Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading to prepare myself for the '17 Hugo Nominations, this nom is available online.

It's a story of two females locked into rather interesting mythological stories, both of them trapped in both painful and degrading situations and eventually finding solace and freedom in each other.

The mythos, itself is a curious blend of old tales, such as having to wear out seven pairs of metal shoes before being able to break her husband's bear-curse or in the other case, having being forced upon a mountaintop, eating magical apples, while being insulted or having tons of suiters-who-are-sailors demand her hand in marriage.

Overall I was struck by the imagery and the juxtapositions while also feeling something for these women. Even more important than the myths, though, was the feeling of really emotional commentary upon being a woman in today's world, but that's just some serious subtext. I thought it was pretty awesome, actually, delineating the expectations of the sexes with each other and putting it upon magical situations and myths.

Of course, anyone can make the solid case that ALL myths do this to one degree or another, but this one is particularly modern in its take while feeling timeless.

View all my reviews