A confession to make before we start: neither of us actually got to reading Witch, Cat & Cobb, so there won’t be a review for that one here (Anna didn’t even manage Sky and Dew, but there you go).
And if you haven’t read the novellas with us in November, hopefully our reviews will inspire you to start them now!
The Shape of my Name
Nino Cipri
Rep: trans mc, wlw side characters
The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri is a time travel story about what it means to truly claim yourself.
Charlotte’s Review
Rating: 4/5 🌈
A lot of what I remember about this novella is just how gorgeous the writing style was. Like, in a “fuuuuck I wish I could write like that” way. It read so beautifully, and even though there wasn’t a whole lot happening throughout (it’s a novella, duh) and it was maybe a little confusing to start with before things became clearer, the writing pulled you along.
Which means pretty much my only complaint about this was that I wanted it to be longer. Guess it all bodes well for me and Nino Cipri’s full-length works.
Anna’s Review
Rating: 4/5 🌈
The craft in this little shiny time-box of a story! It’s out of this world. Not a word out of place, not a one that doesn’t serve a purpose. Magical, really.
This also means that there’s no info-dumping. Which can make the story a bit confusing at times, but you just have to go with it & let it charm you and at some point, all the pieces will come together. It’s worth it, I promise.
Sky and Dew
Holly Heisey
Rep: nonbinary side character
In the Hallows, words are magic, and words can kill.
Sky took a vow of silence and left the world above to keep her city’s magic alive. Now, she wanders the Hallows as an acolyte of the Lost Emperor – an unseen legend from another world whose words fuel the magic above. But when her lover breaks their vow of silence and falls deathly ill, Sky must descend to the deepest depths of the Hallows to beg the Lost Emperor’s help. What she finds, though, is a tragedy that spans centuries, and Sky will stop at nothing to make it right.
Part otherworldly epic and part nonbinary love story, Sky and Dew is a standalone short story.
Charlotte’s Review
Rating: 2.5/5 🌈
The problem with this one is that it felt very much like the conclusion of a bigger story. And that would work fine if it had been extended beyond the 20-or-so pages that it is. As is, it instead feels like it’s lacking something (something like context maybe). So I mostly skimmed it if I’m honest.
That’s not to say it was a bad novella. It was well written and the characters were likeable, it just also lacked for me. It’s definitely one that would have worked better as a longer story.
Did you read any of these novellas with us? What did you think?
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