I am constantly thrilled when I get to read new works by RB Lemberg. I've loved their shorts for years and the novels are even more immersive and beautiful!

As someone who loves neurodiverse and queer SFF, I had high hopes that I would love them. I liked the premise of this one, but the actual story was not entirely to my tastes.

The worldbuilding was definitely the strongest part of the book, I loved the normalized queerness and the culture that formed around it in a fantasy setting. The belief system was also interesting and left a lot to be explored in the future - I'm guessing that's where the "Birdverse" comes in as a series. I'm excited to explore that in R. B. Lemberg's future books!
The Unbalancing is a really quick read with a little bit of an instant romance, which could use some developing on the early stages, especially with how fundamentally different those two characters are. However, the romace is not the main focus of the book, and it wasn't extremaly bothersome. Overall, this is a book about community and the value of life above homeland, about trying, failing and having the strength to try again. I find the themes quite beautiful and important, which is only helped by a very immersive, poetic writing style.
I enjoyed my time with this book and will be recommending it in the future, especially since i finished it with a newfound hope.

"Beneath the Waters" is a beautifully crafted and enchanting tale that delves into the mysteries of starkeeping and the power of ancient legends. Set in the captivating world of Gelle-Geu, the story follows the starkeeper Ranra Kekeri and the poet Erígra Lilún as they face their own personal struggles and come together to confront a looming threat. With lyrical prose and intricate world-building, the author creates a rich and immersive experience for readers. The intertwining of magic, mythology, and romance adds depth to the narrative, leaving you eagerly turning the pages. This captivating story is a must-read for fantasy enthusiasts seeking a unique and enchanting journey.

I loved the idea in general. A utopian society where any type of inclination, identity, or condition is seen as part of the person, but not as everything that matters about this person. There are interesting characters that attract attention from the beginning, such as Lilún and Semberí, and I really liked the ending, a realistic bet that works quite well.

Full review: https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2023/06/resena-review-unbalancing.html

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Represenation: Queer MC, queer and trans MC, many QTBIPOC supporting characters

Stars are alive. They dance, talk, and breathe. Except for the one that fell near Gelle-Geu, that one sleeps restlessly. Generations of starkeepers have kept watch, and now Ranra, the newest starkeeper is left to worry about the increasing tremors that her predecessor ignored. Lilún, a poet who wants to live a simple life alone, has been visiting their ancestor, Semberí. Their ancestor was the first starkeeper, and insists that Lilún should be the starkeeper to be there when it wakes. Semberí also tells them stories of the stars' deliverance by Bird, their goddess, as the island shakes more and more often. Ranra and Lilún meet, sparks fly, and they both work together to figure out a solution to the restless star before it's too late.

Rating: 4.5/5 Lemberg's writing is gorgeous and very poetic. I really love the magic system in this universe, and I enjoyed this more than The Four Profound Weaves. Not to say that I didn't like it, I simply felt this had a much clearer and better paced story and the stakes were far higher. I loved the system, if that's the right word, for how trans people (called ichidi in this) identify themselves with tokens that represent what type of ichidi they are. I liked Ranra and Lilún's relationship, but it did feel like it moved VERY fast for people who supposedly knew nothing of each other up until that day they meet at the starkeeper's ascension party. I wish we could have seen far more of the supporting cast, I really liked some of them and felt like they had so much more story to be told. There's not much more I can say that wasn't said in the summary without spoiling the story too much.

Friends, I really wanted to enjoy The Unbalancing by R. B. Lemberg, but it just was not doing it for me. An interesting premise of starkeeping, deepnames, and a home in trouble did indeed call to me. Continue reading to see where things went sideways for me in reading this new release.

I am struggling to figure out how to review this because there are a lot of things I really liked and things I did not. Thus I’m just going to go over it in terms of pros and cons.

Pros
First, I loved the queer identity representation that was happily rampant throughout the book. I could see some readers seeing this as being very overt and in one’s face. I saw it more as a very intentional creation of queer spaces with the universe of The Unbalancing.

