Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback

This novella was INCREDIBLY fun. We're thrown into a vibrant and magical medieval-ish world, following our delightful heroine in Lana, an earnest stoner lesbian scribe who is also dumb as rocks (affectionate). The author simultaneously gives us a romp of a fantasy story, while also letting us commiserate over the high-stakes and idiot nature of politics.

I adored this book so much, and I am so upset that the author's backlog isn't more prodigious!! (I'll have to keep my eyes open so I can pre-order any of their forthcoming work.) I very much plan to not only buy a personal copy for myself, but to also submit a library purchase and to recommend it to all my friends. Such a great time!!

I've read much of Robson's work and find her range remarkable. The characters here are vivid and likable in all cases. The world is full of interesting hints; the work doesn't feel as self-contained as some readers might prefer, but it's a novella, so I bring a healthy dose of tolerance and I welcome the potential for a larger world and one hopes another story set within it. The world-building wouldn't survive litigation of its details but it holds together and the many novel factors interlink effectively.

This quaint, cosy fantasy definitely has its audience but isn't entirely memorable enough. There is great banter and chemistry between characters but the narrative falls flat on the intrigue scale

Lana Baker is the best scribe in Aldgate, much to the chagrin of her baker mother. Unfortunately, she is also a charmer and easily won over by good looks and plentiful kisses. While delivering a missive from another scribe, who bribed her with smooches, Lana ends up being conscripted into that scribe's position in Low Parliament by the temperamental fairy she brought the letter to. Being a scribe for Low Parliament means writing down the endless circular arguments made by the deputies of Parliament. A certain magical curse means too many hung votes will lead to the complete flooding of Low Parliament and all those who reside there. There is no escape either, as the waters on the bridge suck anyone trying to escape into them. So, with the help of two unlikely comrades (Bugbite her fairy taskmaster and Eloquentia, one of the deputies) Lana is determined to save them all with her wits.

This was a really funny, and actually thought provoking, little novella about the machinations of parliament. Lana is truly smart and cunning, so it makes sense she would embroil herself in politics. She is also in to hallucinogenic yeast (drugs) that keeps her from being bored and helps her to relax. With her yeast she wins over her fairy taskmaster, Bugbite, and begins to make her see the value of humans (pushing her to help instead of hurt). Their relationship helps others to see that humans and fairies can coexist without hatred between them.

If you have ever dealt with politics (which we all have...) than you know the kind of humans Lana has to listen to and transcribe. Specifically, she must transcribe for one particular deputy who feels their country to be more deserving of land, resources, etc. As though they deserve more rights. This deputy, and her cronies, continue to work against all the other deputies, leading to the possible drowning of Low Parliament.

It is also interesting how the dynamics between humans and fairies worked, with the humans blaming the fairies for their plight without realizing humanity started the war with the fairies. Because of this, and the way humanity appears to behave, the fairies fear them and see them as a threat to their lives. As well, the fairies are just as stuck in the magical treaty as the humans are. It takes one from each group to come together and begin to start to truly understand one another and find empathy.

Strangely enough, dance plays a huge factor in how humanity shows fairies their value. It is the way in which all those in Parliament can finally come together. Just as the yeast and other drugs create a bridge in which Lana and Bugbite can coexist and find equal ground. I also loved that this was a world full of women, with hardly a mention of men at all. It added an extra element to this fantastical world, with the reader wondering why there were no men and seeing an interpretation in which misogyny and the patriarchy cease to exist.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect of this novella going in. It had a cover and synopsis that seemed to show a cross of fairy tales and fae folklore and the politics often found in historical fiction, a combination of which I hadn't really seen before. This all led me to believe it'd be an intriguing, but fun read because it seemed to be using pieces of stories I'd loved before. However, it ended up not being anything like what I was expecting, and not necessarily in a positive way.

