Geometries of Belonging by RB Lemberg
I would like to thank the author and Fairwood Press for an advance copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Fairwood Press
Published – 29/11
Price – £16.93 paperback £5.03 Kindle eBook
Nebula and Locus award finalist Lemberg returns us to the Birdverse with this powerful collection of poems and stories. "In the Birdverse, a magic loosely based in geometry is a source of craftsmanship, art, protection and healing. Multiple cultures and countries engage in trade relationships and political alliances. Cultures make use of magic according to their own traditions and rules, and worship the deity Bird, in whichever feathered from Bird takes. And within these countries and cultures, individuals hurt and are hurt, heal and are healed.
One of the most interesting developments in science fiction and fantasy is how series are moving away from the classic ongoing story and instead authors like Pratchett, Chambers and Tchaikovsky are exploring that a series can be focused on a character, a setting or a civilisation. This approach allows for far more types of stories to be told – often in conversation with their various elements but linked in more conceptual ways. A really fascinating example is RM Lemberg’s Birdverse all set in a world of magic, various cultures and can be explored at various places and times as the world moves on. In the new short-fiction and poetry collection Geometries of Belonging we get a really impressive and beautiful piece of storytelling with stories to make you think and language to savour.
One interesting element of the collection is that we get elements crossing paths with one another. The poem ‘I Will Show You A Single Treasure From The Treasures of the Ruler of Iyar’ is a beautiful poem about a woman whose voice praising the God Bord creates amazing things and ultimately a bittersweet ending where a cloth of wind is spun by them. This leads nicely to the tale ‘Grandmother-nai-leylit’s Cloth of Winds’ this very impressive opening tale shows what the Birdverse can do. We have a tale of a kingdom where magic exists in what feels an ancient setting but one where gay couples are accepted but changes of gender are not. Our narrator is a young woman struggling with the changes of her family. Her sibling appears to be autistic, and their lack of verbal skills isolates them from the traditional male quarter of where they live and so they live with the rest of the female members of the family. Our non-magical narrator decides to go into the deserts outside to trade and make a living, but they’re worried they have a grandmother who now is thinking og becoming male and their youngest sibling appears to now considering a more fluid gender identity.
Lemberg delivers a rather strange and gorgeous desert trek tale and combines it with a deeply personal family challenge about acceptance of who people are. Here the biggest monster to face is fear and the subject matter are treated sensitively and grown up. The ending is left open ended as to what happens next to this family group but it is a powerful and thoughtful tale I loved. It also shows a strength of the format that we have differing attitudes and cultures being expressed. So refreshing to have a world where like our own there are different societal attitudes to explore and contrast.
Another theme throughout the series is the act of creation and often relationships between artists. In the wonderful ‘The Desert Glassmaker and the Jewler of Berevyar’ we get two artists writing to each other. Each recognises the quality of the art the other makes (even if the other doubts they are good enough). Lemberg constructs with words objects of beauty but also establishes the connection between the two. A gap in letters that makes one fear their connection is lost is here like a dramatic pause in the relationship. The final passages are heart-warming and hopeful. This gets explored again but in a more dramatic fashion with ‘The Book of How To Live; here a young student named Efronia has joined a group of artificers and unusually she has no inherent magical ability but is a technical genius. Currently she awaits formal permission to join what has always been a place for magic practitioners only. However, Efronia gets involved with some suspected rebels from one of the town’s quarters who are not supposed to mingle with outsiders. I really loved this tale of rebellion; challenging orthodoxy but also bonding over the act of invention and creation. Two characters not yet aware that they may be in love with each other but starting to work together made this a fascinating tale that while I didn’t get to see the end result of their work, I was fully invested in the idea that change was finally coming to this place whether it liked it or not.
Changes in cultures and languages is a theme explored in ‘The Book of Seed and the Abyss’ which takes the form of text within textbooks exploring historical events. We see ideas morph, get debated and also the history that led to the actions talked about. It’s a complex tale that the reader has to put the pieces together to see the bigger picture. The tale gets larger and larger with illicit love between characters and the creation of artificial intelligent life all delivered with fascinating prose itself playing with language and symbolism. Some tales are not fully explained but I loved the suggestion a simple textbook that hides a multitude of histories within it.
The tales are not all fully serious and in the very funny ‘The Splendid Goat Adventure’ we get a humorous tale of a student who loves a drink being taken down the rabbit hole of research into the possibility of magical goats. Again, this uses a letter-writing format with odd asides, observations and the odd cliff-hanger but its very funny and plays with academic squabbles on top. Who can resist a goat story!
A powerful and stand-out tale is Geometries of Belonging. A haunting yet hopeful tale of overcoming trauma and yet also a tale of politics and averting war. Our narrator is a healer who specialises in the mind (very rarely explored in fantasy) and they are currently under the protection and in a relationship with a powerful Lord. However, one of their rivals has asked desperately for help. This is a really complex tale that the reader pieces together we get to understand the rivalries and political tensions of the city the tale takes place in; and finally an exploration of trauma. The desire to move on from the past; to help people to do better and not to give in to more basic emotions of rage and hatred. It’s a tale of love, forgiveness, and mercy that I very deeply appreciated. We do not get massive set-piece battles of armies or magic, but we do get people deciding to do the right thing, risking pain or death and still treating people as people not political tools. It’s a very powerful tale and one the fates of while countries will rely on a tribute to Lemberg’s skills as a writer we get to explore all of this in a short fiction tale.
Fans of Lemberg’s novel The Unbalancing will be pleased to see the poem that inspired it ‘Ranra’s Unbalancing; is here telling its more mythic style version of the story but then we get the linked and thoughtful ‘Where your Quince Trees Grow’ a tale of someone making a refuge in the place Ranra’s people eventually settled in (and there are also some links to Geometries) It’s a tale that remind us people seeking new lives from their old homes is indeed a story old as time itself. A tale about showing kindness but also one that suggest hope for a new life to grow into this new home. This neatly bookends these tale of people finding where they fit into the world and make the title of the collection very relevant.
I strongly recommend this collection to fantasy fans who enjoy intelligent and poetical tales, where the stakes are often personal but just as interesting as those where the fate of the world hangs. It definitely shows Lemberg is one of fantasy’s most accomplished writers and I am fascinated to see what else the Birdverse could have in store for us in the future. Go get it!