Along similar lines, the concept of “deepnames” and their associated power was a very enticing avenue to be explored. While I did not exactly understand how they worked or decided, it was unique. Additionally, it seemed to be an allusion to a person’s chosen name rather than their given name. This may just be me since there was not a lot of discussion on how these names were decided in The Unbalancing.

Cons
I don’t want to end with the negatives, but unfortunately, here I am. The romantic relationship that emerged with the main characters felt too quick and formed. I did not necessarily understand their chemistry. As a result, I was not invested in this relationship.

Along similar lines, I do not think the characters or world were very well developed. Both being undeveloped left me unconcerned about how the plot was going to end. While I thought the inventiveness of deepnames was cool, I’ve no idea how they work, or how the balancing magic works. I’m also honestly unsure of what a starkeeper does… Why do these stars need keeping?

I do understand that The Unbalancing was a part of an existing universe. This book, however, was the first full-length novel that left me to anticipate much more world-building. Perhaps if this was shortened to be a novella or short story I would have enjoyed it substantially more.

Overall
Yes, I would give a sequel a chance. I was disappointed in the world building and not understanding the magic system of The Unbalancing. That does not mean another subsequent book could not remedy the situation. The exploration of gender and sexual identity in this novel was excellent I really enjoyed this aspect and hope to see more of it, but you can’t sacrifice my world building!

This is a very, very lyrical book with really good queer and neurodivergent representation. The ideas behind the Birdverse are truly unique and promising, you can tell the author has thought about this world for ages, with as much passion as it could possibly get. However, I think that there needed to be more than that. It was very confusing and I felt like I was reading something that acted as a sequel, as in I felt like I was missing important information about the worldbuilding to actually be immersed in it. The characters also had a bit of this problem: it was clear to me that the author had developed them a lot, but didn't add much of that character building to the book and so everything felt extremely fast-paced and I don't feel like I actually know the characters, I do appreciate the author's talent with words and would honestly love to read more of this interesting and unique world - I know that I would have liked it a lot had I understood it. I didn't love this first book, but I trust the author's growth as a fiction writer will be visible in the sequels and I'll be looking forward to them!

My first introduction to the Birdverse was in The Four Profound Weaves. At the time I said it had the feel and sense of a myth in the making. The Unbalancing while telling a much different story, has the sense of a myth or legend being broken and remade, as the poet Erigra Lilun and the new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri are the ones left holding the very large and torn bag, so to speak, when the most heartbreaking chapter of this world’s origin story comes home, not to roost but to destroy, on their beloved home islands of Gelle-Geu.

The island confederation of Gelle-Gau has experienced regular earthquakes during its nearly 1,000 year history. Because one of the 12 stars that are part of this world’s creation myth – which is no myth in the Birdverse – rests uneasily in the ocean between the islands. Whenever the star gets restless there’s a tremor. In recent years those tremblers have been getting bigger, longer and more frequent.

There’s clearly something wrong, and it’s getting wrong-er all the time. The last starkeeper, the person whose duty it is to monitor the health of the submerged star, didn’t want to know. Or knew too much and wallowed in despair rather than searching for a solution.

Whatever is upsetting their star is going to result in an extinction level event for the islands. And it’s already too late for their beloved Gelle-Gau. The question before the new starkeeper and the shy, withdrawn poet who perhaps should have been starkeeper years ago is whether or not it is too late for their people.

And whether they will have time for a new beginning for themselves.

Escape Rating A: I enjoyed my introduction to the Birdverse in The Four Profound Weaves and The Unbalancing was even better. Weaves was lovely but it was a bit of a quieter story in its way, while The Unbalancing is considerably more dramatic and dynamic by the very nature of the crisis it must contend with.

The world, at least as far as the islands of Gelle-Gau are concerned, is ending. Attempting to hold back that literal tide pretty much guarantees a fast-paced story filled with high stakes, epic conflicts and nearly crushing lows and blows.

At the same time, it contains a beautiful story of opposites not only attracting but discovering that they belong together and need each other – not just to overcome the disaster that has crashed into their budding romance – but because they are both unbalanced, just as their star is, and they need each other to bring balance to their lives, their hearts, and ultimately their people.

