Among Others

{4.5/5} “It’s like if you snapped your fingers and produced a rose but it was because someone on an aeroplane had dropped a rose at just the right time for it to land in your hand. There was a real person and a real aeroplane and a real rose, but that doesn’t mean the reason you have the rose in your hand isn’t because you did the magic.”

Among Others by Jo Walton, published in 2011

Morwenna is sent to a boarding school in 1979. Her twin sister has died, she’s run away from her mother, and her father has sent her off to school. She has a limp, and she likes science fiction. And she can see fairies.

This story takes place basically in the real world, with just a bit of magic.

It’s about the joy of reading science fiction, and finding your “karass” (Vonnegut’s word for a group of people who are linked together). The science fiction references are wonderful, such as: “It would be like living on Anarres.”

It’s a very specific story — it seems like it might be autobiographical. But it’s also universal, at least universal enough to include me. Even though I never went to boarding school or met any fairies.

The writing is smooth and the characters are delightful — you might have trouble putting it down.

This is the second book I’ve read by Walton. I previously reviewed Tooth and Claw.

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