An intriguing anthology of Ukranian writers, all fantastic fictions. Not all are at the same level but it was the discovery of a new to me lore, world.
Intriguing, entertaining, and informative
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Embroidery is an apt metaphor for this collection, as it certainly feels richly woven and textured, like a tapestry. Each story is unique, yet often they touch on similar feelings and themes that touch on the Ukrainian experience. As someone who doesn't know much about Ukraine, I really enjoyed the stories and felt like I learned some; for people who are familiar, I'm sure it will resonate on an even deeper level.

In a Nutshell: A sci-fi anthology by Ukrainian writers, both citizens and diasporic. Varied in genres and innovative in presentation, but somehow, the content and the approach didn’t click with me. I think this is more of a ME problem, so take this review with a pinch of salt.

This anthology contains thirty stories penned by Ukrainian writers living within the country (with their works being translated to English for the first time) and those living in other nations. The stories come from a variety of SFF genres such as science fiction, space opera, horror, fantasy, dystopian, and even slipstream.

I always lament when anthologies don't come with introductory notes about the theme. This one spoilt me for choice. It had not one but two brilliant introductory notes written by the three editors. These offer a touching tribute to stories and the Ukraine context, and also explain why escapist fiction such as mysteries and fantasies are so common in that country. I love how heartfelt the tone was, especially in the first note. This line will especially stay with me: "Stories reveal something about the people telling them."

The editors describe these tales as “stories of transformation, by luck or achievement, through wit or sacrifice, with the characters experiencing moments of rebirth, reconsideration, renewal.” Most of the tales were thus quite poignant or dramatic, though a couple had a touch of wry humour.

So far, so good. The intent proved itself. But the content… that was a different experience altogether.

I had grabbed this anthology mainly for the ethnicity of the writers. One of my favourite indie sci-fi writers is Anton Eine, who is also Ukrainian. (I was a bit disappointed to see nothing by him in this collection.) I was hoping to experience a somewhat similar high on reading this book, but that wasn’t to happen.

Did I get a sense of Ukrainian culture from these tales? Not really. But SFF writing is not about cultural representation, so I wouldn’t dock off points for this.

While I followed my usual pattern of reading 1-2 stories a day, it took me more than an hour to complete each session. This is partly because of the length. 460 pages is much too long for an anthology. The page count itself will dissuade many readers. Also, 30 stories is way too many for a single collection, and when the stories are not distributed appropriately across the volume, they start generating a feel of déjà vu.

No matter how much I tried, my mind kept drifting away from the tales. I am not sure if it is the writing approach (either too conversational, or hopping across various characters within the same tale, or with multiple scene changes that felt jumpy), the repetitiveness at the start (with all the initial stories being space adventures), the sluggish pace (most tales were too meandering and/or too verbose) or the translation (a tad too literary; unless someone reads the original tales and compares the tones, it's tough to say if the literary feel is the author's intent or the translator's prerogative or simply an awkward turn of phrase from a non-native speaker.) The innovativeness of the tales was clearly visible, but the style of presentation didn’t suit my reading tastes.

As always, I read the stories individually, but most of them fell between the 2 to 3.5 star mark for me, with very few exceptions. There were no standout stories that I would count as memorable.

Maybe this book might work better for those readers who are more attuned to this meandering kind of writing style. It could also be a good fit to more avid SFF fans; I am just a dabbler in this genre. If nothing else, it serves as a great way of showing your support to indie Ukrainian writers, even though there is not much about Ukraine in the stories.

Hitting the midway mark in solidarity with the writers, in the hope that this book might find the right reader. My average rating for all the stories also rounds up to 3 stars, so it is fairly accurate of my feelings about the content as well.

My thanks to Atthis Arts and NetGalley for the DRC of “Embroidered Worlds”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

<i>My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley and Attis Arts for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I'm so happy that this short story collection exists & so grateful to everyone involved in putting it together. I sometimes fear that, with Ukrainians only showing up in the western media when we are dying gruesome deaths, everybody will eventually assume that dying is all that we are good for, hence there's no point in worrying about it too much. So I appreciate every bit of representation of Ukrainians as storytellers, inventors, well, pretty much in any role that showcases our agency.

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/fdFtLjS/GMCGv-FDXg-AA40b-M.png">

Importantly, this collection also offers a realistically broad and diverse understanding of who Ukrainians are, including stories from the diaspora (or from more recent immigrants), as well as authors from different cultures that weave into the Ukrainian cultural landscape (for example, R. Lemberg's short story set during the Holocaust about the last dance of the cities that are losing one of the cultures animating them was stunning and brilliant and heartbreaking). I also loved that, among all the different traditions included, there are stories that emphasize the legacy of Classical Antiquity that we inherited with the Black Sea coast and its difficult history of intercultural encounters, productive and otherwise (from Svitlana Taratorina's horror-tinged piece to Mykhailo Nazarenko's wonderful story about old religions dying a painful and lingering death to clear the path for the new--his "Big Nose and the Faun" is one of my personal favorites in this collection).

