This was my first book by Lemberg and I was not aware of their reputation as a speculative fiction author, so I was absolutely not prepared for this. Yes, I spent most of the book confused about what was happening, but the writing was rich and kept me interested enough to keep reading. And the payoff was definitely worth it. It's a very immersive experience and one I would definitely recommend!!

(3.5 stars rounded up to 4!)

R.B. Lemberg emerged as one of my favorite speculative fiction authors after discovering them on Netgalley. I was THRILLED when their publisher reached out asking if I'd like to read the next one.

In typical Lemberg fashion, you walk into this tale immersed, entering right into a rich and beautiful world fully unlike the one we live in and sorting out the details and the characters' lives as you go. I will say that it took me a bit longer to connect with these characters than it has in previous Birdverse tales, but these things are always subjective and YMMV. I still reman a massive fan and hope R.B. Lemberg continues to write for a very, very long time, as their worldbuilding skills are exceptional.

I just love this series. So much. I want to rub my face on this gorgeous, heartbreaking, queer, magical book. (Which, I'm pretty sure, was my reaction to The Unbalancing as well.) Yes, it can be difficult to parse at times, because Lemberg has no interest (nor should they) in waiting for you to catch up with their train of thought. You're along for the ride, hold tight, trust the process, and enjoy the gorgeous prose and imagery. Everytime I read a Birdverse Book I end up feeling like I'm lost at some point, but I just keep reading. Let the story pull me down. And, at the end, I am inevitably left with this beautiful, dreamlike impression of the book I just consumed. I remember so much more than I thought I would, and I am haunted by magical images: a majestic horned woman stepping out of the wood clad in lamp light; a young man in black robes sailing through the desert on a magic carpet; a great and terrible city beneath the sea - it's like remembering a dream.

I can't explain it better than that. You just have to trust me: Read the Birdverse. Read Yoke of Stars.

Much like the first Birdverse book I read, The Four Profound Weaves, it took me quite a while to get my bearings. The world building is immense and you're just thrown in to sink or swim. That said, once I got a grasp on what's what it is a compelling piece of fiction. I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous one I read, but I am glad I persevered til the end.

I'm not sure I've ever come so close to abandoning a book, out of sheer frustration, and then ending up by admiring it. Lemberg drops you into the Birdverse and just keeps on going, while you flounder along wondering how literally to take the Bird, the shoals, the stars, the whole idea of Song, Moss, Stone, and Weaver storylines, what's up with the Ladder, what does this world even physically look like ...

I couldn't tell you exactly what made me persist -- possibly I was giving Lemberg the benefit of the doubt(s) because this is the first Birdverse book I've read -- but somewhere around two-thirds of the way in, the story suddenly grabbed me. The protagonists, Ulin and Stone Orphan, were facing dangers and griefs intelligible to my mere human self, and it no longer mattered that I didn't have a clear understanding of the world they moved in or of its religious/mythological underpinnings.

I considered a three-star rating, on account of that long stretch of confusion, mingled with irritation when the language seemed to strive too hard for Meaningfulness (TM). But I settled on four because of the intellectual and narrative ambition and the sheer unusualness of Lemberg's world, besides which I suspect I would have been less at sea had I happened to read any of the other Birdverse books before this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the ARC.

If you love chaos and assassins then this school of assassins will be right up your alley! This was a wild ride that I had a blast reading! little sleep was had until i read the last page!

3.5 stars

Writing a review for this book is pretty hard because it is such a peculiar and original book. The author has a way of telling their story that is pretty unique to them, and if you have already read something by them you know what I mean here. If not, you are in for a surprise, that's for sure.
It's like reading some tale of old, with the same magic and the same mystery aura around everything. And usually, it's not my favorite way to go. And, to be completely honest, I didn't particularly enjoy it there too, but this book is not only original in its form, it is also original in the story it tells. This is a book about stories and languages. And how language shapes a person, and how we are all translations and in translations. It is deep and fascinating, and the language here is central. And this part I loved to pieces. It spoke to me.
But it is not only about languages and stories. It is also about people and feelings. And despair and pain. But also hope and freedom. It is about discovering ourselves, and much more.
It is a short book, sure, but it packs a lot. And even if this is not really my thing, I am grateful to have read it!

Ahoy there me mateys!  When I first visited Birdverse, I went down a rabbit hole of readin' all the stories I could get ahold of.  I love the world building, characters, and writing style.  So I was very thrilled that there was a new novella set in this world.  It is fantastic.

