the book:

"We fell like feathers, light and pretty, blown softly to the ground by the last mild wind before the approaching storm. At first, like feathers, we knew nothing of where we were—empty sand and shadows kept us apart. Then, just as we found ourselves together again, the first fury struck: blasts of sand like the blows of a giant fist. Where was there shelter?"
—p.348

*

I originally thought perhaps Kinning's title might be a callback to Octavia E. Butler's Kindred... but found no indication that this was so.

And one final note: although I rarely mention authors' photos—how writers spin words is much more important to me than how they look—I was impressed by Nisi Shawl's serene attitude, in their picture on the back flap of Kinning's dust jacket. As if they were already Kinned.

Who knows? Perhaps they are.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Tor Publishing Group for an advanced copy of this look at an alternative Earth where the colonization of Africa changed the history of the planet in many ways, socially, politically, and scientifically.

I recently read an article in Interstellar Flight Magazine about Wakanda, the fictional home of the the superhero Black Panther and one of the most technically advanced countries in the Marvel Comic Book Universe. Wakanda had been gifted with the metal vibranium, which allowed the isolated community to progress in medicine, science, engineering, in ways that the rest of Africa and even the world had not, curing diseases, creating new forms of energy, even conquering space. The writer of the article stated that Wakanda had to be fictional, and had to have been created by people with no clue about Africa, colonization and the exploitation of the entire continent. If a group of people had a technological, even a political edge, a group dream of freeing Africa from its European oppressors, they would never have stayed hidden, never let the murders of so many people been unavenged. Just like the country of Everfair in this series by Nisi Shawl. Kinning is the second book in the Everfair series, a world where a group of people have been able to push Europe out of their country, using science, and strength of will, and what happens after.

Everfair is a country in Africa that was carved out of the territory controlled by King Leopold of Belgium, for a price. A land that became refuge for political thinkers, ex-slaves from America and people with knowledge and know-how who were ignored in their own countries. Everfair has fought off all attempts to claim it, using steam technology that is more advanced than anything in Europe, along with other technology and sheer will. The book begins a little before the last book ends, with seeds being planted for this story. The Great War is over, but a plague, a Maltese flu has further weakened Europe. However all is not well in the country, as outside influences continue to work against the still nascent nation, with the monarchy that has been decided on is still working on power issues and control. To this is added a plan to bring people together using a mushroom fungus to cause people to have empathy with each other. A plan that could spread revolution and change throughout a still struggling Europe.

This is an alternative history book with a lot of big ideas, and a very big cast, that lesser writers could lose control over quite easily. Nisi Shawl however controls the narrative well, never losing sight of the plot,and keeps a steady hand on the characters, never leading them or the readers astray. Shawl has an interesting style, a third person way of writing that makes the book almost documentary in style, with asides to the reader that makes the story real, and want to know more. A lot of the joy comes from seeing real world events and people changed by what has happened, and what could happen in the story. Shawl has done a tremendous amount of research and work and it shows in the writing as there is no hesitancy or lack of vision.

Recommended for people who enjoy alternative history stories, and for readers who enjoy stories about politics, war and what might have been. This is the second book in the series, and I recommend reading the first one before starting just to understand what is going on. Which is a good thing as book books are very good, and worth one's time.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
A human-infesting fungus that promotes empathy among those that incorporate it has been developed, and some are spreading it. A weaker Russian analogue also exists. Meanwhile, a brother and sister vie to take over their father's kingdom, with their mother plotting behind the scenes.

Review
Kinning starts any number of different times; the whole beginning of the book is a meta-discussion of which beginning would best suit the reader. I liked the concept quite a bit, but in practice … I found the options murky and fairly dull. Unfortunately, the book didn’t improve much for me.

I read the prequel, Everfair , some years back and didn’t care for it. However, I had hopes that a more focused book would draw on Shawl’s strengths as writer. Instead, after the false beginnings, the book is divided into two plot threads/groups of protagonists. One, the royals, was somewhat clear, but not particularly interesting. The other, the fungus distributors, I never found my footing in; I was never very clear on who those protagonists were, what they were doing, or why I should care.