As is always the case with short story collections,the works run the whole gamut from "this will forever live in my head rent-free" to "what in the name of borsht did I just read", but the brilliant far outnumber the bewildering, and with the scope of thematic ground covered, there's guaranteed to be something for anybody. You want a magical take on the current war? Welcome to crying your eyes out over Volodymyr Arenev's story about the defence of Azovstal plant in Mariupol (I've first read this story some time ago, but I still cannot reread it without tearing up; it's another one of my favorites). In the mood for hard sci-fi? There's Max Kidruk's story that transposes the grit and desperation of Polar exploration, familiar from our Earth-based 19th-century history, onto Mars. You want a more ethnographic display from Ukrainian history? Here's Iryna Pasko's folk horror (where the main horror comes from the existence of indentured servitude that corrupts both ways, but there's a magical embodiment to it). Are you into a more mainstream literary magical realism? There's Askold Melnyczuk's short story about being an observer from a privileged position in horrible historic times (and being *just* an observer is as likely as not to make you complicit). And so on, and so forth. It is a lovely and well-balanced collection with some truly stunning stories that will stay with me for long.

A very eclectic collection of stories, which was perhaps the point: to introduce readers to new authors and show the variety of ideas and styles in Ukrainian fantasy and sci-fi. The introduction by Olha Brylova and Iryna Pasko is a story in its own right: an illuminating story about how Ukrainian fiction was perceived by authors and audiences both, inside Ukraine and in relation to Russia. This is no doubt a highly sensitive issue, and the intro reads like a snapshot of a long self-reflecting journey to where Ukrainian writers want to get, professionally and in terms of recognition. There are abundant notes on translation approaches, the authors and translators themselves, editors and the artwork artist - this was perhaps the most comprehensive acknowledgment section I’ve ever seen in a book.

While the introduction is closely intertwined with current events, the stories themselves are not (except for two, one prophetic and one written in wartime; the latter, “Neptune’s Day” by Ostap Ukrainets, I feel, will fly largely over the heads of those readers who are not of or familiar with the region’s culture), nor do they have one underlying theme. Some of them are spooky and fairy-taleish, some more sci-fi and philosophical; some are set in a more or less recognizable historical period, some seem to belong in alternate realities or indeterminable future; some are serious and heartbreaking, some more light-hearted and humorous.

My personal favorites were “A Hole in the Shape of God” by Vasyl Dukhnovskyi, which starts with a trippy dialogue and escalates quickly into higher realms; “The Bike Shadow” by Yaryna Katorozh, as I do have a soft spot for urban fantasy and this one introduces the concept of city spirits come alive because of the residents; “Revenge in Pursuit” by Vira Balatska, a witty sketch highlighting the often ridiculous ways society works; “The Last of the Beads” by Halyna Lipatova, a tale of a single-minded loner completing the task she set for herself regardless of the cost; and “Lest We Forget” by Elizabeth Bear, a chilling yet strangely compelling take on a potential way to eliminate wars. I appreciated the ones with the Slavic fairy-tale vibes too, but the more horror ones were definitely not my cup of tea. Truly, the book offers such a wide spectrum that it’s impossible to pinpoint who exactly it could be interesting for: chances are every fantasy/sci-fi fan will find something to their liking there.

"Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora": what a brilliant anthology.

The only theme uniting this anthology is that the authors are from Ukraine, or part of its diaspora. That means that there's a huge range of types of stories: those that are clearly rooted in folklore (even if I wasn't familiar with the original); those that are 'classically' science fiction; some that are slipstream, some that slide into horror, and a few where the fantastical aspect was very subtle. Some of the stories are very much ABOUT Ukraine, as it is now and as it has been and how it might be; other stories, as you would expect, are not.

One of my favourite stories is "Big Nose and the Faun," by Mykhailo Nazarenko, because I'm a total sucker for retellings of Roman history (Big Nose is the poet Ovid; it starts from the moment (based on the story in Plutarch, I think) of the death of Pan and just... well. The story does wonderful things with poetry and "civilisation" and nature, and I loved it.

I loved a lot of other stories here, too. There was only one story that I ended up skipping - which is pretty good for me, with such a long anthology - and that was because it was written in a style that I basically never enjoy (kind of Waiting for Godot, ish). RM Lemberg's "Geddarien" was magic and intense and heartbreaking - set during the Holocaust, cities will sometimes dance, and for that they need musicians. Olha Brylova's "Iron Goddess of Compassion" is set a few years in the future, and the gradual revelation of who the characters are and why they're doing what they're doing is some brilliant storytelling. "The Last of the Beads" by Halyna Lipatova is a story of revenge and desperation, with moments of heartbreak and others that I can only describe as "grim fascination".

I'm enormously impressed by Attis Arts for the effort that's gone into this - many of the stories are translated, which brings with it its own considerations and difficulties. This book is absolutely worth picking up. If you're interested in fantasy and science fiction anthologies, this is one that you really need to read.

This is an amazing collection of short stories from the best Ukranian sci fi and fantasy authors, made even more poignant because of the current war. The stories are very different and still heartbreakingly lovely, and the introduction is very helpful in telling the reader more about the authors and their own histories. Excellent book that I hope will be more popular with the Western readers.