ARC provided by Netgalley for review.

This book is undeniably beautiful. This is the first book I've read in Lemberg's Birdverse and it took a while to let go of needing to fully understand everything that was happening, but once I was able to the story pulled me in. Nen-sasaïr (a temporary name) is struggling to find a place in society after a gender transition and hopes to find his new name, something so culturally significant that he can't begin to imagine his future without it. Uiziya is determined to find her aunt and finally learn the rest of the four profound weaves. These two elderly trans characters form an unlikely duo as they wander across the desert in search of Benesret, facing danger, derailment, and emotional upheaval.

This universe is incredibly detailed, with cultures and societal expectations that are ingrained in the world and each of the character's actions. Told in alternating perspectives, we are able to learn about each character's past and the traits that tie them together - defiant self awareness, determination, bravery, and loyalty.

This was my first introduction to the Birdverse. 4.5/5 stars.

I loved it so much! It was such a complex, multifaceted and creative story.
I hope to read the rest of the books in the BirdVerse as well.

This is the first novella of an already established universe, one I am not familiar with, so jumping into the world was a little difficult.

This world is broken into two groups, those that can perform magic freely, and those that can have magic but are rarely allowed to use it. This is also a world where one group accepts that people change, and even has a tapestry that allows the individual to change their whole person, and the other group is told that it is not allowed and to do so can be deadly.

Our two characters, both that have undergone the change, one as a young boy now an old woman, and one as an middle age woman now an older man. They set off to find the woman's missing aunt, the one that supposedly has created the found profound weaves. She wants to learn the final weave, he hopes for a new name. When they do find her, it isn't what they hoped for, and are sent on another mission, to go back to the place he escaped from and return the Aunt's greatest tapestry.

While this has excellent diversity and a great message, getting to it felt longer than it should have. The start of the book seemed to take a long time to go anywhere, and then the ending feels like it is all wrapped up in a few pages. This could be that I don't know this universe and therefore don't understand the pacing the author has chosen. The characters also don't really develop beyond the need to have a name and learn the final weave, so I didn't feel very connected to them. Though I did feel terrible when he has to return to the woman's quarters and they refuse to accept his change and continue to dead name him.

I think this is a fantastic world, and I would like to read more to understand the story, so I will have to go find their other work.

Title: The Four Profound Weaves
(A Birdverse Book)
By: R. B. Lemberg
Tachyon Publications
Genre: LGBTQIA | Sci Fi & Fantasy
Pub Date: 04 Sep 2020
Review Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3131293023

Weaving is a trade for some people, for others it is life changing. However, one of the greatest weavers, Benesret, has been banished from the community and no one will tell "the nameless man why"

He is not the only one looking for Benesret, her nice Uiziya is getting tired of waiting for her to return, the only difference between these two seekers is that Uiziya knows exactly why it is forbidden to mention the name of the great weaver.

Together they must find Benesret and also their own true nature.

From the first page it is obvious that this book is about equality. It would be difficult to find a book that contained so many rights subjects. Not only is it clear that there is trans representation with both Uiziya and the nameless man, we also feel and see the writer is showing us women's rights, how they were to trade while the men sat by or raised children while the men were educated. Race rights, how outsiders were treated compared to the natives, gay rights the nameless man's relationships and religious rights how the men sang but the woman were not aloud, also who must wear veils and not.

This sounds like my kind of book, so why did I not enjoy is as I think I would have?!

The blurb and plot really caught my attention, I was excited to read this book, so what changed. I enjoined learning about the characters and their lives but at times it seemed that the plot was sacrificed for agenda. The story would seem to be going one way and then the writer to escape a problem would create a solution out of thin air. For example, the nameless man made Uiziya a wheelchair but when it was broken and they needed to leave the palace he managed to find two canes.?! Understandable the book was short but the world building never seemed to end.

Again due to the books size there is little suspense in the book. They decide where they are going and get their quickly. It seemed that every time a weave was mentioned is was almost a different explanation of what the weave was/did.

For such a short book some subjects were repeated numerous times, such as Uiziya's habit of asking the same question until she gets an answer she excepts. I found this unbelievably annoying, as though the writer though I might have forgotten in the past ten or so pages since it was last mentioned.

So what did I like about the book?! I loved the way that the nameless man finally decided to go and seek help with his name, and ultimately the name he chose. I loved how Uiziya found a better way to death weave, how Kaveh-nen-Kimri found acceptance and wanted to go back and tell his grandchildren about the weaves. Finally, I was glad that they decided to stay together at the end.
Personally I think the book is too small for what it is trying to achieve.