In this story, an assassin apprentice named Stone Orphan is waiting for their first client.  A successful kill will allow them to graduate.  Ulín, a linguist, is that client.  Problem is that she is not sure who deserves the most blame for what happened to her.  Stone Orphan is supposed to help her choose the proper candidate.  In exchanging stories, Ulín and Stone Orphan confront trauma and decide where the future might go.

Ultimately, I found both of their stories to be fascinating.  Both are telling their stories in their non-native language.  Stone Orphan's island "siltway" culture is a collective with the language having no verbs or expressions of gender or sex.  Everyone has a designated role and curiosity is frowned on.  Stone Orphan feels that by living outside their culture and using another language, they are losing their place in the world.

Ulín on the other hand, speaks multiple languages.  While telling her story, she also finds joy in learning about Stone Orphan's language and culture.  Her people chose their gender in their teens.  Besides the freedom to chose gender, Ulín has very little control in her life and fights to get what she wants.  Her father wants control over her choices and for her to become heir.  Her other parent believes she should make her own choices despite concern over the consequences.  And there are dire unintended consequences for her choices.

Besides the fascinating character lives and the foray into translations, there is a lovely writing style of switching between Ulín and Stone Orphan based on the emotional resonance of their story telling.  This switching feels jarring at first but ends up being both poignant and endearing.  Talking about trauma is difficult.  Emotions well up.  As both characters are drawn into the other's tale, they begin to acknowledge the psychological toll to each other.  Making tea, sitting in silence, or asking for a break are some of the ways the two people help each other.  Also watching their trust grow through shared stories is wonderful.  They seem like completely different people but compassion, sorrow, and suffering drawn them together as people.

I can't really praise this novella enough.  I don't really feel that getting into more of the plot does service to the reader.  In my mind, going through the journey with Ulín and Stone Orphan is beneficial.  This is my favorite Birdverse work so far.  I would not, however, recommend starting here for Birdverse given the complexities of the world building.  I think new readers should start with four profound weaves.  I, for one, cannot wait to read more in this world.  Arrrr!

I’m a fan of the author and have read other books set in the Birdverse universe so I was looking forward to reading Yoke of Stars. I really enjoyed this novella. I devoured it in a couple of days because I didn’t want to stop reading. The book is beautifully written and lyrical. The book is structured around Stone Orphan and Ulín, both traumatised, who connect, share their experiences and stories and, in a way. The book uses a story-within-a-story structure which works really well once you get used to it. It took me a few chapters to get into the rhythm of the characters and story. I thought this was a terrific read. I’d recommend it.

The prose was such a showstopper in this book. I loved the conversations about queerness, migration, and diaspora, and just all the emotions that this beautiful book evoked. I laughed, I cried, and overall I’m just a mess of emotions weeks after reading this book. Stunning. Absolutely stunning

Comparable to Le Guin - it's wonderful to see a book so lyrical and probing dealing with modern social issues of freedom, individualism, and diaspora in such a timeless way. The prose is both welcoming and disquieting, the story simultaneously harsh yet kind. I was left with a sense of hope and empathy.

This turned out to be a very thoughtful, very queer kind of meditation on imperfection translation (and self-translation) which at the same time is a story of two traumatized persons connecting via sharing their stories. It is also a love letter to linguistics.

I picked up this novella without any prior knowledge of the author's other writing, and at first I wondered if the steep learning curve at the start that nearly threw me off is a by-product of this being set in a universe that has other works doing the scene-setting. As I kept reading, my opinion shifted: I think Lemberg writes the kind of fantasy that trusts its readers to find their footing on their own, which is its own reward. The worldbuilding that shaped up as I read on put me in mind of Ann Leckie and Martha Wells: complex and thoughtful, genuinely inventive, deliberately queer.

I enjoyed how the story developed: the risk of dullness/lack of tension that usually accompanies story-in-a-story as literary device was nowhere to be found, as the tension came back to whether the conversation would end up in assassination. I also enjoyed the afterword from the author, where they explain some real-life studies that informed the story, as well as their own background.

Thank you to Tachyon and Netgalley for an advance copy - I enjoyed it, and as we speak I am looking up how I can read more stories from the Birdverse.