While what the synopsis promised was definitely true and there, it was far from the focus. Were the debates tense and did the fate of Parliament hang in the balance? Definitely yes, though somehow it didn't always feel that way. Were there faeries and fae tricks and magic? Also, definitely yes, but it honestly mainly focused on how it was used to get high. Overall, I think I just went in with the absolute wrong expectations, though I'm not entirely sure if I can be blamed for that (was I supposed to just assume ‘High Times’ meant just, actually being high the whole time?)

Maybe if I'd connected more with the main character, I would have enjoyed this more. Instead, I found myself frustrated with her often and while I often like the style of character she seemed to fall into (himbo lesbian very interested in good times and good women), I didn't like this actual rendition. It didn't feel like there was enough real about her, and I felt like her actions and thoughts never went deeper than face value. I also didn't find most of the relationships compelling, whether it be platonic or romantic, which didn't help.

While there are things I generally appreciated about the story and world-building (it was actually a fairly interesting world and magic setup), those pieces never ended up being the true focus. I felt like I was constantly hoping the main character would turn her head and focus on something else, only she never did.

Overall, this book just wasn't really for me, though I'll never be sure whether it's the fault of my wrong expectations or just of the book itself not being for me. I won't write off the author entirely because the writing itself was strong, but the rest just didn't work for me.

A fun, queer, fairytale-esque romp with cheeky, loveable characters and a fast-paced story. I loved Lana, Bugbite, and Eloquentia's relationships, their interwoven-ness and their care for each other (in their own very unique ways!). I read this twice in very quick succession and loved every moment!

This was a fun, weird, little book. Liked the setting and the friendship. World building wasn't that strong, but I didn't really mind that.

First I wanna take a second to give it up for the cover which is in my opinion the best part of this book.

Rarely do I find myself saying, I think this standalone fantasy novella actually should have been longer but I do feel that way about this a little bit. Actually, maybe I should say firstly I think this biggest downfall of this book is the synopsis which paints this idea that this is going to be a clever and perhaps insightful little number examining the ways that the government ultimately fails the common man or something. When actually the authors preferred blurb is stoner buddy comedy, a description that is leaps and bounds more accurate to the actual tone of the book. Cause when you go in expecting a stoner comedy that is also about the government you are a little bit more okay with the main character actually having next to no idea of how her own government works, and as the POV character not explaining any of that to the reader either. Unfortunately, it is a fantasy novella so the first third of the book is world building so the fact that your POV character also doesn't seem to really understand the world she's living in does kind of make it a slog. (If your book only has 160 pages, none of it should slog like there's just not enough time for that).

The pacing was my primary problem though, and again most of those problems disappear when you change your view on what genre you're actually reading. Lana grew on me pretty quickly once I accepted that she was going to be a skirt chasing himbo the whole time and had no intentions on changing, I think it's actually pretty refreshing in a genre full of serious fantasy lesbians to have one who is actually not all that interested in picking up the call to action and more interested in picking up some babe's number. The resolution is maybe a little unsatisfying given the stakes, but it's also not that surprising given the tone of the rest of the book. Overall, this wasn't really what I thought I was signing on for but it's definitely something that I've now read.

Stoner and slacker comedies are not my favorite kind of humor. I like them just fine, but they’re often similar in a way that makes a few representative of all. And yet I was definitely intrigued when I heard author Kelly Robson describe her novella High Times in the Low Parliament as a “lesbian stoner buddy comedy with fairies.” I mean, it’s not everyday you see that particular combination as a descriptor for a fantasy narrative. And the book indeed pulls off an interesting narrative balance where it weaves multiple threads together: that of high fantasy (in two very different senses of the word) and easygoing, slacker charm to make a world that is both intensely magical and utterly mundane, in much the same way contemporary stoner comedies fuse utter silliness with more ordinary, even serious aspects of modern life. Set in an alternate, early industrial version of England where fairies and humans live side-by-side, the story walks a tightrope as it balances between tackling real issues—inequality, political instability, destructive human behavior—and following the misadventures of our protagonist, Lana, in her quest to get high, get laid, and avoid any and all major responsibilities.

