The Senyaza series has a very rich and detailed world
with a huge number of different and complicated forces attached. We have the
fae of various courts all with their own agendas. We have kaiju, we have
angels, we have half-angels, we have beings I can’t even begin to label. On top
of that the whole sense of the other world is one that is so alien, so creepy
and spooky and surreal that it takes a lot of thought
Then we have the books to date each of which manages to
cover so much of this world because every last book has a different story and a
different focus with a different protagonist and segment of the world.
That means in 3 books we have had a huge cast of
characters, a vast world and a whole lot of development and complexity. Which
is what I love so much about this series
Except… this is an issue for me with the short story
anthology, exacerbated by me not having read the books, especially the earlier
books, for some time. I don’t recognise enough of the characters in the early
short stories to really understand what is happening or what is relevant. I don’t
mean they’re bad stories – I really liked the feel of Other Reasons – for example. In fact, not only did I love it I was
desperate for more – because it felt like I had missed most of the story and
came in half way. I wanted to know the rest of this story because there wasn’t enough
there for it to stand alone for me. I feel much the same for Wicked Stepself, I really like this
story (despite the second person format which I really hate) – a wonderful,
powerful surreal session and a really powerful core for a whole new story which
I really really want to follow more. But I’m just not sure how this relates to the
rest of the series - can feel it, but with my fuzzy memory it feels like a new
story in this world. One I really really want to read – but not one I find connected
to what is currently there.
Stainless was
much better at standing alone. A beautiful, surreal story of a woman in a
sexist society, being abandoned and shamed for having a child – finding strength
and purpose in a really creepy and terrifying setting. Surreal, powerful – but slightly
disconnected from the rest of the book, and the series. It felt like something completely separate.
I think the same can be said for Winter War – again I have to stress I liked this story and it did
add so much to the surreal nature of the world and a beautiful snippet into
this wild and wonderful world… but not exactly connected to anything else. I
say the same about Her Daughter, Pinned
to the Sky again awesomely shows off the world, the surreal nature, the
amazing powers being raised. Same statement again with the Endless Silence of Forgotten Things and the Far City Cheer Squad.
Eden Falls
would almost be the same except I do kind of remember Simon – so I think this
is more stories for this character who may not be a major character yet but is
definitely heading that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next book in the
series is his book. It also (broken record time but it’s true) addresses the
surreal, creepy, morbid and beautiful nature of this world: and Simon saving
people from a prison of their own making, a prison they want to be part of, a prison
that they will tragically miss.
Children’s Game
was much better for me since it took the story of Marley
and the kids she looks after. I loved this story – it was so much fun and I
still don’t know how real it was. It was fun, real, surreal – and slightly
tragic and spooky as well. Really that kind of ideally thematically summarises
the whole series.
Branwyn and the
Stone also takes one of the main characters
– Branwyn. This book also contains wonderful keys to future stories with
this new challenge of creation. And I really loved loved loved her interactions
with her activist grandmother who is awesome. I love the lesson she has – of course
you fight for justice. But why? What are you fighting for? What do you intend
to achieve? Are you just bashing your head open against a brick wall?
Similarly, I liked Etiquette
of Exiles for not just continuing the story of one of the characters from
the main story – but also by clearing up loose ends. We never really knew what
happened to Penny and this was an excellent continuation of her story. I really
like the fact we followed the story of a victim, we followed her path and she
didn’t just magically recover – she needs to heal and grow and learn. There is
no magical cure. It also brings us a nice little snapshot into the world after
the fae went public and the consequences of that. Which is why I also really
liked When Yeracha Trembles - the fae
have gone public, fae power is now very much effecting the human world, so how
is that navigated? And how do the fae navigate this with their more chaotic
cousins
Wild Hunt Goes to
School is the final story that continues a previous characters’
story. We know that the Hunt was created – but what do they do from here?
And with what we know about ghosts they really raise an awesome ethical dilemma
as well because nothing in this world is ever simple. Nothing can be subtle. There
can’t just be an evil monster that needs to be killed – we need more complexity
than that.
10 Ways to Refuse a
Faerie this was fun. Completely fun. And so very funny. I would read this
whole book for this story, yes, yes I would.
We have a lot of excellent female characters which this
series has always had with a female protagonist in every major book and each of
those women has always been surrounded by a powerful support network of other
women. That follows through in so many of these stories – women and female
leadership dominates them. And some excellent empowerment moments from the
angry, hilarious confidence in 10 Ways to
Refuse a Fairy to the growing strength of Stainless and the awesome messages from Branwyn’s grandmother in Branwyn and the Stone
There are several POC through these stories – though it
is predominantly White (the sheer number of stories makes for a huge cast of
characters). Wicked Step-self has
Ascension and Jen which are minor characters but feel like a key to a future series
or storyline within the series. Shandra in Etiquette
of Exiles is Black and brings a powerful sense of common sense and wisdom
and reality (there’s also an excellent examination of class here – after all,
it’s easy to say you shouldn’t accept gifts from a fae when you don’t need
those gifts, when you’re not poor and don’t have a child to raise.) One of the
main characters in Winter War is also
a POC as is one of the Far City Cheer
Squad
Simon is Asian – though that is predominantly made clear
in previous books in the series rather than this one. This applies to Yejeun
and AT as well – both are POC which I know from previous books but I don’t
really know from this book
For LGBT people we have Brynn in Wild Hunt Goes to School. Technically. Like I know AT is Black, I know
that Brynn is a lesbian because what I read in Wolf
Circle. But there’s no real indication in this book of AT’s race or
Brynn’s sexuality. It’s only inclusion because of outside knowledge. There’s a
potentially implied gay character in Etiquette
of Exiles – but it really is down to looking for subtext and stretching it.
Far City Cheer Squad probably has a
trans character – Ramone rather than Ramona though again it’s heavy on
implication rather than expressly stated.
Far City Cheer
Squad also has a visually impaired character – whose intelligence and
insight leads
A lot of these stories did an excellent job of showing of
this world. I’m not going to repeat myself more because I’ve already said it
over and over – but I really do like this creepy, surreal, powerful, immense
world setting and so many of these stories really displayed it to the full. This
book just did an excellent job of really bringing home what this world is and
what this series really is. I don’t think there was a story in it that didn’t
love.