Yoke of Stars by R B Lemberg is a novella set in their Birdverse series which you can read in any order. This is a story within a story that follows Stone Orphan, an apprentice assassin who is visited by Ulín, an inquisitive linguist. Instead of providing Stone Orphan with the name of a person for Stone Orphan to kill, Ulín instead shares a story which prompts Stone Orphan to share one of their own. This novella is the painful untangling of both protagonists’ own stories and how they came to be in the situation they find themselves in the beginning of the book.
R B Lemberg is a queer, bigender fantasist, poet, and professor who has spent time living in Ukraine, Russia and Israel before migrating to the United States. In the mere two-hundred pages that Yoke of Stars occupies, Lemberg manages to deftly explore themes of gender identity, differing cultures, bodily autonomy, coercive relationships, power imbalance, and the concept of freedom. Lemberg does this in such an expert way that the reader is forced to consider why these issues are still hotly debated in so many places all over the world when understanding and solving them could be so simple.
The polite push and pull of Stone Orphan and Ulín’s conversation is a fierce sharing of trauma that dredges every dark moment out into the open and frames language and relationships in a harsh new light, forcing debate over what is right or wrong or good or bad. We see steady character growth from both our protagonists over the course of their storytelling and every new piece of information that they reveal makes you love them a little more.
Throughout the novella there is careful dialogue around names, gender, and pronouns where the differing fantasy cultures are juxtaposed against the background of this conversation. Etymology is discussed in depth, exploring the different evolutions of words that have sprung up in different cultures from the same root word, and the different meanings and implications that these words have in these cultures. While these cultures are fantastical, so much of it rings true for our own world.
This is a beautiful novella written for those who crave thought-provoking fantasy stories that stray from stereotypes and reflect the issues of our own world back to us with wisdom and patience.

Come back to the Birdverse with this unforgettable tale about despair, hope, self-care, and friendship!

Words shape thoughts and cultures. Fantasy is uniquely suited to reveal this in subtle, entertaining ways that sneak in high-level concepts on the sly.

R. B. Lemberg’s YOKE OF STARS is a remarkable novella. It could only come from a skilled linguist and storyteller, and from a fiercely independent publisher like Tachyon.

In nested, partly-revealed stories, linguist Ulin and assassin-in-training Stone Orphan share past experiences…to decide which one of three people Ulin will pay Stone Orphan to kill in revenge, as the latter’s first official assassin’s contract.

Will deeply traumatized Ulin find healing from this decision?

Will Stone Orphan graduate from a dangerous, hostile school, and gain a kind of freedom?

Or will their stories interweave in an unexpected new direction?

Lemberg’s command of language and narrative nuance makes this a haunting, beautiful read.

In our current reality, YOKE offers a more-honest look at trauma, despair, forgiveness, and found-friendship without unrealistic wish-fulfillment tropes.

Readers don’t need to have read previous Birdverse stories. YOKE carefully introduces Lemberg’s world, mythos, history, and magic system.

For seasoned readers, the story offers new twists, startling linkages to other stories, and another perspective on Lemberg’s Birdverse.

For fellow word-nerds, Lemberg’s linguistic explorations are a thought-provoking journey into how language influences all of us.

As of April 8, 2024, this novella is on pre-order at Tachyon.

Buy it, please?

Small-presses are under immense pressure right now, as the publishing world convulses around the same return-on-investment shareholder-driven business strategies that have caused so much wasteful and dangerous upheaval in other industries.

If you don’t buy this book, an airplane won’t fall out of the sky due to shoddy manufacturing safety culture.

But if you buy this book…actually, buy *all* the Birdverse books if you can…you will be affirming and supporting a brilliant author and a brave publisher. So they can bring you *more* good stuff.

My ARC was provided free of charge by Tachyon Publications, in return for my honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg is a fantasy novella set in the Birdverse. The novella opens with a strong fairy tale feel, with Bird coming down to dance with the stars and the stars separating from Bird, and maintains that atmosphere throughout. Stone Orphan and Ulin tell their personal stories relating to language and home with bits and pieces of commentary.

What I really liked was how honest and gorgeous the prose was in relation to translation and speaking in a language that isn’t yours to communicate. The twisting of form really resonated with me as someone who is in the middle of learning a language that has sounds my own language doesn’t have.

Ulin’s home culture values differences and individualism while Stone Orphan’s values collectivism. Stone Orphan’s language doesn’t contain verbs and discourages the use of ‘I’ when speaking. Ulin’s home has words and room for those who do not fit in the gender binary, though her fiance's culture does not and it creates tension between Ulin and the one she was planning on marrying.

I found this really hard to put down. It’s incredibly engrossing and the way Lemberg shows two different relationships with language (Ulin believes it’s wonderful to learn a new language and Stone Orphan finds it painful to speak a language that isn’t their own) and connecting it to ripping language away was beautiful and painful and haunting. It resonated with me as someone whose father lost his native language as a child.

