Actual rating - 3.5

A beautifully written novel and some of the stories inside got me crying but some parts weren't as memorable as I hoped it would be. I'm writing this review aontb after I read the book and while some parts I can remember vividly, certain other plot points have blended into the background.

The story of Ellen and Kiru is one that stands out starkly and If that story is ever to be developed into a whole novel, I'd be the first to buy the book.

I wasn't aware of the existence of biocyberpunk as a genre... At least, I didn't know that this type of stories are biocyberpunk. But this story of dealing with grief, trauma, oppression, love, and so much more is my startlingly fabulous introduction to the genre. With the stories told within the story, of surveillance, of humanity, of getting in touch with oneself, of the art of storytelling - there's so much that the main character, Anima, looks over and is trying to come to terms with. It was a slow read but an effective one. It should be read slowly and savored anyway. Highly recommend!

(i received this e-arc from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

this novel, yet again, proves why science fantasy will always be one of my favorite genres. not to mention, the wanderlust that comes with reading this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

A fascinating, lyrical tour of eerie and entrancing tales by an imaginative new writer. Lu’s prose is as beautiful as aer landscapes; the visions of each world spread through my mind like spilled ink, and I keep finding leftover smudges in unexpected places long after I finished reading. I won’t soon forget Anima’s sprawling and shifting view of Ora, nor aer wonder at the strange and sometimes gruesome stories in the cabinet of curiosities. We shared that wonder and curiosity through every new journey. This is one of the most cohesively and meaningfully tied-together linked story collections I’ve ever encountered, with the frame narrative exploring themes of freedom versus belonging and of the power of stories to stretch and change minds. You’ll also find a plethora of neo-pronouns between these pages, for anyone craving this scarce representation or looking to swish the unfamiliar sounds around in their mouths a bit and get used to them. Overall, a triumph.

In the Watchful City is an intriguingly presented and beautifully written story of open mindedness, personal growth, and self determination. It left me a little bewildered in the best possible way.
Full review on my YouTube channel.

I really enjoyed this novella especially the discussions on culture and belonging. I also enjoyed the stories within stories.

This novella sounded prefect for me. Diverse science fiction is one of my favorite things, but I tried to get through this one a couple of times and just couldn't do it. I read enough to respect the LGBTQ+ rep, the Asian-inspired world, and the author's writing ability. I'm often a reader who has said "I don't understand what I'm reading, but I'm loving this anyway." With this one I couldn't seem to grasp it and it just wasn't working for me. I may try to read it again in the future and hope for a better outcome!

Loved the non-binary rep in this, the Asian-inspired setting, the cyberpunk elements. Love the intersection of the queer BIPOC rep with the biocyperpunk-- I wish we had more of this.

Slightly disappointing and disjointed and disparate stories that don't feel like they come together well at all.

Anima watches over the city. Ae is one of the “nodes”, people who are connected in a sort of biomagicmechanical way to all the life of the city. Ae is confined to a room, limited by the length of the cord that connects aer, but ae sees the whole city from that place, riding on the lives of rats and part-mechanical birds and stray dogs. Then Vessel comes and starts to tell aer stories of other lives, making Anima’s story a frame around several other stories which are set in the same world, letting Anima understand lives outside aer city. Slowly, we get a picture of the wider world, and a better picture of who Anima is, inasfar as she has an individual identity apart from the city.

I didn’t love the parts that aren’t in standard prose, because that’s not usually my thing, but it’s undeniable that those quick handfuls of images added up to a background for Anima that might not have been a straightforward narrative, but made ae’s life clear enough — more like looking at a painting than reading a book, in a sense. A quick intuitive grasp of it.

I thought each story was used to shape the plot, but not clumsily so: it’d take a while to say exactly what each story might’ve meant to Anima, how it shapes aer later decision, rather than being able to say simply “this story about rebellion taught Anima that ae should rebel too”. It’s more complicated than that, shaping Anima’s reactions and casting light on them, rather than directly causing them.

I enjoyed it quite a bit, and suspect that there’s a lot that I missed.

Stars: 3.5 out of 5.

This was an interesting book. More a collection of unrelated stories than one continuous story, a bit like the Thousand and One Nights. This collection of stories helped showcase this strange world that the author has created without having our main characters travel around it.

It's an interesting approach. And a very unique world that uses some of the mythological creatures from our world but in a different way, so the world described is both familiar and very different. Plus, I always love discovering authors who come from different cultures and can share them with me.  So this is the aspect of the book that I absolutely loved.

