Proto Zoa by Lois McMaster Bujold
Jun. 15th, 2019 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lightreadsProto Zoa
2/5. Collection of very early shorts. I never read this back when I was in Bujold fandom because it was nowhere to be found in accessible format. It's a weird collection because it's recognizably her but also . . . not very good? There are some highlights – the evocation of the miseries of stay-at-home mothering with a useless spouse in "Barter" are hilarisad. But the keystone novella, "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" is a competent but shallow treatment of an idea I've seen done many times much better (also creepingly sexist around the edges). But the one that really threw me was "Garage Sale," a manifestly unkind story about neighbors who hate each other and both behave horribly.
2/5. Collection of very early shorts. I never read this back when I was in Bujold fandom because it was nowhere to be found in accessible format. It's a weird collection because it's recognizably her but also . . . not very good? There are some highlights – the evocation of the miseries of stay-at-home mothering with a useless spouse in "Barter" are hilarisad. But the keystone novella, "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" is a competent but shallow treatment of an idea I've seen done many times much better (also creepingly sexist around the edges). But the one that really threw me was "Garage Sale," a manifestly unkind story about neighbors who hate each other and both behave horribly.