These short stories are well written, and I enjoyed many of the situations and characters described. However, I found them overall confusing to follow, as some seem to bleed into each other, and it was often hard -- at least in the ebook version -- to tell when one story ended and the next began. I think others will enjoy these stories, though, even if they weren't for me.

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

I've mostly known Takacs as an editor and a reviewer, so it's interesting to se em as a fiction writer. Eir stories play with gender, religious identity, and some very fantastic, surreal ideas. This is a solid collection, and I'd definitely recommend picking this up if nothing else for the title story, which plays with nonsexual BDSM ritual in an intriguing way.

As with all of Bogi Takács stories, these are stunningly good and come from an eclectic array of speculative sub-genres. They're all fascinating and so politically astute.

A spectacular speculative collection that highlights diverse, intersectional characters and unique worlds while exploring the human condition.

I love how so many of eir pieces center communication and conflict resolution as their central themes and focus on how the lives of each protagonist shape the narrative itself. You can see it in Four-Point Affective Calibration where our protagonist is frustrated by how much they have to compensate and pick themselves apart to be heard and accepted. Or how in Folded into Tendril and Leaf, one character is changing into a tree, both physically, and later on, mentally. Their neurodivergence, Jewish identity and physical difference shape their interactions with the world.
We also have several pieces where aliens are coming into contact with humans with varying degrees of success. From unwanted housing situations to unique consciousnesses and recourse-seekers, their interactions are all different but relatable. It's easy to understand where they are arguing from even if a solution might be harder to find.

Some of the stories (Four-Point Affective Calibration, An Errant Holy Spark)
also address a “you”, the reader or another person present in the text, something I always love and adds another meta-textual layer to a story.


Sometimes, worldbuilding can feel gimmicky when authors are trying to inclusitivity but Takács does it effortlessly, naturally. It's entwined with the narrative and not an afterthought. I particularly enjoyed that Jewish identity and practices were involved since (real-world) religions are often forgotten in SFF books.
As with all collections/anthologies, I read, I am always excited when a foreword or commentary is included to give an insight into the creation of the pieces or why they were chosen – this one has both!


Four-Point Affective Calibration | ★★★✩✩
about a person transcribing their thoughts through prompts for a screening, discussing the assumption of others and having to placate strangers, microaggressions and more.

An Errant Holy Spark | ★★★★✩
a kidnapping case where the protagonist thinks about his existence and which is addressed towards “you” the kidnapper.

And I Entreated | ★★★★✩
A mother turned houseplant navigating her temporary sedentary life with her child's upcoming bar mitzvah.

Folded into Tendril and Leaf | ★★★✩✩
About two mage students who are in love where one turns into a tree for two long to avoid an upcoming war

The Third Extension | ★★★★✩
A short piece about exclusion and trying to survive under scrutiny.


On Good Friday the Raven Washes Its Young | ★★★✩✩
An outsider finding kindship in an unexpected place.

Volatile Patterns | ★★★✩✩
A courthouse proceeding in which magic channelling clothing patterns are at the centre of discussion.

The Ladybug, In Flight | ★★★★✩
A hivemind meeting a human.

The 1st Interspecies Solidarity Fair and Parade | ★★★✩✩
An unlikely team are travelling through Hungary and hoping to start peaceful communications with the new aliens arriving while making friends along the way.

A Technical Term, Like Privilege | ★★★★✩
On the surface, it's about a blood-sucking sentient housebeast but it's also a discussion on perceived and true privilege while being stuck.


Power to Yield | ★★★★✩
A novella-length tale about a research project turning into a life-long vocation – kinship or obsession? The complexity of human natures.

Thank you to NetGalley and Broken Eye Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Average rating: 3.97

I really enjoyed this short story collection. It's light speculative fiction but what makes it unique is its focus on various kinds of disability and mental illness, Judaism, and gender. Almost every story features a queer character, many have a disabled character, and a few heavily feature Jewish traditions. Some of the stories are located in or reference Hungary as well. I don't fit into any of these identities myself so a lot of these stories were very eye-opening for me. I didn't understand all the Jewish references so I had to Google a bit, and learned a lot!

