Kinning, by Nisi Shawl

[mrissa]

 

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The alternate history of Everfair was a creative work not quite like any seen before in the genre, bringing a steampunk story to a fictional African realm and peopling it with vivid and beautifully drawn characters. With Kinning Nisi Shawl returns us to Everfair in a direct sequel that takes it in a new direction.

Now siblings Tink and Bee-Lung have developed a fungus that bonds people into telepathic super-organisms, and Queen Josina is working behind the scenes to determine which of her children should inherit the throne of Everfair, who should be fungally bonded in which groups, and how else the fungus can be used for the benefit of Everfair and the world.

If this sounds like a major departure, it sure is. Everfair read like alternate history steampunk. Kinning, on the other hand, falls more into a trend I've noticed where contemporary authors take on tropes of the '70s and redo them without the racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. that plagued the works of that era. So why not, the people who didn't get to play with the toys the first time around should get to play with the toys, everybody gets a turn, this time someone's actually thinking about not being gross about incest in addition to all the above-listed improvements. If you want "more of the same, only slightly different," Shawl isn't interested in doing that. If you want to see what she wanted to do next, here you go, this is it.

Comments

[muccamukk]

Oh cool! I enjoyed Everfair, and didn't know she had a sequel coming so soon.

[profiterole_reads]

Interesting! I remember hearing about Everfair, but not having the time to read it.

Can Kinning be read on its own or should I read Everfair first?

Is there LGBT rep in Kinning?

[mrissa]

There is definitely explicit LGBT rep in Kinning. I thiiiink it could be read alone? there's a bit at the beginning that sets the scene if you haven't read Everfair or haven't reread it in a bit...but I do think Everfair is where I'd start.

[profiterole_reads]

Thanks for the info!

[tarasacon]

Everfair is just kinda... huge... in what it tackles. I haven't read Kinning, so I can't speak to how they connect. But there's a LOT of world building that happens. A really good summary might suffice?

I read Everfair in large part because of KJ Charles' review of it. (Her reviews, and Mrissa's, are the ones I find most helpful for knowing when and why a book might be for me, and possibly more importantly, NOT for me.)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2070402270

[profiterole_reads]

I think the review I read at the time was on The Lesbrary.

It's a time issue for me more than anything else. Every month, I sacrifice a lot of books I want to read in order to stay only a few months behind the release schedule. And I try to read a little backlist too, but time doesn't magically appear.