I think one of the difficulties with creating genuinely “good” stoner comedy lies with the characters. More often than not, these characters find themselves involved in ridiculous situations almost entirely by accident. In film, this can be set up in a lot of different ways, and with varying levels of realism and absurdity. Capturing it in a written text can present a special sort of challenge: How do you build a story around a main character who mostly stumbles into—and out of—their difficulties without any real agency? That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of stories where ordinary characters are thrust into the plot against their will. But how do you make your audience actually care about them? I think it may come down to striking the right balance between silliness and deeper human emotion.

Lana is a simple character in terms of her desires and motivations. She’s a little arrogant in her pursuit of pleasure free from responsibility, yet she is also deeply likable—a must for a stoner character you laugh with rather than at. Like the other archetypal stoners and slackers that have come before her, she’s pretty chill, and utterly directionless in her life. She’s all about simple joys, and can be wildly overconfident in her ability to obtain them. Her greatest strengths lie in her charm and, as one character puts it, her ability “to be happy wherever she is,” which is a much-needed skill, as it turns out. When a bit of flirting and badly-timed bravado lands her an unwanted-but-mandatory job as a scribe in the low parliament, Lana takes it in stride. Not long after she arrives at the fairy court where the parliament holds its sessions, she learns that things are a bit more dire than she anticipated. Turns out, if the politicians can’t come to a consensus on something—anything—to break the constant pattern of hung votes, the fairies will flood the court and kill everyone, from parliamentary politicians to kitchen servants.

To better deal with the stress and help everyone get along, Lana takes it upon herself to provide a little relief for her friends (and herself) in the form of a fantasy substitution for marijuana: a baker’s yeast with calming, psychotropic properties. Her constant use of the yeast and some psychoactive fairy mushrooms leaves her a bit disconnected from the drama around her, and yet she never stops caring about the important things—a vital distinction that makes her a stronger character than many of her stoner forebears who are just set up for laughs. The impending death of everyone at court may seem a bit high-stakes for this sort of comedy, but I think this is where Robson fuses the concepts of stoner humor and fantasy storytelling particularly well. Like any good fantasy, it has something to say about our own world. Perhaps the flooding is a bit on-the-nose as an allegory for climate change, yet the idea that humans are so hell-bent on selfish gains and non-cooperation that they would risk the lives of everyone around them is pretty realistic, regardless of the form that disaster might take.

The stoner archetype is a pretty familiar one by now. The Cheeches, Chongs, Dudes, and Spicolis of the genre all share a few traits: they’re chill, goofy, unambitious, and walk a fine line between lovable and obnoxious. They’re also all men. Lana is cut from the same cloth in terms of personality, but as a queer woman in this sort of story, she’s quite unique. In fact, every character in the book is female; there are no male or male-presenting characters to be found. This is interesting from a worldbuilding perspective, sure, but also from the genre angle. How many well-known stoner characters are women? Honestly, I would have been hard-pressed to name any until Broad City came along. There is something about this particular character type that doesn’t gel with traditional female gender roles and expectations.

There is a freedom and carelessness to these characters that seems to be endearing when it’s presented as something masculine, but troubling when recast as feminine. Maybe it’s the still-pervasive idea that “women can’t be funny” that keeps the stoner comedy so thoroughly associated with men and masculinity. Or perhaps it’s the too-real knowledge that being carefree is something a lot of women and gender nonconforming people can’t risk. Either way, Robson’s novella could be a formative text in this version of the stoner comedy sub-genre, one that is divorced from typical gendered expectations. By capturing the essence of the quintessential stoner type while infusing it with queer sensibility and centering the idea of joy as a tool for real change, Robson opens up new avenues for comedic fantasy that I’m excited to see expand in the future.

Somehow, I missed the marketing of this book as "lesbian stoner fantasy" until after reading it, but as cutesy one-liners go this is a great description of the strange yet delightful vibes that Robson brings to this novella. At its heart is Lana, a scribe from Aldgate whose life revolves around alcohol and pretty women - until one of her paramours tricks her into delivering a message that gets her out of parliamentary scribe duties, and the fairy responsible ends up sending her instead. As if enforced labour wasn't bad enough, said parliament (which is sort of like if the European Parliament stooped to Westminster standards of behaviour and decided not to use interpreters and speak past each other all the time) is about to be flooded by the fairies who steward it, as punishment for failing to agree on anything.