DNF @ 40%

I want to start this by saying that this book is excellent and my DNF definitely shouldn't be held against it. This book is beautiful and it's telling an amazing and powerful story about change and hope. It's full of nuanced thoughts about the trans experience and mirrors our society against a backdrop of a gorgeous magical world. It just didn't click for me personally and I struggled to get into it. The prose is gorgeous but I found it a little difficult to get into the story and the characters.

The idea of the weaves is gorgeous, I'm completely obsessed with being able to weave from wind, sand, song and bones. The fantasy world is fascinating and well-built, creative in a way that I haven't seen before. It's also a hugely diverse book with trans MCs, racially diverse characters and a plus-sized woman and I think that most people would love it and it's a shame it didn't work for me.

This was a very weird story. I felt confused a lot of the time and think that it would have been better if I understood the Birdverse before reading this one. The characters and ideas of gender were interesting though. And I ended up wanting to learn more about the Birdverse in the future. For me although I was confused I still had a great time with this one.

I haven't read anything else from this book's universe, so I had to take it as a standalone.

I was excited about it because I love weaving/textiles generally, and I was interested to read a fantasy novel with trans characters. I found it lyrical and thought provoking. The language and the tone are elevated and serious, which lend the story the air of a parable. The magic feels much more like metaphor than anything you could really be grounded in or viscerally experience, to me at least. This is a book I can certainly appreciate, but I think it's working at a level a bit higher than where I'm capable of reading at the current moment, if I'm honest.

The Four Profound Weaves is set in Birdverse and this story is about an old man who was born a woman who is not transformed, and an old woman who wanted to learn the craft of weaving from her aunt. A person with knowledge of their deepnames can use magic while weavers can create beautiful carpets from the wind, sand, song and bones. The journey depicted in this book was atmospheric and intriguing. The illustrations in the book were beautiful and added to the world building. There was a lot to learn about the universe, such as the position of women and men in society, the power of the carpets, the Bird god and the significance of deepnames. Overall, I found the book to be an engaging read.

The Four Profound Weaves is a lovely novella about hope, resilience, and the stories we leave behind. It is lyrical and strange in a lovely way. It is also one of the only fantasy stories I know where both leads are trans, where trans identity is explored through magic, and where trans and non-binary identities are woven into the nature of the world as well.
It is a lovely, inclusive narrative. We need more fantasy like this!

If you are looking for a quick read fantasy novel, with lgbtq+ representation, that reads more like a fable written hundreds of years ago, then this might be the book for you.

I will say, this book also reads like a work of art, and like a lot of art, some people might not get what this book is setting out to say. And this is coming from someone who typically does not like books like these. However, this book is short, and it's lyrical style kept me glued to its pages, despite it not being my cup of tea.

I loved this. It had a fluidity to it that just hooked me and pulled me in and didn’t want to let me go. The author wove a stunning tapestry of a story about not just weaving but of listening. Listening to yourself and what and who you are as much as listening to who others are. That our lives are a tapestry that we personally weave and it takes someone special to understand and appreciate it for the beauty it is. The gender fluidity and ability to acknowledge as well as physically change was magical and the way the author portrayed it was lovely. They showed that though some were able to accept the change that sometimes those that are closest and whom we love the most are unwilling to accept and that inability to accept who we are is the most damaging. The four profound weaves, the winds of change, the sands to take you where you wish, hope to honour the bird goddess, and death. This was a melancholic tale of love, loss, acceptance, and coming to terms with who we are. It was very emotionally intense and was just so stunningly beautiful. I recommend this to everyone.

4 stars

Uiziya has waited forty years for her aunt to return so she can finish learning how to make the four great weaves. For the sake of his lover, the nameless man temporarily known as nen-sasaïr has waited forty years to transform into his true body. Both seek Uiziya's aunt, Benesret; Uiziya wants guidance, nen-sasaïr wants a name. They travel across the desert together, only to get caught up in a more dangerous quest to challenge the Ruler of Iyar and take back his greatest treasure.

This book was really different, and in a good way. It's set in a world where people are born with deepnames that determine the strength of their magic. The four great weaves are of wind, sand, hope, and death, and a weave of wind allows its user to transform into their true body. There are different cultures of people, with different customs, especially relating to whether women are allowed to have magic.

Concept-wise, I really loved the book. It has obvious allusions to aspects of the LGBTQIA community, and it really makes you think and see things in a different way. Plot-wise, the story is quite interesting and never felt like it was dragging. I will say that it was a little basic. This book definitely triggered a lot of thoughts, but I don't think that much actually happened. The complexities come from the storytelling, and I was back and forth between loving it and being annoyed by it.

