Motheater

[psocoptera]

Motheater, Linda H. Codega, 2025 fantasy novel. Some neat stuff here but it could have been half the length, the emotional throughline was a muddle, and sometimes the language got so figurative as to feel more like word salad, like, just did not seem to actually mean anything. And while generally I would say lesbians make everything better I thought the ship felt forced. But I would have forgiven that for less repetitiveness and stuff like describing magical lights as like "a swarm of living lightning bugs". (Um, bugs *are* living.) Some good moments though and I liked all the words I had to look up. Might have been pretty good in the hands of a much more aggressive editor. (Some interesting resonance with Metal From Heaven re sapphic women in veins of ore and giant stompy endings... coincidence or part of some larger trend/trope?)