Too many fantasy novels think they need to slam you in the head with worldbuilding and exposition, showing off to the point where a 100 page story gets bloated out to 900 pages. Thankfully, Robson elects to focus on the characters and story and let the worldbuilding happen through them. Parliament is still an amazing place, but I felt like the bulk of the story was spent getting to know the characters rather than showing off exposition skills. I definitely enjoyed this book. It was a light, fun read, and I'd love to revisit this world in the future if there are more stories to be told.

(3.5 stars rounded up to a 4)

High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson is a weird but fun queer romp. It's a genre blend of fantasy and political satire with a dash of romance thrown in. The ebook version is 160 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at a little over four and a half hours and is narrated by Amy Scanlon.

Lana Baker is the best scribe in Aldgate, full of wit and down to flirt with just about anyone. She ends up sent to Low Parliament in place of another scribe. However, if Parliament does not agree in an important vote, everyone will be drowned. Lana seeks the help of Bugbite, a fairy, and Eloquentia, a human deputy, to attempt to save humanity and maybe get laid in the process.

For those of you who have some knowledge of alignment charts in Dungeons & Dragons, Lana is the epitome of chaotic neutral. The author apparently describes this novella as "a lesbian stoner buddy comedy with fairies--about Brexit" and that is a pretty apt description. I enjoyed the read but found it a tad confusing.

There seem to only be women in this alternate 18th-century England (known as Angland), which is never actually explained. Also, I may have understood the book better if I was more knowledgeable about Brexit or Britain's Parliament in general. That, or as the author is from Canada, maybe we both are confused about Brexit/Parliament?

All-in-all, I think this story would have been better if it was a full-length novel that was fleshed out with more worldbuilding. Knowing a bit about why the humans and fairies struck a bargain and created the Low Parliament in the first place could have been really cool.

Tropes in this book include: political intrigue, sapphic main character, sapphic side characters, fairies, unlikeable heroine

CW: drug use, binge drinking

Special thanks to Tordotcom, Macmillan, Recorded Books, RB Media, and NetGalley for providing an eARC and an audiogalley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

This is genuinely one of the weirdest books I've ever read. It has a lot of flaws baked in. The worldbuilding is there but never explained, there is so much going on that none of it really fully works: lesbian stoner buddy comedy, political satire, the alternate history and fantasy elements, a romance . . . I spent a large portion of the book very confused. And yet, I also had a great time, and it didn't seem to matter very much that I was never sure what exactly was going on.

I really liked Lana as a character. She's an incorrigible flirt, and spends half her life high on mushrooms, but she's friendly and kind and people like her. The friendship between her and the fairy Bugbite was the best part of the book.

Everything is absurd in this book, but not so absurd that you don't wish there was a coherent explanation for why there are no men? And why the fairies even keep creating the humans if they are so scared of them? For just two examples. Also . . . the climactic scene . . . I don't even know if my thoughts can encompass it. Is it genius? It is stupid? Is it both???

But, I liked it. I liked listening to it, and I would listen to it again! So, those are my thoughts as conflicting, and confused as they may be.

[3.5 stars, rounding up for the good times, man]

I really liked the concept of an all female society. It showcased every personality of a woman in a fun and rakish plot.

Super quick read. I got through it in a few hours. The plot was light and fast-paced. No complaints.

I don’t know what exactly I was expecting from this. The author did mention that this features a stoner lesbian protagonist and that’s exactly what we got. Lana loves flirting with every beautiful woman she encounters, is not interested at all in the scribing job she has been forced into, makes friends with a grumpy fairy and loves getting stoned. The story on the other hand is probably a satire on governments in general where politicians keep arguing with each other and not doing anything productive even when the country gets destroyed due to their inaction. I had fun while reading it but neither the characters nor the world are fleshed out too much, so it just ultimately doesn’t leave much of an impression after we finish reading it. But I have to say I had a slightly better experience listening to the audiobook because Amy Scanlon is very good and I loved her witty style and the particular voice she did for BB. Definitely recommend this format if you wanna get the most out of this little novella.