The story alternates between first person POV for Uiziya and nen-sasaïr. To be honest, this was a bit jarring for me in the beginning. The POV switches quite often, with some events being retold from both POVs, and it was kind of hard for me to keep track, especially when there wasn't much difference in their voices for me.

The author made certain stylistic choices (e.g. lots of repetition of phrases) that made the book read almost like poetry. I liked this for the most part, although it seemed excessive at times.

Another thing about the book is that it really throws you right into the deep end. I was quite confused for the beginning of the book, and little by little, pieces about the world came together. I understand the logic behind allowing readers to discover the world for themselves, but it was a little much when I just wanted a relaxing read.

All in all, I would recommend this book. It's a quick read and will make you think afterwards.

Lemberg’s prose is gorgeous and lush. I found myself devouring it whole. The two central characters, Uiziya and the nameless man, are compelling and interesting. Their emotions were raw and real. I felt like I understood them and that they would understand me too. I truly felt for the nameless man and how he had felt trapped, how he could not be his true self where he lived.

This story was a journey for both Uiziya and the nameless man–they both gained, they both lost, and, beneath it all, there was a sense of hope, of survival past the loss of a loved one, surviving betrayals, living because there is still more out there in the world.

I loved the worldbuilding and I never felt lost, though I did jump into the Birdverse blindly. Gender roles were explored within the different cultures and how magic was impacted by gender roles. (Never would I have thought about how magic would be impacted by gender roles until now. Now I can’t stop thinking about it.)

Hope and grief are intertwined within the weaving of this story, as they are in life. This is a book I did not know I needed.

The Four Profound Weaves had great characters that I really enjoyed and connected with! I felt that it was a huge reason why I liked this book. I enjoyed the amazing character arcs that they go through. I liked that there are LGBTQ characters that take the main focus of the story.

The writing style of this book was a bit of a downfall, and why I rated it four stars. I found myself a bit lost at times and had to go back to re-read and understand what was happening. There is some jumping back and forth in the story, and it just didn't flow properly, for me.

Overall, I found this to be a lovely story, and I am interested in reading the other Birdverse books by this author.

I was provided an advanced reader's copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I really struggled with this book. It took me awhile to get into the right headspace for a fairytale that requires this type of focus. The story is anything but simple. For me this means I have to be ready to really take it all in...

This is very much a fairytale, one with incredible depth. The themes of change and risk take center stage in this novella. All of the characters struggle with change and stagnation, finding their own way on their own time, but never alone. I loved the way the author made clear the importance of community in navigating change and the unavoidable nature of change. Nothing in our lives can stay the same. Our bodies will morph, our minds will grow, our opinions should change and our knowledge should bring transformation. These moves happen in community and require relationship. This is quite clearly a trans fairytale, but it is also a fairytale for us all. We need to be reminded that staying the same isn't the goal. Thank goodness for R.L. Lemberg. They wove a truly memorable story that, like all good fairytales, will reveal new truths every time you read!

I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this book. It was rambling, but also profound, I suppose. It was a little contrived but spoke honestly and bravely about claiming one's identity. It did not know if it was a poem or a book or a novella, but I didn't mind that so much. It started out slow and dense but resolved itself beautifully.

The Four Profound Weaves is an LGBTQ+ fantasy set in a brutal world full of harsh societies and a hostile desert. The book follows two transgender characters, who, after looking back on a life of pain and longing, set out on a journey to find what they most desire. The novel is prose-heavy, but driven by some semblance of a plot. It is a story about transformation, hope, acceptance, and death. Its imagery is fantastical but its messaging is very real. 

This book will resonate with those who are struggling to be themselves or find themselves in a society that does not accept them. Because of the importance of its themes and the beautiful journey it takes its readers on, I think it is worth reading even if you are not in love with the world or the writing. It is only around 200 pages, so for me, it was worth pushing through what I thought was overly lyrical writing to get to the heart of the story.

I had some trouble adjusting to the story as I began reading. I didn't realize that the headings were the names of the characters to indicate change in POV. Once I realized that, it became easier for me.

There are some wonderful descriptions in here — the rod of the torturer, the locks on the doors. It's a fantastical place, and not in a good way. The villain is "the collector" and his motivation is to keep things from changing. He believes he is doing the world a favor by trying to preserve things just the way they are.