This is also very much a coming of age or coming into maturity or simply a coming into self knowledge story. Ranra, the starkeeper has always known who and what she is in all her prickly, sometimes overbearing, always pushing forward self.

Lilún, very much on the other hand, is cripplingly shy, and so uncertain of their own nature or their place in the world to the point where they almost completely isolate themself. Lilún’s part of The Unbalancing is to finally figure out who they are in relation to their wider world. Because initially the only thing about themselves that they are certain of is that they are a gardener and tender of trees.

(Even their name evokes that identity. The name Lilún is reminiscent of “lulav”, one of the four plants that epitomize the Jewish harvest holiday Sukkot. Among the other plants is the etrog citron, which is abundant on Gelle-Gau to the point that it is used as the basis for a cool citrus drink similar to lemonade.)

What gives this story its oomph – and lots of it – is the race to heal the star and save the islands. That the effort fails seems like it would be one hell of a downer – but it’s not. What makes the story rise in the end is the acknowledgement that the land, though beautiful, is not important. It’s the people that made the islands, and they’ll find a new place that they will make just as beautiful and fruitful, because they are bringing both the heart of Gelle-Gau and the heart of their beleaguered star along with them.

The more I read of the Birdverse, the more fascinated I become with this fantastic and fantastical place. The story in The Unbalanced is complete in and of itself, but it hints at depths that I found myself wishing I knew better. In other words, I loved it AND I wanted more. And I found it in Geometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems from the Birdverse, a collection of many of the foundational stories of this marvelous place. I’m looking forward to diving in and learning that MORE – and soon!

First, thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of "The UnBalancing" in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Okay, let's get on with it! It's a short read, lyrical and beautiful, and the world-building? Astounding! Loved it! The things I didn't love were mostly the characters and their interactions with each other. It was... Fine? But I really wanted more. This sounded so promising, and I loved the way things unfolded... until it got to the characters. I wanted to know more about other part of the world and ended up only caring about the characters as part of the story, not on their own. All in all, I liked it just okay.

That's just me though! There's so much in here that I love and that other people might love! This is one to give a chance, and I'll be reading more from R. B. Lemberg in the future.

The Unbalancing was just so beautiful. And queer! Which is my favorite kind of fantasy fiction.

This was my first introduction to Lemberg's Birdverse and their gorgeous, lyrical prose, and I'm definitely a fan. To be honest I'm short on words for how to even convey the way this novel made me feel. The imminent peril, the romance, the magic - I read the whole thing in one setting and putting it down at the end really was like waking up from a lucid dream where everything was unfamiliar and fantastical and yet you were so deeply invested in what was happening. I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy and read it all over again.

This is a short, dense read filled with beautiful prose and magic and action and queerness and neurodivergence and people just trying their best.

I have previously read Lemberg's other Birdverse novel, The Four Profound Weaves, but I don't think it's necessary to read this or the short stories in the Birders before reading this. In fact, I think this work is actually more straightforward and approachable than The Four Profound Weaves.

While the plot of this story is fairly basic-two people trying to save the home they love, I loved the approach Lemberg took with the narrative. Instead of focusing on the action, they focus on how Lilún and Ranra feel and their internal thoughts. Lilún is nonbinary neurodivergent and introverted and they are constantly questioning their gender expression and if they are worthy of the power they could take, while Ranra is an extroverted and dominant queer woman who is constantly questioning her worth and choices after being raised by an abusive woman.

This book deals a lot with themes surrounding consent and failure and the importance of cultural traditions. I also loved how queer-norm the world is, especially the casual acceptance of ace-spec people and the cultural norms surrounding gender identity. I appreciated the depth of the world building and the beauty of the prose and would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an imaginative and inclusive speculative work.