I would recommend this to fans of linguistics and fantasy, readers looking for explorations of losing culture/language, and those who are intrigued by the premise of the Birdverse

Wow, this was such a raw and emotional read. I think it's my favourite Birdverse novel so far. No, I'm 100% sure it is.
It follows Stone Orphan, an assassin, and Ulìn, a translator, who meet when Ulìn decided to employ Stone Orphan. Before they can settle on who the contract is for though, they share their stories - stories filled with pain, love, hope, and language. It felt very intimate to listen in to their stories, but it was a great experience.
There is an unique story structure here - as they tell their stories, they take breaks and switch between who is currently telling, and I really loved how this made the entire novella more real and intimate. The discussions of translation were also fascinating, and I really enjoyed the afterword about the inspiration for these themes. For when you abandon your past, and decide to move to a different country, learning a new language, you in a way translate yourself into something new - and once you do this, you can't translate yourself back in the same way you used to be. The act of translation will transform you.

Lovely novella, and as always I'm very much looking forward to reading more from this universe!!

I love R.B. Lemberg's own description of this book: "it features assassins, linguistics, and FISH COMMUNISM." I'm not sure I can write a better description than that! I love Lemberg's Birdverse, and Yoke of Stars is a gorgeously wrought Birdverse tale where stories are told and shared between two people who are connected in ways they do not understand when they first meet. Into the tale of these two people, Lemberg weaves thoughts on language and translation and how we shape ourselves with language and are also shaped by it, and how our thoughts, and ourselves, can change in translation. This is also a story about trauma and strife and magic, of stars that hold and bind and devour, and maybe, just maybe, it's about the possibility of something else beyond the hurt and pain. The way the stories in the book touch and interweave, the way the characters in them tug and pull at each other, is beautifully done - and I love how deftly Lemberg pulls all the threads together into a complex, striking weave.

As with all of R. B. Lemberg's books--that I've read--this reminds me of the wonders of storytelling and language, and rightly so, for it is a book almost entirely about language and meaning and how we shape language and how it can shape us and how infinitely variable it can be. In this novel, set in Lemberg's Birdverse, a language nerd and a curious outcast trained as an assassin begin and create a fascinating relationship as they share the telling of their stories. This is a frame story, and there are frames within frames here, like the 1,001 Arabian Nights, so readers must pay attention to what level each story is on within the many frames; at times, a few stories within stories slow a little too much, but in the end, finishing the book is rewarding and satisfying and might make you want to think more about language and so much more--the things language influences and changes from place to place and culture to culture and person to person--and that is a really essential thing to do.

"A story moves back and forth in translation, and it is remade every time. Each of us is a story translated to a language vastly different from its first. You can try to translate yourself back, but it won't be the same story." -R. B. Lemberg, Yoke of Stars

The above quote is how I feel about trying to translate the emotions this book made me feel into a coherent review. R. B. Lemberg has a knack for writing books that speak deeply to me, and I feel changed after reading each one- Yoke of Stars is no different, in that respect. Although on the surface, this is about two characters translating their lives into a narrative through a conversation with each other, this book is about so much more than that. The lyrical prose touches on the intersections of language, belonging, family, culture, war, queer experiences, violence, disability, freedom, and self discovery- all the while, painting a picture of a beautiful world, rich with magic. The intersectional narratives are driven by the author's lived experiences as a linguistic scholar, a queer nonbinary person, and a Soviet-era Ukrainian migrant living in the US. Yoke of Stars is heart-breaking and heart-mending in turns, and I'll be thinking about its themes for years to come.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Content Warnings: interpersonal violence & abuse (verbal, psychological, physical), rape/sexual assault

Additional Note: I have not read any of Lemberg’s other works, but this book’s story stands alone.

I loved everything about this book. I loved the two characters, Ulín and Stone Orphan, both as individuals as well as how their two stories wove together. I loved the framing device of having a conversation to determine an assassination target and how it allowed each character to build over time. I loved the focus on language and how it shapes individuals, both within one language and culture and when one becomes a polyglot; I loved especially the focus on gender identity and expression, how it existed in different forms between cultures, and how characters explored their gender and sexuality fluidly. I think what I loved most of all was the empathy and care Urin and Stone Orphan exhibited towards each other and, as a result, were able to eventually give to themselves. I highly recommend this book, and it has made me eager to read more of Lemberg’s Birdverse.