But the theme of this book is that change is good and necessary. There's a saying: If you're not growing, you're dying. Nothing can thrive in stasis and resistance to change is based in fear. Furthermore, the author is clear on the point that if you are unhappy with yourself, you must have the freedom to change who you are. Those who love us will try to keep us the same, but we must resist. True love overcomes any obstacle.

I enjoyed the book, but I didn't love it. It started a bit slowly and I had trouble maintaining interest. However, after a while, I didn't want to put it down.

I have been familiar with R.B. Lemberg's works for a while - Geometries of Belonging and Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds (which should preferably be read before reading this book) are two of those short stories that stuck with me long after I read them. So when a friend brought The Four Profound Weaves to my attention, highly recommending it, I knew that sooner or later, I will end up reading it. Queer books with lovely prose are precisely my kind of thing.

As suspected, I adored it.

The story stars two elderly trans protagonists. Uiziya is a Surun’ weaver whose greatest wish at the beginning is to learn the last of the Four Profound Weaves from her exiled aunt and weave a carpet of death. She transformed very young and has always been accepted. The nameless man, nen-sasaïr, has been living with the Surun’ for three months, ever since his transformation, because his culture isn't tolerant of changers. After a life of denial, he feels unmoored, frustrated, unsure of where he belongs. Together, they go on a quest.

But that's only a part of it. Even though it's a novella, The Four Profound Weaves has so much going on that I don't know where to start. I don't think I can do it justice.

First, the prose is absolutely exquisite. And the story is exactly the sort of fairytale-esque that I'm an absolute sucker for. A quest for the carpets, magical objects, the whole deal. At the same time, the worldbuilding is entirely original and well thought out. Seeing as the author also wrote several short stories set in the same world, this shouldn't come as a surprise.

And then the themes. Someone better at literary analysis could probably write an essay on it. It contains so much. I could say it's about identity and belonging, but that doesn't quite cut it. Or about two trans people with two very different experiences, acceptance, loved ones that smother you, culture clash, of how hard and messy change can be, and how you're never too old to turn your life around...so many things. It's like a tapestry itself, multiple interwoven themes and threads coming together into a beautiful whole.

But to me, by far the biggest surprise was that the length felt exactly right. I found I don't like novellas very much - they often feel as if they're missing something, as if either there's too many ideas or plot crammed into too small of a space or as if there's not enough. Not so here; Lemberg hit the precarious balance perfectly. The Four Profound Weaves feels complete. It needs nothing more and nothing less than what is already there. It's probably safe to say this will be one of the highlights of 2020 for me and I most highly recommend it.