This is a thoroughly developed alternate universe that does more than just rely on simple extrapolations. That’s all to the good. Unfortunately, I also found the book both very unclear and (not unrelated) deadly dull. Even the inclusion of a fair amount of sex didn’t spice it up, because I never cared about the people having the sex or why they were doing it.

Having hoped for a more focused and interesting book than Everfair, I found this sequel slightly more focused, just as hard to follow, and a lot less interesting. If you loved Everfair, give it a try. Otherwise, I can’t recommend it.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

[E Money The Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow more complex in scope than the first book yet also better written and clear. Teeming with emotions. There was an 8 year gap between these two books, plenty of time for Nisi to increase their power level.

Plus a cat makes an appearance! 🐈 Obviously the star of the book. And a princess that can channel her being into the cat for sneaky spy-type operations.

So whats it about? AntiColonialism, like its predecessor, but now with a utopian socialist approach. The May 4th movement decides the best way for global proletariat revolution is for everyone to take these spores during a ritual that connects people to one another in a deeper way. They call it “Kinning” and it’s interesting how it plays out. Basically their idea is that people with heightened empathy will ditch capitalism altogether. Well does it?

Of course the book doesn’t go far enough along to answer that question. Unlike Everfair, this book chooses to take its time. (My critique of Everfair was that time passes so quickly! so this was an improvement imo). So in the end we really just see how one particular African state that recently overthrew its capitalist colonial masters (in book 1) now struggle to avoid gaining neocolonial capitalist masters.

Told through the point of view of the children of the king from book 1, a boy and a girl, who come of age and both strive for the throne and the group from the May 4th Movement who want to share their revolutionary spores and ritual sex parties with the world so people can like chill and share things (I think).

One critique I have is it is never directly stated what the author means by “capitalism” or “socialism” or how exactly their struggle would do whatever they think it’ll do which is why I charge it as utopian but its a fun speculative fiction book not a theory text so… have fun!

[Kate Hyde · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Everfair, so was really looking forward to seeing what Shawl had done with the country and its achievements. And, in many respects, the author does not disappoint, as some pretty major themes are tackled - not just colonialism, racism, capitalism etc, but also questions of belonging, autonomy, and relationships, amongst others. And the world-building is excellent as well, although I thought the author erred more on the side of trying to include too much (and too much that was fantastical) picturesque detail, when I would have been happier finding out how the "ordinary " people lived. Arguably, there aren't many ordinary people, as many have taken the fungus that allows semi-telepathic thought and integration, but there were some, and it would have rounded out the narrative to have one of these points of view.
The plot was good enough, albeit convoluted, and the characters oftentimes seemed to refute its own logic, flying around the place in a rather haphazard manner. And there are an awful lot of characters to keep track of, especially as they can talk/view through other people.
Mostly, however, I found the tone and style difficult to engage with. It was very impersonal, and I found it difficult to empathise with any of the characters; this also affected the plot, as actions undertaken by paper cut-out people are rarely interesting. And, at the very end, when seemingly the group cohesion allowed by the fungus rendered even death a minor inconvenience - apart from stretching the bounds of both credulity and world-building logic - well, it tolled the death knell as far as I was concerned.
Great in theory, not so great in execution.

My thanks to Edelweiss for the DRC, all opinions are my own.

[Andrea Ptak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Up to 4.5 stars.
You can read Kinning without having read Everfair, but it helps if you have just because so much of the world building is already in place. I read Everfair when it first came out, so it took a few minutes for things to jog back into place, but once they did it was a smooth transition.

This book focuses on competing "vaccines"—one from Russia, the other from China—that are not meant as cures for an illness but as a means to solidify connections. It's complex; you have to read this book, filled with richly defined characters and situations that keep the reader enthralled and wondering just what is real and what is imagined.

