This was a fun collection of short stories. Very short collection in all. Some minor connection between the stories as they take place in the same world. It would be fun to see this turn into something bigger. ( )

I really enjoyed this book, though I wished the stories were a bit longer. Each one offered an interesting world and characters that I'd hoped to get to know more. After all the book is called The Nine Lands so give me more information about each. Overall, though, very interesting and different than what I've read before. ( )

The Nine Lands collects seven short stories that are all set in the same world, but other than that aren’t really connected. I really enjoyed the stories. They are well-written and show a great variety of ideas without feeling disparate. I have had my eye on Brennan’s Lady Trent series for a while, I will most definitely will give it a go now.

On a more technical note, they really made the most of this being an e-book – with author’s notes linked to every story and making it easy to jump between the stories and the notes. Awesome.

Read more on each of the stories on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2020/03/03/the-nine-lands-marie-brennan/ ( )

I really enjoyed this e-book. I appreciated the flexibility in format that the e-book allowed. I’m the type of reader who likes to read the story and then immediately read the authors note on that story before continuing and the e-book suited this reading style perfectly.
Overall, I really enjoyed the world of Nine Lands and this collection just really made me hungry to learn more. I want to know more about the different histories and the religious systems within each culture. You can really tell that Brennan is a natural historian and anthropologist, you could feel the love and care that went into to all these stories. And we just scratched the surface of them, I’m really looking forward to digging deeper and honestly, I hope that Brennan puts out more works from this realm. I would literally love to read like a history textbook from the Nine Lands that goes into culture, history, and the religious systems.
Here are my thoughts and ratings for each individual story, as is natural with anthologies or collections there are some real stand outs and then some that didn’t speak to me.
“Calling into Silence” (4 star) a coming of age ritual fails but why? I was hooked into this story from the begging. I really wanted to know what was going to happen. Spirit possession and spiritual rituals I find very interesting. Then ending was a twist I did not see coming.
“Kingspeaker” (2 star) When you speak for another how to handle the responsibility of power. So, this story was hard for me to rate. I enjoyed it, but I feel like I’m left with a lot of questions. This was the only story where I felt like I didn’t really get a lot about the culture. I also felt like our main character didn’t really deliberate, or her internal struggle seemed to be over pretty quick and we didn’t get to witness her thought process too much.
“Sing for Me” (2 star) A prophetic gift that comes with a price I enjoyed the strong female character the prophet becomes, but I felt like her transition and how she got there wasn’t really explored. The time jumps felt too large and like we were missing too much, I felt like I needed more information to connect with this story.
“Execution Morning” (4 star) Treason and fear lead to death, but where is the moral line? I felt like the time jumps were handled much better in this story. The moral quandary felt real and the characters exploration of their feelings felt honest and explained. I wanted to learn more about the Kagi.
“The Legend of Anahata” (2 star) Not all victorious rebellions look the same. This was a cool premise, I like the ending message, but I did not really care about the main character. I was not invested in him at all. I found myself more draw to the gods and goddesses and really want to know more about how the religious system is structured and what they represent.
“Lost Soul” (5 star) A Musician struggling to connect. My favorite of the entire collection. I love the characters, I felt so connected to them, I loved the premise the exploration of soul and meaning and magic in art, I really loved this story. It was magical and there were so many pull quotes I kept highlighting. This felt like the strongest piece to me and I would honestly say maybe buy this collection for this story and then just enjoy reading the rest. I almost wish there was a bit of romance that happened but honestly the story is just super satisfying as it is that I wasn’t disappointed that there weren’t romantic sparks.
“White Shadow” (3 star) A Coming of age ritual gone right, if not quite what we expected. The beginning of this dragged a bit. The character was noticing everything which just slowed the story down, maybe she could have noticed just things that were relevant to the story, but part of it is that it’s all relevant soo…. But once I adjusted to the different style of this piece I appreciated all the test and the ending. I really liked this concept of the Kagi naming/choosing right. I want to know more about their culture and the Other. ( )

Before talking about the content of this book, I'd like to praise the ebook formatting. This is a collection of short stories, and Brennan has written story notes to accompany each of them. If you prefer to read author's commentaries before beginning the collection, you can jump to the Afterword and/or Story Notes sections from the Table of Contents. If you prefer to read them after you've read all the stories (or to skip them entirely), you can progress through the book in the usual fashion and encounter them all at the end. So far, so normal.

But if you, like me, prefer to read a story and its commentary, followed by the next story and its commentary, then this ebook does something special. At the end of each story is a link to its story notes. Follow the link and read the notes, and at the end are two further links: one to the beginning of the story you just read, and one to the beginning of the next story in the collection. It's quite neatly done, and made for a very smooth and pleasant reading experience.

The actual stories I found enjoyable overall but not hugely impressive. Brennan applies her background in anthropology and folklore to good effect, and the worldbuilding is by far the best part of the book. However, few of the characters felt fully realized to me--they exist primarily to move the plot forward--and the plots themselves are often predictable. Though (speaking as someone who very much enjoyed Brennan's Memoirs of Lady Trent), if Brennan ever writes a novel set in the world of the Nine Lands, I'll be there with bells on.

"Calling Into Silence" (**) A coming of age ritual goes awry. There's a mystery at the heart of this story with a good premise but a sloppy execution, and the characters are thinly drawn.

"Kingspeaker" (***) Politics and war; the power of speech; a young king and the servant who acts as his voice. Predictable yet satisfying.

"Sing for Me" (**) The dangers of prophecy. I found this story frustrating in a way that was likely intended: namely, I wanted it to have a different protagonist. Though admittedly the protagonist it does have is one of the better drawn characters in the book. I admire the skill that went into creating him and am annoyed by his central role at the same time.

"Execution Morning" (****) Xenophobia and fear of magic (in the form of shapechangers); a career soldier faces a dangerous and unpleasant duty. The plotline doesn't offer many surprises, but in this story that actually feels like a strength, as though every scene follows seamlessly and inevitably from the previous one.

"The Legend of Anahata" (****) A king in exile seeks to regain his kingdom. Nicely nuanced, with some striking imagery.

"Lost Soul" (**) A skilled young musician is looking for something she can't name. Unsubtle. The descriptions of music are quite well done, though.

"White Shadow" (***) Another coming of age ritual. This one has a more interesting protagonist than "Calling into Silence," and after reading about the shapechanging Kagi from the POV of their enemies in "Execution Morning," it was good to get a Kagi POV story. ( )