I will say that I generally preferred the shorter stories in this collection. My favorite story is actually less than 2 pages long ("The Third Extension" - I honestly couldn't tell you what it was about but the vibes are immaculate)! I feel like Takács is great at depicting unique worlds and perspectives with very few words. The other top stories for me were "An Errant Holy Spark" (about AI with a Jewish twist), "Volatile Patterns" (about the dangers of cultural appropriation across alien species), and "A Technical Term, like Privilege" (about a renter tired of giving blood to their landlord / housebeast). All three of these tackle real world issues within a unique speculative context, which is one of my favorite things.

Sadly, the title story, "Power to Yield", was my least favorite of the collection by far. It was also the longest, at about three times the length of most of the other stories, so it was a struggle for me to get through. I had no idea what was going on as nothing was explained in a straightforward manner and was just alluded to. It felt really uncomfortable in a way that I'm pretty sure the author intended, but I honestly wouldn't have understood it at all without the context from the author's notes at the end of the book (which are great!) and the foreword from Ada Hoffmann at the beginning, both of which explain it briefly.

I'm sad that none of my libraries have this and it seems to be difficult to obtain for most people. But if you can get your hands on this, I highly recommend it! I would definitely be interested in reading more of Bogi Takács's work in the future.

4.5 rounded up, because I think the stories in this collection will stick with me for a while. I've been a fan of Takács's writing for a while, and had previously read both "Four Point Affective Calibration" and "The Power to Yield", but all the other stories were new to me. I enjoyed that there were several Ereni stories here, as I hadn't previously realized that this was a larger continuity; now I really want a full collection of stories from this storyverse! Highly recommend this collection, both for readers who already enjoy Takács's work and for new readers who enjoy imaginative stories exploring themes of identity, communication, power, and resistance.

"I always told myself I was focusing on my studies, that was why I couldn't pay attention to politics. But politics had spattered me in blood and left people dying in my arms."

"Power to Yield" is a compelling collection of sci-fi works that introduces some interesting concepts while staying grounded in reality. You can clearly tell how Takács's lived experiences influence eir storytelling - subjects of gender, sexuality, religion, and culture are interwoven throughout, exploring how one's identity and attitude toward it would change (or stay the same) through the lens of alien life and technological developments.

The common thread in each of the short stories is community and communication, yet each approach is distinct, and Takács gives distinct voices to eir cast of characters, some being closer reflections of em than others. The stories lean more heavily to light sci-fi and I quite enjoyed the touch of likening what would typically be written as "superhuman powers" to magic, combining the futurism of sci-fi with tropes more common in fantasy. My favourite story from the bunch was "Folded into Tendril and Leaf", which was one of the few to lean into the magic of it all. The concepts were captivating enough that I'd love to read long-form stories set in the same universes, regardless if they'd follow the same cast of characters or explore different scenes.

There were stories in this book I really enjoyed, in particular "And I Entreated". I loved the concept of being stuck as a plant and how all of the characters were affected by it somehow. I also liked “The 1st Interspecies Solidarity Fair and Parade” especially its setting and the community the characters built for themselves. At last, and probably my favourite from all the stories, was "Power to Yield". It's a novella and I feel its length was great enough to build the characters, which was something that made me like it much more than the stories which didn't have that opportunity. It also dealt a lot with ableism and neurodivergency and I really loved Oyārun as a character.
The overall writing of this book was excellent, flowy and focused on the characters, it was easy to read in most parts.
But I still struggled to get through some of the stories and while the ones I mentioned were great, the whole impression I was left with after finishing this book was simply okay.

Power to Yield and Other Stories by Bogi Takács

I first became aware of Bogi Takács when e was nominated for the Hugo award for best fan writer. I knew that e also wrote short stories, but I don’t read a lot of short stories in magazines or on websites, so I hadn’t encountered eir fiction before. But I LOVE a solo author short fiction collection so I jumped at a chance to request Power to Yield and Other Stories when I saw it on NetGalley.