The Unbalancing is a short read that I enjoyed immensely, with stunningly lyrical prose and a unique fantasy setting. Those not familiar with the Birdverse and Lemberg's previous work such as I was will easily be able to follow and be immersed in this world.
It's a beautiful queer story about two people falling in love and coming together to save their island and way of life. There are legendary tales of an island's star, its starkeeper, a Bird Goddess, ghosts and an imaginative magic system based on names. One of my favourite parts of this novel were the Ichidi, the in-universe non-binary people that are normalized and described with such beauty. I read this so quickly and will now go on to read many more in the Birdverse!

The Unbalancing is billed as the first full length novel in author R.B. Lemberg's acclaimed "Birdverse" fantasy universe, which previously featured the critically acclaimed novella The Four Profound Weaves. Now the Unbalancing is not much longer than that novella (I'm guessing the ad press refers to it crossing the word count for the Hugo/Nebula definition of "Novel"), but honestly - that's fine, as The Four Profound Weaves (Review Here) was an incredible queer fantasy novella that was one of my favorite works in 2020, dealing with queerness and the right to choose one's own identity and path in a world filled with authoritarians and others fighting against change. So I was exceedingly thrilled to hear that this longer story (one that apparently was a full story adaptation of an earlier poem by Lemberg) was coming in the same universe.

And the Unbalancing is really interesting and really good, even as its very different from The Four Profound Weaves, featuring not a battle for one's right to assert queerness in an anti-queer world, but rather a queer-friendly world in which one queer main character isn't quite sure how they should identify themselves amidst all the options open to them. The story features a romance between an autistic protagonist, whose ancestor constantly urges to take steps towards power and leadership for the good of all despite their lack of comfort in it, and a woman who does take that power and leadership and tries to use it, sometimes impatiently, to remedy and save a land she sees her predecessor as having failed...and to prove herself despite the abuse she suffered emotionally from a parent growing up. It's a story that really surprises in how it unfolds, without really any true villains, as it deals with issues of consent, of power, of how people act in different speeds and have different wants, and about mistakes of the past and ways forward in the future. It is naturally well worth your time, in what little time it takes to finish.


---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------------
Nearly a Thousand Years Ago, the starkeeper Semberí was gifted into their keeping the Star of the Tides, a being it tethered to the islands of Gelle-Geu in hopes of peace and prosperity. But the Star has always been asleep, somewhat difficultly, and the Star's nightmares have shaken the islands....and are only getting worse and worse.

Unbeknownst to the almost anyone on the island, Semberí's spirit has remained on the island, searching for someone who can take their role as starkeeper and calm the Star. They believe that person to be their descendant, the poet Erígra Lilún, who possesses the capability to hold three deepnames, offering them the strongest possible magic.

But Lilún has no interest in this role - they do not feel comfortable with power or leadership or even masses of people, and prefer to enjoy the quiet of Semberí's hill and to stop at two deepnames, rather than take three. Lilún finds themself needing to take things slowly, and doesn't even understand what kind of Ichidi they are, other than the fact that they aren't only male or female. But when Lilún takes Semberí's advice to go visit and see the newly appointed starkeeper, they find a surprise: Ranra Kekeri, an often brash and impulsive young woman desperate to solve the problem and to fix the Star...and whose assertions of leadership Lilún can't help but be drawn to.

Ranra's speed is often too much for Lilún, but even so the two of them find themselves drawn together, even as Ranra gets more and more frantic (to Lilún's discomfort) as the Island's safety becomes more and more in jeopardy. Will their combination be able to save Gelle-Geu? Or even themselves?
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While set in the same "Birdverse" world as Lemberg's last novella, The Unbalancing is a very different story. Here the islands of Gelle-Geu are a generally good place to live, with a people that are utterly accepting of those who are queer, with multiple forms of being non-binary (known here as being "Ichidi") accepted and having their own distinct names based upon how one relates to the M-F spectrum. Everyone involved in the story is trying to do their best to save their land and/or their people, and even the people who would traditionally be the villain in this type of story, like the Trader who opts to use their trade fleet to evacuate the Island as best as possible rather than to stay and place hopes in the protagonists to save it, aren't actually treated as villains, but instead as reasonable people each trying to do the best for themselves and their people. This is a story really of two characters, Lilún and Ranra, as they try to find their place in society and in trying to lead their people to avert disaster, rather than of any enemy or villain to overcome...and of course of the romance that grows between them.