The political setting is fun, and it builds on some impeccable vibes - badly behaved parliaments are an underexplored institution in fantasy, and putting one in an all-female setting is particularly entertaining - but they very much play second fiddle to the relationships between Lana, her fairy friend Bugbite, and Eloquentia the parliamentarian she develops an infatuation with. Lana and Bugbite's relationship mostly grows over their use of various substances, and Lana's interest in the proceedings around her is mostly driven by self-preservation rather than a genuine interest in the political agenda, but there's something genuinely endearing about the pair of them that's hard not to root for. That goes double as Lana's interest in Eloquentia morphs from "pathetically horny" into a more well-rounded admiration and respect. On the whole, High Times in the Low Parliament didn't blow my mind, but it did have me going "you're doing great, sweetie" at its protagonist as she wandered around her world's various messes, and sometimes that's just the kind of story you need.

This book didn't work for me because I was not a fan of the main character, so it's worth taking my opinion with a grain of salt, here! It follows the adventures of Lana Baker, a scribe who is usually much more interested in a pretty face than in anything else, and whose sole motivation is to get drunk (or take mushroom scales) and while away the time. Because she spends her time in a haze, there's not that much urgency -- even though the characters are in peril -- and it's also a difficult position to paint a good picture of the world from.

The world itself is pretty interesting: fairies find humans terrifying because of their wars and physical aggressiveness, and have forced them to hold parliaments to talk things out at, essentially, gunpoint. If they can't find a consensus, the fairies will drown them to teach them a lesson and then start over. Lana is tricked into going there to take their notes, meaning she will die as well if the politicians can't be forced to agree. Slowly, due to her interest in one of the delegates, she does become drawn into the politics and into caring what's going on... but most of the time she's much more interested in her next high.

Like I said, I don't really sympathise with the character, and I found her interest in sex and inebriation completely off-putting. As a result, the book dragged for me, and I was mostly glad to be done.

Wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. The writing was good, but the plot didn't really work for me, sadly.

I could not get with this book. It was the worst kind of nonsense. I thought at first that it was going to be nonsense like Alice in Wonderland is nonsense. But it just didn't make sense and wasn't enjoyable in the least. The characters were terrible, the narrative confusing. At least it was short.

High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson is an intriguing novella that delivers a mix of science fiction and political satire. The story is set in a futuristic world where a group of activists plans to legalize marijuana in the British Parliament. The novella is well-written, with vivid descriptions that transport the reader to a dystopian society that seems all too plausible. Robson has crafted a cast of well-rounded characters that are easy to empathize with, and the dialogue feels natural and realistic.

While the novella's central message about the legalization of marijuana is evident, it does not feel overly preachy or dogmatic. Instead, the story is thought-provoking and raises important questions about the relationship between governments and their citizens. At times, the story can feel a little rushed, with some characters not fully developed. Nonetheless, High Times in the Low Parliament is a witty and engaging read that will appeal to fans of science fiction and political satire alike.

In this hallucinogen-fueled, whimsical fantasy novella, a sapphic world peopled by women and fairies is at your fingertips. Humanity answers to the fairies, and if Parliament can't manage to get its act together, it's on its way to being drowned for incompetence. Enter our protagonist, Lana. She's a happy-go-lucky scribe who accidentally flirts her way into a job at Parliament, oblivious to the danger. What follows are some unlikely friendships, some highly likely attempts at seduction, and a fair bit of drugs. It's 100% queer, 100% silly, and holds some genuine political wisdom at the heart. Thanks to Tordotcom for my copy to read and review!

Based on the cover and blurb, I thought this would be right up my street: a comedic romp that satirises political bureaucracy with fae folk and feminism? Sign me up now!

