Reviews and Comments

This collection shows the enormously wide range that Jo Walton can do.

In her introduction, she says that she could write novels right away, but struggled to write short stories. She goes further to say that some of the stories in this collection still aren't right. I wouldn't try to guess which ones aren't right, because every story felt right to me.

There's even one that has a talking cat.

Good old science fiction fun. I'm looking forward to #3, and sad that it will end there.

This was an engrossing story with a new version of time travel.

I was able to let myself overlook a fundamental paradox in how it couldn't work with multiple people living their lives over and over again while changing how things go, but I still fully enjoyed it.

I really don't know how it took me so long to discover Claire North's books.

I completely enjoyed this book. It's been sitting in my to-read stack for years and I only started it because I'm trying to do a little purging.

The protagonist, Liz, is perhaps as lonely as a person can be. Which in retrospect is a little unbelievable because she was a delight to be around. At least for the length time it took to read the novel.

A solid and entertaining read.

The only negative thing for me is that there is a moral problem with how this body-jumping character lives.

Good old science fiction fun. I'm looking forward to #3, and sad that it will end there.

This was an engrossing story with a new version of time travel.

I was able to let myself overlook a fundamental paradox in how it couldn't work with multiple people living their lives over and over again while changing how things go, but I still fully enjoyed it.

I really don't know how it took me so long to discover Claire North's books.

Only 4 stars instead of 5, because, this guy might not be the worst person ever, but he's really not a good guy and how much time do you want to spend around a guy like this?

On the other hand, I read the whole book and lately, I'm stopping a lot after a couple of chapters or even half way and I did want to find out how this story ended.

Only 4 stars instead of 5, because, this guy might not be the worst person ever, but he's really not a good guy and how much time do you want to spend around a guy like this?

On the other hand, I read the whole book and lately, I'm stopping a lot after a couple of chapters or even half way and I did want to find out how this story ended.

Pattern is the second book in a pretty weird fantasy series. It's completely readable and interesting, but, although we're starting to get clues about what's going on, by the end of this book, we're still as lost as Poldarn the main character.

This book might appeal to people interested in how Vikings lived when they weren't raiding their neighbours. That is, if Vikings could read each others minds.

I'm hoping that I'll get to read the final book, Memory, but the Ottawa Public Library doesn't have it, they won't let me suggest they buy it because it was published too long ago, and their interlibrary loan page is broken.

No talking cats, but sometimes a crow talks.

Pattern is the second book in a pretty weird fantasy series. It's completely readable and interesting, but, although we're starting to get clues about what's going on, by the end of this book, we're still as lost as Poldarn the main character.

This book might appeal to people interested in how Vikings lived when they weren't raiding their neighbours. That is, if Vikings could read each others minds.

I'm hoping that I'll get to read the final book, Memory, but the Ottawa Public Library doesn't have it, they won't let me suggest they buy it because it was published too long ago, and their interlibrary loan page is broken.

No talking cats, but sometimes a crow talks.

This was just fun. It's not high literature.

On the downside, it doesn't do anything for modern themes about diversity and has no talking animals.

But it moves along.

I didn't love every story in this collection, but I loved a lot of them.

And if you're serious about science fiction, many of the stories are by authors on your must-read list. Of course, you might have read the stories elsewhere, but it's probably easier to get this book from the library and read the stories than to look up all the stories first and verify that you've read them elsewhere.

This was just fun. It's not high literature.

On the downside, it doesn't do anything for modern themes about diversity and has no talking animals.

But it moves along.