And well, except in potential for power, Lilún and Ranra couldn't be more different which makes this dynamic really really work. Lilún is very clearly on the autism spectrum - they aren't quite fully comfortable in large groups, aren't comfortable with (if not downright scared of) the idea of grabbing power or trying to take a leadership role, and often needs to take time, slow things down and to breathe on their lonesome when things get difficult...even if the timing isn't there for doing that. They care intensely for their people and their land, and especially care for the idea of consent: whether the Star consented to its current situation 999 years ago (since the Star is sentient), whether their ancestors had consent to plant the Star here when they came to an inhabited island populated by welcoming native peoples, and whether the current plan to save the land and heal the star is one that everyone involved is okay with and understands. They could have in theory had the power to save the islands and heal the star, but their mentality prevents them from wanting to grab that power, and requires them to have far more time than available...if any amount of time could be enough at all. This is of course immensely frustrating to Semberí, who is desperate for someone to fix their own mistakes with the Star and sees only Lilún as being close to themselves and with the ability to understand their story to fix it, and is sometimes frustrating for Ranra, who is much more impulsive and aggressive.

Ranra is someone who dealt with an emotionally abusive mother - a mother who was declared mentally ill essentially as a result, but whom she can't quite sever herself from and stop herself from wanting to prove herself. She stopped herself from taking the most powerful deepname combination - the Warlord's Triangle - which is one known for solitude and dictatorial behavior, but still has tendencies in that direction. And yet her need to do something, to fix things and to save the land is based upon her caring, and her desperation to both prove herself and in her belief that she has no other choice. It's an attitude that both pushes her away from Lilún....and draws her in, as she sees in them someone who equally cares even if they can't quite understand Lilún's need to slow down. And it's an attitude that also at times estranges her from her closest other friend and former lover, and when the solution she devises requires people to cooperate together and become closer, it causes her problems.

Lilún and Ranra's dynamic is fascinating, and Lemberg takes it all in directions you wouldn't expect (well if you haven't read the poem first), as Lemberg doesn't provide her characters with easy or necessarily happy answers...because there aren't ones. In the end, the story suggests that people will each have their own ways of trying to do their best for themselves and each other, may find their own identities at their own pace, and that sometimes the mistakes of the past can't simply be healed and may require the possibility of starting over. I'm really glossing over a lot of interesting stuff that happens here, as this story is honestly perhaps a bit overstuffed, but it works really really well and I do recommend it quite a bit.

Ahoy there mateys! This novel takes place on the islands of Gelle-Geu.  The main character is a poet named Erígra Lilún who does not deal well with people and wants to be left alone to garden and write.  Unfortunately, the ghost of their ancestor is badgering them to become the island starkeeper, a position Erígra knows they cannot handle.  The ancestor claims that the star is failing and Erígra is the only person to save it and the islands.  The official starkeeper is Ranra Kekeri who is trying hard to figure out what is wrong with the island and do what she believes is right.  Then Ranra and Erígra meet and are smitten with one another.  But do they deserve happiness on the brink of potential disaster?

I enjoyed this book but didn't love it.  So much of this book focuses on the two characters' inner turmoil.  Not enough of the plot dealt with the island culture and star.  I think the major problem for me was while I loved both characters and sympathized with them, it was hard to watch them make the right choices for themselves and then having such a horrific ending.  I honestly can't say if I believe the ending was inevitable no matter what Erígra and Ranra did or if they could have salvaged the situation by doing something different.

One of the elements that I had trouble with in this book was Erígra spending so much time pondering what their gender identity was.  I totally understand why this was important to the character but it did not seem important to the plot.  Whatever Erígra chose was going to be accepted by island people.  I wanted the focus to be on the islands themselves, the star failing, the magic system, and the impact on the islanders.  Personal preference.

While the writing is still lovely and I will read more from the author, this novel was the least favorite of the Birdverse so far.  No regrets about reading it though.  Arrr!