Shawl uses beautiful imagery to keep the reader firmly in her world which can be at times brutal and at others magical and humorous. You'll find yourself rooting for a monkey and wishing you could become one with the creatures of both water and sky to assist with the flight of a faltering plane.

I hope there is not as long a gap between this and the next book in the series. Her readers are waiting.

[caro_cactus]

I don't know. There's interesting ideas in here, and the political bend is clear (Ursula K. Le Guin would approve), but as a novel, even a choral one, it's a mess and left me very ambivalent. The premise sounded great, but in execution, the fungal inoculations rang much more horror than utopia to me, a loss of bodily and spiritual autonomy that subsumes differences of opinion and personality (tbf, I did read Leech recently - but I also adore Sense8). There's too many characters, too much plot, and it all blends together. What I will remember and treasure: the Atlantropean project, the planted, Raffles, Mwadi and Rima in the aeroplane with the fish and the birds.

Shawl writes in the acknowledgments that they wrote the book mostly in COVID lockdown, and I think it shows. I also think I understand why Tor has being doing zero promotion for it.

[Venneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked Everfair, so when I saw that this was coming out in January, I may have slammed the request button. This book ends up taking a look at how you come up with the story of who you are as a person, how communism would've unfolded in a world with Everfair in it, and forming new ways of experiencing and looking at the world, ie, the forming of hive minds of individuals via mushrooms (well played). I compared the original to Game of Thrones but in a world that believes in improvement and afrofuturism; the sequel leans full into the afrofuturism but still keeps the political plays, and takes the characters into a completely new and foreign experience. I also like the alternate futures Shawl glimpses into on the in between chapters. If you liked the original, and wanted it to lean into the sci-fi part of sci-fi fantasy, you'll find it here. Definitely pick this up when it comes out in January.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't like this book. It lost me from the very beginning by starting with a whole bunch of exposition where the author explains the sci-fi elements, rather than crafting a story that lets you discover it. Then the plot itself just felt disorganized and the motivations of the characters not well developed. A lot of people were eager to jump into the main concept of this fungus that provides increased abilities and connections with people (not really a spoiler since that is explained in the first section of the book by the author). The author didn't convince me these characters would really do this.

[Groucho42 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Childish and amateurish drivel. I've complained about fools who try to send a message without subtlety, with a sledgehammer. This is with a bomb. It's so poor and nonsensical, with a more fantasy flavor than the SF in which it's classified. Evil white people are evil and there's this magical kinning that happens with the good people. Sigh.

Sadly, that's what's to be expected from an author too illiterate to realize that there are non-binary, singular pronouns from which to chose, and instead uses a plural one. The worst novel I've seen in a long time.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and thought provoking uchronia, a description of what could have been.
I didn't read the previous book and will surely read it because I was fascinated by the world building and the ideas that are at the base of this series
It's a multilayered story that you can read as an allegory or as a fantasy story.
Well done.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Alyssa Levitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn’t have much of a plot but also there were so many characters, with sketchy or non-existent back stories or motivations, that I also couldn’t call it a character-driven book. It’s more the novel-shaped beginnings of a philosophical exploration of what would happen if you could practically force empathy on people, but it spends almost all of its time on the HOW that happens through the fungus that it doesn’t spark questions or thoughts on the impact of such a change in the world.

[River · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up because I had a very hard time following it and maybe I would've enjoyed it more if I'd followed it better? Also I loved Everfair and I don't want to give 2 stars to the sequel. But I did not enjoy this at all. Should've dnf'd but I'm doing a silly reading challenge of books published in 2024 for the last week of the year right now. Oh well.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alternate history/sci fi that challenges colonoialism and white supremacy - I wanted to like this series
and I am into the ideas but too many characters so that I found it hard to stay on the flow of the story or feel connected enough to the characters.

[Lea]

Incredibly dense. A lot of characters. Odd plot.

[Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic continuation and, to reiterate, I would both kill & die for Raffles

[Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revolutionary in its ideas for building a better world in the Everfair timeline

[Mai H.]

Black History Month TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books