There is a mix of sci fi, fantasy, and some science fantasy in this collection and I enjoyed most all of them! Some made me think and some made my heart sing. My favorite story involved a mother who was stuck in the form of a houseplant while her child was preparing to be bar mitzvahed. It really captured the humanity in a profound yet quiet way that I really enjoyed. The title story in the collection, Power to Yield, was a little too violent and uncomfortable for my tastes, but I understand that that may have been part of the reason for the story. It still left me feeling icky.

All in all, I am very glad I read this collection and I look forward to reading more stories by Bogi Takács.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for a fair review.

4.5, rounding up. Before picking up Power to Yield and Other Stories, I had read one story by Bogi Takács before in an anthology (Xenocultivars) and really enjoyed it - it was one of my favourites. When I saw the chance to read an entire collection of eirs I was really happy and requested it immediately. While inevitably, with any collection there are some stories that I liked more than others, there is no 'filler' here - the stories fit together without feeling repetitive and all are compelling in one way or another. I find Bogi Takács' work very thoughtful and thought-provoking, particularly around themes of identity and power. There is so much diverse representation here that I appreciate.

I will mention here some of my absolute favourites:"The First Interspecies Solidarity Fair and Parade," "Folded into Tendril and Leaf" (the story I'd read previously in Xenocultivars), "And I Entreated," "An Errand Holy Spark," and the first story in the collection "Four-Point Affective Calibration" which let me know I was in for a great read.

Content warnings: violence, war, imprisonment, self-harm, blood, injury detail, colonialism, harm to non-human animals, mentions of antisemitism, classism, cissexism / transphobia, ableism, S/M in a non-sexual context. NOTE: the author provides a list of content warnings story by story at the back of the book. I have here adjusted the terms slightly just so that my StoryGraph and Goodreads reviews are consistent, but please do consult the author's own list if you have concerns - e even bolds the titles of the stories that are most content-heavy, which is thoughtful and something I wish more authors bothered to do.

Thank you to Broken Eye Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This collection of stories contains both strong and average stories. The collection itself opens with Four-Point Affective Calibration, which, for me, sets the tone for the entire anthology.
I enjoyed some stories, some of them were good, and some were okay, but, overall, it was a good collection of stories and I would like to read more by Bogi Takács.
Thanks Netgalley and Broken Eye Books for the ARC of this book.

anthologies, always a mixed bag.

overall i did find this one quite strong with interesting stories of various lengths and a fresh perspective i don't often see in sff

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this collection, but I had to put down the arc due to the terrible formatting. A more detailed review will come once the book officially come out.

I've never dived into Bogi's work in depth, I've read an essay here and there, and a short story in a hungarian anthology, but that's about it. The cover got my attention on NetGalley, it's absolutely stunning, and clicking on it made me realise who the author was. I thought I didn't really have time to schedule it between the holidays, but here I am, finished with this being the last book of 2023. And it was amazing.

Its a really niche problem, but I always find the usage of Hungarian language, let it be names or "exotic magic spells" really weird in English language literature. It always felt like bonus diversity points. Here, I was proven that they actually are. Because if you touch them with understanding and care:
. you can have an extremely meaningful part amplified - like naming a character Sulyom, which is not a currently applicable name by hungarian standards, but might as well be, it fits extremely well with other plants used as names
. or you can have an absolutely hilarious crazy idea and it makes sense - like naming the local witch Sanyi, or the alien who gets compared to a cat Lukrécia - which I think is a reference to the black cat from an oldschool hungarian cartoon called Frakk, the Cats' Nightmare.

This collection is full of suprises. Sometimes, we get a story which is a rewarding puzzle to figure out what's going on, sometimes it's straightforward and emotional and I wish they would be longer. My favorite was "And I Entreated", which displays a little bit disfunctional family, where everybody wants to do the best and it just doesnt work, because we fail to listen - and teaching in a kind way that we can always strive for better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Broken Eye Books for providing the ARC!