In some ways, The Unbalancing is a fast journey. The story moves quickly. The characters feel, and act, and face an apocalyptic danger, and all that drew me through the pages.

In others, The Unbalancing is very deep. R.B. Lemberg's words gave me a path to follow, so I never felt lost, yet these characters and world have some very different assumptions and ways of living than we do.

Reading The Unbalancing is like walking a rope bridge over a waterfall. It's a short span, and yet, there are glorious discoveries if you want to slow down and look. I'm very much looking forward to reading this again, to immerse myself more in the magic system, social system, ways of communicating and processing the world, and the loveliness of the sentences.

I recommend The Unbalancing highly. Whether you want a good story, a many-faceted consideration of other ways of being, or to observe the author's skill at solving unusual writing challenges, you'll find treasure here.

I first experienced the Birdverse through the novella The Four Profound Weaves - which I enjoyed for its magical atmosphere and interesting explorations of gender.

This one has the same: gorgeous writing that creates a magical atmosphere, interesting magic, and great explorations of gender.

The story is difficult to understand at times - it just drops you in, and I didn't really understand what was happening for most of the story. But this just added to the magical atmosphere, in my opinion, and I don't think it detracts from the enjoyment too much if you don't mind not understanding everything perfectly!

My favourite things here were the queer elements, not surprisingly. The main character is nonbinary, but questioning exactly what flavour of nonbinary - there's also a lovely romance that I think was very well done, and their relationship was by far my favourite part of the story. I found it interesting how nonbinary gender identities function in this world as well: each nonbinary person chooses their "type" according to animal symbols (snake, bear, turtle...), and I found it an unique way of exploring these identities. I would've like more clarification on what they all actually meant in more detail, but still. Also loved that there was a in-world word for asexuality here! I found it so refreshing that the characters it concerned just used an asexual adjacent word for their identities instead of just using a page to explain exactly what it means!

If you enjoy:
- A cast of queer characters
- Magical prose
- Themes of consent
- Gender that functions differently from our own world
- Huge orange cats
Then I highly recommend this!

There is no one else in the world that writes fantasy like R.B. Lemberg: lyrical, heartfelt, and queer, the kind of deeply thoughtful writing that leaves you pondering things long after you’ve finished the book. It’s a magical experience and one I look forward to every time, but one that’s also accessible for a new reader. So while this takes place in the pre-existing Birdverse, no prior knowledge is necessary to enjoy this book.

Gelle-Geu is an island paradise, thanks to the Star of the Tides tethered to the islands that brings them magical energy and prosperity. The stars were brought there by the goddess Bird, though the star under Gelle-Geu has never been awake like the others. But Ranra, the newly elected starkeeper, has long suspected that something’s wrong, and it’s quickly evident that she has even less time to fix things than she thought. With the help of Lilún, a poet who’s also mysteriously connected to the star, can they prevent the death of the star and the collapse of their island?

“Keeper, I need to be blunt. I do not like this word, fix, that you keep repeating. The stars are alive—they have pain and stories, they have journeys and dreams—this I’m sure of. The stars are alive even if they are asleep. The stars, when awake, can consent and withdraw their consent, and they can converse with their keepers. The stars are people, and you do not fix people.”


Most of the synopsis mentions Ranra, but for me, it was Lilún who was the heart of the book. A poet, they prefer to spend their days tending to the quince grove on the island, mostly ignoring the grumpy ghost of their ancestor Semberí. Semberí seems to think that it’s Lilún’s responsibility to become the starkeeper, to try to connect with and soothe the star. Despite not being the starkeeper, Lilún is still somehow connected to the star and they can feel its nightmares. And now that Ranra has completed the starkeeper ceremonies, she can feel the same fear.

“I could carry the pain, but I did not have the gentleness.”


The two main characters couldn’t be more different than each other. Ranra is always go go go, impatient to solve the problem of the star and terrified they have less time than they believe. After a childhood spent with a mother who always found fault with her, she’s desperate to prove her competence. Lilún on the other hand is careful and deliberate, the sort of person who prefers to sit down and consider new experiences in their mind. They’re coded as neurodivergent, disliking eye contact and overwhelmed by large noisy crowds. Though the two are attracted to each other from their first meeting, figuring out how to work together to save the star is a frustrating process for both of them.

