Sun River

Everfair #0.5

by Nisi Shawl

Princess Mwadi of Everfair teams up with American actress Rima Bailey on a reconnaissance mission in Egypt in an attempt to thwart the European spies intent on destabilizing Everfair and its business interests. . .

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Alternate History, Magic

20 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 6, 2023

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

[carol. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I like to sample a new author, and Tor's shorts allow me to do that. Don't be fooled by 'short,' however; occasionally they veer into novella length and this one certainly comes close. It has the same feel as P. Djèlí Clark's Cairo-based series, with a semi-realistic historical and cultural framing laced with magic. I liked it; although it felt a tad uneven in parts, the balance of personal, political, and magic was enough to keep me intrigued.


Free Tor.com short story that is set in the world of Everfair.

https://www.tor.com/2023/12/06/sun-ri...

[Beth N · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Princess Mwadi wheeled gracefully above the Nile. She flew in two birds, turning them in upward spirals to catch the last thermals of the day. Soon the sun would set, the air cool. But shortly before that she would be home."

The opening paragraph of this short story hooked me immediately. Exotic, magical, just unexplained enough to make me want to read on.

Unfortunately the continuation was considerably more mundane. The character relationships felt a lot more tense than was warranted from the interactions we witnessed. There were complex political games being played which, over a longer novel perhaps, could have been exhilarating and dangerous, but it was hard to get invested without the weight of a longer build-up.

I see, coming to write this review, that this story is part of a wider series. Readers familiar with Everfair might find this story engaging but out of context it fails to make its mark.

[S.A Reidman · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I love Nisi Shawl's non-fiction, and from fiction, let's see, I've read the 2043 Merman story and I loved her thoughts on Octavia E Butler in that episode of New Scientist - so, I'm going to try another short story. But this one ... 😬

I went in curious and left disappointed and maybe annoyed. Unlikeable characters the lot of them. How do you take a story set against the backdrop of Egypt of old and make it a chore to read? It had things that are usually at the top of my list:

👑Puppeted royals trying to become puppeteers
🪄shape shifting magic
🎭 People masking and saying one thing but meaning another.

The inner monologue of Princess Mwadi was rambly in a lot of parts. And the seduction attempts by Bailey were just cringe.

On one thing we agree - why are most Heir-apparents idiots and pushovers. Except for Joffrey Baratheon, what a little Horror-heir.

That Character:  none but naming one character a variation of Devil Scratch was hilariously on the nose in the colonial setting "Deveril Scranforth"
That scene:  the opening flight scene
Favorite /Unique Quotes:
🖤  Do I have to choose one?
Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ shape shifting but also not really more like astro projection?
Cover Cause I'm a Bird: Intrigued, the cover pulled me in
Re-readability: nope
GR Rating: 2⭐
CAWPILE: 4
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2027
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short stories by 2027

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little hard for me, not having the related series that it belongs to. I felt like I was dropped into the world with not much context, and that made it difficult for me to appreciate what was going on. I'm a little intrigued now about the series, but not like I was when I read The Haunting of Tram Car 015, for instance.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Princess Mwadi of Everfair meets American actress Rima Bailey and together they try to stop two spies in Egypt.

An interesting and visceral piece of contemporary fantasy. Shawl draws their characters confidently and this allows the plot to pull readers in.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an alternate Egypt, a princess with the ability to 'throw' her consciousness into birds to control them and see what they see, gets involved in a conspiracy by European powers to sabotage a company she has shares in. Working (perhaps romantically) with an American actress (who is more than just an actress), they spy on proceedings to uncover the plot. The princess' ability would involve her into doing quick acts with the birds to help save the day.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Egyptian cyberpunk is a new one for me and I am going to be looking for more. Read this one and you'll be hooked.

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sun River by author Nisi Shawl is a short story you can read for free on the Tor.com site https://www.tor.com/2023/12/06/sun-ri...

“Sun River” is set in the world of Nisi Shawl’s acclaimed Everfair and its upcoming sequel, Kinning, available everywhere on January 23, 2024.

Princess Mwadi of Everfair teams up with American actress Rima Bailey on a reconnaissance mission in Egypt in an attempt to thwart the European spies intent on destabilizing Everfair and its business interests

My ongoing quest to get current with the Tor short stories.

Interesting steampunk short with an Egyptian princess able to transfer her mind to birds and an American spy on a bit of an adventure.

4 Stars

[Erica Naone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe I’m ready to read more everfair sooner than I thought!

This story goes more into the spymaster angle, one of my favorite everfair storylines.

The signature subtlety is here as well - the reader must put the pieces together about the implications, but the story covers a lot of ground as far as how everfair will be positioned geopolitically and the line of succession after Mwenda. I love the split perspectives when the main character Mwadi is riding multiple birds.

It was good to see Rima. The romance made me slightly uncomfortable because of the age difference and the speed of it, but I decided not to dock a star for that - big age differences seem like a theme in shawl’s everfair universe.

I might read the second book sooner than I expected.

[umainthewild · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella is a standalone that's technically part of a series and despite not knowing anything about the main series and having a dozen unanswered questions while reading Sun River, I am still going to say I enjoyed it; because it's got me real intrigued to read the main series.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dislike being a negative nancy but I found this short story mostly incomprehensible as a stand-alone work. Maybe its more fulfilling if you are familiar with her other work.

[Per · Rating 1 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/sun-river-nisi...