A thrilling anthology of short stories from the Sunday Times bestselling author of the Scholomance Trilogy and Uprooted, spanning each of her realms and including a sneak peek into the world of her next series.
From the dragon-filled Temeraire series and the gothic, magical halls of the Scholomance trilogy, through the realms next door to Spinning Silver and Uprooted, this stunning collection takes us from fairy tale to fantasy, myth to history, and mystery to science fiction as we travel through Naomi Novik’s most beloved stories.
I'm a huge Naomi Novik fan — mostly due to Temeraire. There are two dragon-related stories here — one detailing the origin of the whole shebang, back in Roman times when Caesar was having some issues in Gaul, and the other a nice little bit of universe-crossing between Temeraire and Pride and Prejudice.
There are two other familiarities in a Scholomance short story and an earlier version of Spinning Silver, when it was a short story rather than a novel.
While I enjoyed these — Vici, the origin story of the dragon corps, in particular was fun — I'm also very grateful for the standalone content. In particular, The Long Way Round, the last story in the collection, looks like it's the promised 'sneak peek' at the next series, and I'll now be keeping an eye out for that. The premise is a woman and her younger brother attempting to sail across The Empty — the big sea nobody has ever crossed — initially in an attempt to foil another island's chokehold on trading but then for...other reasons (i.e. wizard did it. It's always a damned wizard). Tess is a great character and her relationships with her community are still only at sketch stage, but the lines are vital enough that you can see it pretty clearly. And they voyage of the Blue, a ship designed for long-distance sailng by her brother, is compelling. As is the society itself — Tess's home island is governed by lords who seem at first glance very far distant — but as the tale progresses, we learn more of the lords and their wizards, where they came from and how they manage their affairs and so on. The other islands are likewise sketches at this stage but, again, they feel real enough and I'm guessing lords, wizards and islands alike will be fleshed out plenty in the novel(s).
Seven is another favourite. I've seen this one before, in Unfettered III. I won't normally guess at an author's intent or anythign but this felt a lot like ruminating on how much you give to your art — do you really have to suffer to be a great artist? Can great art come from practicality? Who can create great art, who gets to keep the gate?
Something about Seven Years From Home reminds me of Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed — they're not the same, truly, but they both give the same sense of being in a truly alien culture, and ruminations on what bringing in the larger outside society means to the smaller one.
Overall I enjoyed Buried Deep and Other Stories. The stories have pretty good reach across genres and Novik's writing is always rich with detail without being overloaded.
Does it live up to the blurb?
Yes.
Started: December 2024
Finished: 2 January 2025
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