SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear

Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear

Stone Mad is a Novella-lengthed sequel to Elizabeth Bear's 2015 novel, Karen Memory (Review HERE).  You could attempt to read it as a stand alone, as the story is entirely self-contained here, but you'll appreciate the book a bit more (and understand the type of world we're in here) if you already have some attachment to the characters.  For that's where this novella really shines - I liked Karen Memory, but my main complaint was that the story got a little too over-ambitious with an expansion of the plot and didn't spend enough time with the main love interest.  Stone Mad by contrast, is all about the relationship between Karen and her wife Priya and is fantastic as a result.  It may still be a steampunk lesbian western to an extent, but this is a story about the two main characters and is just absolutely lovely and better for it.

More after the Jump:



A Quick Plot Summary: Karen Memery and her wife Priya have seemingly settled down, having just purchased a house for themselves and the horses, and are out to celebrate at a fancy hotel dinner and show - a performance by a dead illusionist's wife, showing off all of his tricks, when their evening is disrupted by a pair of young women known as the Arcadia Sisters.  And what seems at first to be the pair trying to use a magic trick to gain a free meal spirals into a disaster that threatens the very hotel, and causes Karen to spring into action.  But when Priya disapproves of Karen's actions as her wife, the real question lurking in Karen's mind is whether their relationship is really over just when it was supposed to have began?  

Again, my issue with the original novel was that while Karen was clearly infatuated with Priya from the start, we didn't really get to spend enough time with Priya to really know Priya herself - meanwhile the plot and stakes of that novel grew and grew to perhaps too big proportions.  Stone Mad does the opposite - the stakes here are and stay small throughout, and the real focus of the story is on Priya and Karen and their relationship.  This is not to say the other characters aren't excellent - the Arcadia sisters and the illusionist Ms. Horner are interesting in and of themselves.  But this is a story about Karen and Priya grappling with difficulty in their relationship - namely Karen not being comfortable being asked as a wife not to do something she feels she ought to do and Priya wanting Karen to understand that when Karen takes risks with herself, she risks hurting Priya as well.  It's somehow a deep and personal story despite being a novella and involving a pretty wacky steampunk adventure.

As my third novella read this year that was written in 2018 (if I count the 3rd Binti work), this is another work that will make a strong case for next year's Hugo ballot.  Highly recommended.