However, the fact that we have a series of disjointed stories happening in different parts of this world and with characters that aren't linked together makes it hard to empathize with those characters. We only see them for a brief moment in time, with usually no real insight at their past and no way of following them past the end of their short story, so it's hard to care for them during that short period of time. And since the "main" storyline is just the vehicle for those other stories, it's hard to care for Anima and Vessel as well. We simply don't spend enough time with any of the characters to get attached and to care about what happens to them. 

I would have also loved to have more answers to the questions raised in some of those stories. For example, the very first one about the revenants. Just how many are there? What are the consequences of having such beings roam the countryside? Or the mermaids? What happens there? Or what happens to the Sky empire now that the duarchy has fallen? The author drops hint to what could be amazing stories worth expanding further upon... but it goes nowhere. 

In comparison, the main story about Anima didn't particularly captivate me. It lacked depth. We needed to explore more of Ora and see the different citizens that live in it. We should have concentrated on that instead of getting glimpses of this city amidst stories from faraway places. I think spreading the attention too thin did all of those stories a disservice.

All in all though, I am intrigued by this world and this author. I wouldn't mind reading more books set in this world. I just hope that this time the author picks one story and sticks to it.

PS: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow!! Loved the world building and discomfort this ignited in the reader. It reminded me SO much of Larissa Lai's work, especially The Tiger Flu. I wasn't expecting mermaids but it turns out I needed mermaids.

A quick, inclusive read. I enjoyed the over and undertones in this novel as well as the representation for all communities. Beautifully written and rather enjoyable.

This is something I didn't read before and has been challenging to understand this style of sci-fi up till now. It took me some time to fully comprehend how it has started where it is taking up; Anemia's character is very intriguing and special drawing the story at length.

Anemia, having been born with extraordinary sensory talent, is watching Ora city to prevent invasion until one day an unusual soul enters with world pack stories which made Anemia think harder a life beyond the wall of the city which she has been in service. Anemia's talent which she can take any form mostly animals been vivid and imaginative and sometimes so emphatic as well.


It has layers of stories to be followed the whole therein because that is how the author has designed it, so, it has been confusing to keep up related to the theory concept, but certain sci-fi parts have been played their role well to enhance readers' horizon of thoughts.

I was choked seeing mental effects where the story gulped on the path of self-harming, body mutilation, mental torture trauma.

Overall, the story has many ideas and potential but it did have certain too text kind things, which bored me to read as I didn't understand its ideology except when there is happening of actions and development of character and story building. It wasn't totally upset me but partly it made me to read at good length so yeah if anyone is reading me review I would suggest you go through the blurb and understand wether you want this dystopian story at your own risk for me it was ok read.

Sorry being late to review and Thank you @tor.com @netgally and Giselle for giving this arc.

There were a lot of interesting elements to this novella. I especially enjoyed the section about the mermaid--particularly in the way it's positioned as a fantastical response to the huge problem of (shark) finning. Unfortunately, the frame story itself, while interesting in theory, was too confusing for me to follow. I found it very difficult to track the events in the novella. I think this author has plenty of interesting ideas. I just wish I'd been able to track the story better.

Thank you TorDotCom for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I tried really hard with this one. I really did but between the neopronouns messing with my head and the TW for suicide, I just can't get through this one. I need to do better to research books before requesting them.

Anima is a node in Ora, restricted by the boundaries of her city but yearning for the world outside. When she meets a mysterious stranger with a box full of stories, she is curious to learn the life beyond her walls.

This was an insightful read. A beautiful biocyberpunk novella. Its written as stories inside a story. In the beginning, the neopronouns used was a little difficult to get used to, but after that initial hiccup I got used to it. It was very interesting indeed.

In the watchful city is a asian inspired sff biopunk novella which contains stories within stories(think the starless sea), following Anima, our protagonist.

I really enjoyed some stories, the one with chinese trans woman footbinding and the mermaid one was quite vivid and struck out to me. I love the storytelling elements and while I didn't understand everything the book carried on with a sense that I wasn't supposed to a bit like time war. I loved how it showed Anima's grief and I always like exploration of what makes a utopia and how they work and the deconstruction of that.

There wasn't any issue perse but I also wasn't sucked in as much as I wanted to be, it wasn't boring but after one story ended I wasn't compelled to pick up another. All in all I liked a lot of the elements and it's a good novella if you don't mind being confused a little.

content warning: completed on-page suicide, mention of a suicide attempt, self-harm, body mutilations, family abandonment

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion in any way.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2022 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at https://rusaupdate.org/2022/01/readers-advisory-announce-2022-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/.