Rating

1. Rose/House by Arkady Martine (Subterranean)
2. Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
3. “Seeds of Mercury”, Wang Jinkang / 水星播种, 王晋康, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)
4. Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)
5. The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older (Tordotcom)
6. “Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet”, He Xi / 人生不相见, 何夕, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)

Not convinced either way on 1 vs 2 at the moment - I dithered on this multiple times; this is what I've voted. I really loved Rose/House, and it did some really really interesting things with AI. BUT I also loved Mammoths at the Gates, and what it was doing with story. So, really, either, and I've gone with 'what do I think I'll reread' right now.

Thoughts before reading

• I’ve read three of these!
• One of the ones I haven’t read is not for lack of trying; have not been able to acquire it at a price I’m willing to pay for a book ($50 will buy me two novels, I won’t spend it on a novella).
• two new to me authors! Both in the same book — which I have now acquired.

The ones I’d read:

• Thornhedge - fairy tale reworking, nice and solid, as one expects from Kingfisher. Well handled non-linear narrative. 4 stars. review
• Mammoths at the gates - like the other books in the series, this is a story about stories. 5 stars. review
• The mimicking of known successes - I appreciated this story, and what it was doing, but I didn’t love it. And I didn’t love that I could see a thing coming that is a trope of the genre, and it is one of the tropes I loathe. 4 stars review

The new ones

• Life Does not Allow Us To Meet - This one did not work for me. Info dumping, awkward interactions between characters, good world-building, hard to follow plot. 2 stars (half arsed) review
• Rose/House - slow to start, and then I was absolutely hooked. Slightly surreal in places, incredibly clever, still not sure I understand what I was reading. 5/5 review
• “Seeds of Mercury” - as with Rose/House, slow to start and then I was hooked. 4 stars. review