The Very Best of Kate Elliott, Kate Elliott
Received to review via Netgalley

I should’ve got round to this sooner; my apologies to the author and Tachyon Publications. My ARCs have piled up rather, but I requested this one anyway because I’ve been meaning to try Elliott’s work for a long time. I keep picking up her books in the library, eyeing her post about where to start, eyeing the books on Kobo… So I decided to start here: she mentions in her post that short stories are not her favourite form, her usual thing, but this collection does introduce you to some of her worlds, and to her ways of thinking.

I’m still a little bit on the fence, to be honest. I enjoyed these stories, but some of them felt a little too long — which may just be that Kate Elliott is more of a novel writer, and I’m very sensitive to the natural end for a story, the degree of baggage it can carry. I enjoyed the detail, the world-building, and especially the perspectives she writes from (the essay included at the end about writing with a female gaze rang very true), but… I’m still not convinced, or something.

I think it does make a great taster for what Kate Elliott’s work is like, but I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy her novels more.

Rating: 4/5