It’s time foe the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards for 2023! I was asked to be a judge again; and, this year will be the 3rd year I’ve participated in this speculative awards with other bookbloggers. I’m very excited about this year’s awards and nominees!
Best Fantasy Novel
THE UNBALANCING by R.B. Lemberg Spear by Nicola Griffith The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher Swallow:Efunsetan Aniwura by Ayodele Olofintuade The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller
One of Autostraddle’s best books of last year, this fantasy novel set in Lemberg’s acclaimed Birdverse features world-building deeply rooted in neurodiversity, queerness, nonbinary identity, and transness. The story follows two lovers, a poet and a starkeeper, as they simultaneously fall for each other while their island home approaches a fated doom. (As you might guess from that description, THE UNBALANCING is a loose retelling of the Atlantis myth). This fantasy book really has it all, from complex diverse characters, a unique magical system, careful explorations of the intersections of queer and neurodivergent identities, romance, lyrical writing, and more!
At this point Lemberg could just scream and I would probably find it fascinating. They are an amazing creator. Their world is fantastic. I hate magic, because it seems so uncontrolled and saves the day too easily. This book has wild magic, but it isn’t what saves the day (though this is not a spoiler in the way you are thinking, because magic very much does play a major role in the ending.)
One of my favorite parts of this is the way gender and sexuality work. There are so many genders that are just accepted. There is no real fight or discussion. They just are.
The more I read of the Birdverse, the more fascinated I become with this fantastic and fantastical place. The story in THE UNBALANCING is complete in and of itself, but it hints at depths that I found myself wishing I knew better. In other words, I loved it AND I wanted more. And I found it in Geometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems from the Birdverse, a collection of many of the foundational stories of this marvelous place. I’m looking forward to diving in and learning that MORE – and soon!
Lemberg’s first full novel in their acclaimed Birdverse series is outstanding. With deep roots in queer- and transness, neurodivesity, and mythical cosmology, this loose retelling of the Atlantis legend is intimate and authentic. Two characters, a poet and a starkeeper, fall in love over the course of the narrative as they work hard to save their doomed island home. The book’s lyrical prose, complex characterization, compelling action, and emotional resonance come together to create a flawless fantasy story. For nonbinary representation in adult fantasy, THE UNBALANCING should be your first stop.
Most Eloquent in its Spareness THE UNBALANCINGby R. B. Lemberg. I raved about how Jewish this book is, not merely in scene-setting, but in its attitude towards diaspora and identity, but on top of that it’s an absolutely lovely story about what we do when we’re at a crossroads and heroism versus helping and it’s perfect and Lemberg’s work is always stunning and I can’t wait to read their upcoming book of poetry.
I fell in love with the Birdverse when I read THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES as this complex, inclusive, and fascinating universe kept in thrall and made me sad when I closed the book.
THE UNBALANCING is even better and I was happy to travel again to the Birdverse and meet the characters. There’s a lot of inclusivity and the characters are realistic, fleshed out and interesting.
Lemberg, R.B., THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES (finished September 10, 2022): I’ve followed Lemberg on twitter for awhile and have long wanted to read something of theirs. This was a great introduction to their Birdverse — rich and detailed, fiercely queer, and a lot in a small space.
Cover by Elizabeth Story based on initial concepts by Francesca Myman
I want to hear about the origins of the Birdverse. Where did this rich world come from? How did you land on the name?
I think I was in high school when I thought it would be interesting to create a fantasy world that began with a bird deity. I was reading a lot of mythology and folklore (a perennial interest of mine), and was interested in creation myths where the world is created from an egg. The World Egg is an idea present in some Indo-European mythologies, as well as in Finnish lore, and in other traditions. I kept wondering where the egg came from, and from there I got to a Bird deity (there is no egg in Birdverse creation mythology, it is all Bird). I also vaguely remember reading, around the same time, an interview with Ursula K. Le Guin, again, I am actually not sure if it was her or not, or if I imagined the whole thing – but the interview featured a childhood story in which “in the beginning, there was Bird.” I carried these ideas around me for a long time. Birdverse itself began as an image in my mind. This was a snippet of a story, a scene, about a linguist, Ulín, who travels the landmass in search of new languages to study. In this image, she is in a wood. It is deep and lush and green; she is feeling out of place and excited. She is about to meet some new people there, and begin to study their language. I knew little about her. I knew that most scholars in this world were magical people, but she herself had no magic. She is not in any of my published stories (yet), but her story is central to Birdverse and to everything I’ve written since then.
Geometries Of Belonging: Stories & Poems From The Birdverse is obviously a collection of short stories and poems set in the Birdverse. It’s right there in the title. Where in relation to THE UNBALANCING and the other Birdverse books do the stories take place?
The stories, poems, and longer works are all set on a timeline, which I have only published on my Patreon. There is an arc to the stories that I want to tell in this world, even though it is more of a tapestry than a line.
The stories and poems in Geometries explore the different events of the Birdverse arc; some connect to my longer works, others do not, or not yet. For example, the poem “Ranra’s Unbalancing,” which won the Strange Horizons Readers Poll back in the day, has Ranra talking and swearing about the events of THE UNBALANCING. When I wrote the poem, I knew that I wanted to write a longer work about these events. Now the readers can get both the poem (in the collection) and the novel, too. The opening poem and novelette of the collection, “I Will Show You A Single Treasure,” and the Nebula-finalist novelette, “Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth Of Winds,” are prequels to the novella THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES. Other pieces in the collection might be connected to longer works one day; for example, “The Book Of How To Live” and “Where Your Quince Trees Grow.”
