James Nicoll Reviews

Way Out in the Country

Huntress

By Malinda Lo

21 Feb, 2020

**Doing What the WFC Cannot Do**

1 comment

Malinda Lo’s 2011 secondary-world fantasy Huntress shares a setting with the author’s 2009 Ash.

The seasons are out of balance and the economy is suffering. Several of the Kingdom’s provinces are on the verge of rebellion. Keeping rebellious lords in line requires all the king’s attention. When the queen of the Xi (fairies) requests that he visit and confer, the king declines to go.

He sends an embassy in his place. The personnel: Kaede (the daughter of the king’s closest advisor), Taisin (a young sage), Con (the king’s son), and a host of expendable extras.

Don’t get too attached to the extras.

And When I Walked

Natural Selection

By Malinda Lo

3 May, 2019

**Doing What the WFC Cannot Do**

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2013’s Natural Selection is an ancillary work to Malinda Lo’s Adaptation¹.

Amber was born on distant Kurra before moving with her parents to Earth. She looks human enough to pass without notice. None of Amber’s schoolmates know that an alien is among them².

This piece describes two rites of passage: one on Kurra (obligatory for Imrians like Amber) and one on Earth (not a formal rite of passage, but nonetheless a formative experience for Amber). Amber’s Earth experience takes place two years before her Kurra rite.