I am a big fan of everything I've read from R.B. Lemberg's Birdverse series, and particularly their Nebula-nominated story of a few years ago, Grandmother nai-Leylit's Cloth of Winds, so on learning that there was going to be a new standalone novella which was a continuation of that series, particularly focusing on the living grandparent of that story, who joins the protagonist Aviya on her journey and winds up finding the change they have always wanted in the desert. The Four Profound Weaves stands well alone, but Grandmother nai-Leylit's Cloth of Winds is a story that's very much worth reading, so if you want to experience that story relatively fresh I'd suggest going to check it out now before proceeding with this review, as the following will contain spoilers (albeit fairly obvious ones if you're paying attention from the start of that story).The Four Profound Weaves opens in the Snake-Surun' encampment, almost directly after the events of "Cloth of Winds". Having been physically changed from their woman-body into the man they've always been, Aviya's grandfather has fulfilled one long-held wish, but things are still far from easy. His people, the Khana, have a strict social segregation and separation of roles between the genders, and while he had been playing the role of a "rebel woman", engaging in work like the creation of artefacts which was supposed to be restricted to men, our protagonist has little frame of reference for being a Khana man, and fears that a return to his people would be impossible in his current form, without which even taking on a true new name will be impossible. Surrounded by a culture whose social acceptance of "changer" (trans) identities leaves little room for empathy as to why nen sasaïr (the interim identifier he chooses to go by) can't just embrace his transition and go sit with the men, his renewed search thus brings him back into the orbit of Uiziya, a Surun' woman he met during his journey forty years ago and who has been contemplating challenges of her own. Uiziya's aunt is Benesret, once a great weaver of the Surun' and now an ancient exile who has spent decades weaving magical cloaks for the Birdverse's assassin cult, trying to master the ability to weave from bones. Uiziya and nen sasaïr both seek out Benesret for their own reasons, and both are left disappointed but with a joint mission: to retrieve another lost magic weave, this one crafted from song, from The Collector, the fascist ruler of the city where nen sasaïr grew up.At the centre of the Four Profound Weaves are, unsurprisingly, four profound weaves: magical artefacts created from wind (for change), sand (for wanderlust), song (for hope) and bone (for death). Bringing together the four weaves is said to call down Bird, the God of Birdverse, and each requires a master weaver to create them using the magic of this world, where characters gain and use "deepnames" in specific configurations for various effects. The deepname magic system feels at once inscrutably mysterious and straightforwardly practical, and characters have different strengths and abilities depending on their configuration in a way that feels like it puts sensible limits and guidelines on what magic can achieve. In nen sasaïr's culture, deepnames are also highly gendered, and his configuration is one which prioritises power and therefore reads "feminine" in a society where men are kept protected in order to maintain connection to sacred song. While we only meet the Surun', the Khana, and the Iyar - the culture which runs the city in which the Khana live, and to which the Collector belongs - the care put into developing each culture makes them feel like part of a much larger, more diverse whole.Once nen sasaïr and Uiziya get on their way, the plot of The Four Profound Weaves is relatively simple: the two attempt a deal with Benesret, return to Iyar, and despite complications figure out how to overcome the Collector's own plan and leave with what they need. What makes the story so good are the different but interlinked emotional journeys each is going on along the way. For Uiziya, whose meeting with her aunt becomes another betrayal, there is a need to move on from her past and re-establish her faith in her own abilities, while also untangling more of the Collector's motivations. Uiziya is drawn into his attempts to get his hands on a weave of bone, and the awful lengths to which he has gone to assemble the materials for one, and the balancing of the loss and death she witnesses with the pull to deepen her craft is done compassionately and interestingly.Nen sasaïr's journey is even more interesting, particularly as I think this is the first book I've read which deals with a man exploring his freedoms and desires as they relate to his gender identity, and forging a path that remains true to both. Like Uiziya, his journey involves questioning events from his own past, particularly his own spouse Bashri nai-Leylit, who he loved but who constantly entreated him to keep his identity secret and limit his queerness to the "rebelliousness" acceptable on the margins of society. Nen sasaïr's return to the Khana quarter of Iyar is heartbreaking, but less straightforwardly so than he expects - because, of course, nen sasaïr is not the only trans man the Khana have ever seen, even if their society doesn't allow for "changers" in any meaningful sense. As his relationship with Uiziya, and unfinished business of his own with the Collector, links the pair's conclusions together, making for a satisfying end that doesn't provide all the answers or right all past wrongs, but does provide a convincing way forward for both of them which stays true to the queer narrative.If you've not experienced Lemberg's prose before, you're in for a treat with this, as the style brings the meditative story of nen sasaïr and Uiziya to life in a way that's readable and yet really makes the most of the rich fable-like qualities of the story being told. This is closer in tone to its predecessor story than, say, A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power, which felt further down the axis of nice prose at the expense of easy reading. Split into sections for each of the four weaves, and then alternating between viewpoints for nen sasaïr and Uiziya, the thread of The Four Profound Weaves is generally straightforward to follow between the characters, although occasionally I found myself drifting between transitions and forgetting whose parts I was reading. That was a minor fault in the reader and not the writer, though - in most cases I can wholeheartedly recommend this novella and this series as a world that's well worth spending time in. I look forward to further adventures in the Birdverse soon!

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher. Also I know the author online.</p>
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<p><em>Hope cannot be given away to you, or to anyone. Hope is the song which arises from silence where all our voices had been; all those locked away against their will one day will surge again, come forth with great exuberance, sweep the world in a reverberation of rainbow....</em></p>
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<p>Do you need a book that has the concept of hope seriously woven through every thread of it right now? I bet you do. I bet you did even in January.</p>
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<p>And here it is, <em>The Four Profound Weaves</em>, centering on transformation, expectation, and hope. This is a story in Lemberg's Birdverse, a place we've started to learn from short stories--and characters we've seen in those stories as well. All the things that I have loved about the stories, the magic of weaving air and sand and more, are developed, pondered, iterated here. The desert and the city beyond it, the people who don't quite fit in one culture or another and have to find their own path, they are all here with space to breathe, to learn to breathe, to care for each other in imperfect human ways and to find their own paths out of the human difficulties before--and behind--them.</p>
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<p>I picked up <em>The Four Profound Weaves </em>after reading a long book about horrible people, and it was incredibly restorative. It was fun and gripping and a very fast read, and the book design was beautiful. But along with all those things it was refreshing at a time when my heart needed to be refreshed. Highly recommended.</p>
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