“The islands had weathered storms and earthquakes before, but I was terrified. We had always come together and rebuilt. We trusted our magics and our friendships, our warmth and our gardens, our abundance, our scholarship, but that wouldn’t be enough now.”


As always, the world building is phenomenal. The stories about the goddess Bird (and Ranra’s hilarious avian-related swear words) were lovely. The magic system is the same as the one used in The Four Profound Weaves, involving deepnames. A person can have up to three of them, with the shorter the syllables, the more powerful. Ranra, for instance, has the most stable, the Royal House, consisting of two one-syllable and one two-syllable deepnames. Lilún could have that configuration, but instead they stopped at two deepnames, which, frankly, is very Lilún.

My favorite world building bit this time was with gender identity. From the start Lilún is written as nonbinary, what their people call ichidar. Ichidar braid their hair into five parts which stand for the five possible variations of ichidar, and attach tokens in the shape of animals to show their variations. For instance, Dorado, one of the side characters, is rugár, signified by a bear, which means they’re “at once both father and mother, protective and caring and steady in their fierceness.” While Lilún knows they’re ichidar, their journey to figuring out which variation was heartwarming and very revealing of their character.

“We gift all to each other. Unless we perish, every single one of us, nobody and nothing can destroy this.”


Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of difficult themes throughout the book. One of the main ones for both characters is living up to others’ expectations, especially when they’re trying to force you to be someone you’re not. Consent is also a huge one, and how it relates to, well, everything, but especially neurodivergence. There’s also a few beautiful passages about community, about responsibilities to others, about what community really is, whether it’s tied to a place or a people.

Overall, if you took the myth of Atlantis and made it queer and, well, wholly wonderful, you’d get this book. One final note: the author dedicated this book to Corey who is sadly no longer with us, but I could feel echoes of them everywhere in the book, their thoughtfulness, their insight, their kindness and gentle grace when someone made a mistake. And truly, I can’t think of a better recommendation than that. Highly recommended!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Read an ARC from the publisher
Content warnings: earthquakes and the aftermath of natural disasters, references to past ableism

Gelle-Geu is an island city whose star god is restless and earthquakes come closer and closer. Ranra has taken on the role of starkeeper, and her first task is to unravel the problems left attended by her predecessor. She seeks the counsel of Lilún, a poet whose ancestor is begging them to take on the role of starkeeper. Their relationship ignites while disaster strikes, and it’s a race against star charts and magic to possibly save the city.

This novel has all the dreaminess of poetry and being told a bedtime story with intense calamity on the horizon and tender romance at its core.

An interview with the author will be posted to celebrate the release of Geometries of Belonging: Stories and Poems from the Birdverse on November 29th, release day.

The neurodivergent rep is presented so seamlessly with the rest of the narrative. It informs the plot, but isn't the plot. Lilún experiences the world differently, and the way their understanding informs the reader of the world's values is so effective. It's easy to follow. And when it does cause them distress, it's presented with such respect and offers insight into their passion for poetry and gardening. This respectful casualness extends to the queer rep; in fact, there is a world-building element with tokens representing different genders. It's so thoughtfully crafted and identity is not necessarily a part of the central conflict.

The way magic plays into Lilún's and Ranra's courtship is incredibly fun and among my favorite parts of the book. Intimacy and magic collide to move the story along, both interpersonally and externally. It's sexy and unexpectedly intense, with a deep focus on consent and mutual respect. These themes also play into the relationship between the stars and their keepers, tightening the story threads with finesse.
Though the cast is relatively small, Lemberg establishes a clear sense of epic scope. Despite interactions happening in ways that feel more slice-of-life and political fantasy, the very real danger of impending earthquakes caused by cosmic disturbances never quells in its urgency.

Epic, tender, and immersive in its world-building, the Birdverse stories continue to be a poetic, fantasy delight.