Sadly, this just didn’t work for me. There is barely any plot at all, just Lana and her new fairy and human friends wandering around doing endless ‘hits’ of yeast or mushroom scales, snoozing, flirting and chatting casually about their impending doom by drowning.

Everything feels so hopeless and incomprehensible that it actually did resemble real-world politics in action, but with lower stakes (if none of them are too worried about the threat looming over them, then why should I be?) and less attempted humour. Even when Lana eventually came up with a plan, I can’t say I really understood it or why it would solve anything.

The best bit of the book, for me, was Lana and Bugbite, who were great fun in a female-Clerks kind of way. The other characters felt rather two-dimensional in comparison, with no real personality or development between them. Like the satire and the humour, they just fell flat for me… and yes, I did get them, I just didn’t enjoy them.

And that sentiment really applied to the book as a whole: I like the concept, the world and the two main characters but the vague and meandering execution left the whole book feeling like a wearisome slog through some obscure and technical historical political transcripts, while stoned. I see what the author was going for there, but it didn’t make for a great reading experience.

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

This was a fun, quick historical fantasy read set in a world where grumpy faeries force humans to work together in parliament to prevent wars--or else drown them all. When a scribe is forced to go to parliament during a state of crisis, her flirty ways and flippant attitude help her befriend one of the fairy overseers and slowly transform into a determination to stop humans from destroying themselves. A cute romp of a read!

DNF @ 70%.

I'm sorry, but this is truly the most boring book I've ever read. Even as a novella, I can't push myself to listen to the end. I did glance at the end of the e-ARC I have, but the only positive seems to be that this ends with a f/f/f polyam? There's nothing in the book that really even suggests its a romance between all the characters though and gives off more of a "we're all friends" vibe than a romance one.

The initial pitch that this was faerie Brexit (although it's been changed now on the publisher's website) is probably the correct assessment. The politics in this are very boring as a bystander. I have zero idea what the point of Parliament is that's described in this book and why we should even CARE. Sure, there's the ongoing threat that a hung vote will cause the world(?) to be flooded and all the humans to drown, but WHY it hinges on a vote in Parliament is unclear. It supposedly has something to do with faeries being terrified of humans and their wars, but I'm not sure what this vote has anything to do with it.

The MC in this book is Lana and her talents are that she's a scribe and a rake. Although I'm not sure how much of a rake because she's really just flirty and the book just mentions kisses and nothing, you know...more explicit by any measure. When she's not in session writing down everything said at Parliament (or even when she is), she's high as a kite with her faerie minder called Bugbite. Bugbite's job is to keep a watch over all 7 of the human scribes. Most of this book, Lana and Bugbite are stoned.

The story starts out very strong with us following Lana around London as she lives her life, doesn't have much marriage prospects, and just generally has <i>fun</i> as a human flirting with any woman she sees. But it quickly goes into uninteresting territory when we get to the faerie side of the border? Castle? And that's such a weird thing to say because faeries make things MORE interesting. Or they should. I'm not sure how anyone managed to finish this book except that it's technically short enough that you could power through it if you had nothing else better to do.

The audiobook was a miserable experience to listen to and I think that's why I'm having trouble with the romance in this story as well. The narrator is FINE for the human characters, but adopts a very shrill yelling as the voice of the faeries and it's quite unbearable to listen to for any length of time. Why anyone working on this audiobook thinking this was okay baffles me. I can't stand the voice the narrator uses for Bugbite (and the character is in a LOT of scenes with Lana). I listen to audiobooks with headphones on and no matter the volume, it sounds like she's screaming into my ears. Very unpleasant experience all around.

Yes, I've decided to DNF this book, because it just feels so pointless and I don't really care about the ending I'm afraid. I need a fantasy novella with a little more action, whether or not it has romance in it or not. Because this was not it.

***Thanks to the publisher for the e-ARC of this story for review.***

Interesting setting but I feel like I'm not getting enough worldbuilding to keep me interested and I don't find the characters compelling enough to keep me interested either
Full review on YouTube