Genre: Sci-Fi
Reviewer: Beáta
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About The Book
When do dreams become reality?
Orin sells dandelion latex at a no-name market, barely scraping by.
Mette is a princess. Maybe. What Orin does know is that for thirty seconds every night, Mette visits Orin in xir dreams. Orin has long since written the fancy ghost woman off as a recurring nightmare, but when Mette insists upon meeting in real life, Orin’s inner world turns out to be more substantive than imaginary.
Along with best friend Blathnaid, Orin embarks on a journey to discover the truth behind xir otherworldly connection–determined to free xir mind and finally get a good night’s sleep. But it’s an ancient, planetary magic that binds Orin to Mette, and Orin’s dandelions may be their only chance to survive the separation.
If you want a fun, queer romp through a sci-fi planet with magic and dragons (of a sort), download Awry with Dandelions today!
Note: this book uses xie/xir pronouns for Orin.
Genres: Space Opera / Science Fiction / Romance / LGBT Lesbian Non Binary
The Review
Dandelion merchant Orin suffers from a strange magical condition: Every night, xie meets a phantom woman named Mette, and even during the day, this mental link keeps activating at uncomfortable moments, causing xier extreme nausea.
Orin and xier best friend Blathnaid assume that Mette doesn’t actually exist, and focus on their own survival instead. Their world gets thrown on its head, however, when Mette not only turns out to be real, but claims to have found a way of severing the connection between herself and Orin. The spell involves a very dangerous stunt during the Princess’ coronation, and Orin’s dandelions.
Less than 89 pages long, Awry With Dandelions is a fairy quick read, and is worth every second of your time. The story is just the right length, long enough to have time to breathe, but short enough to be able to focus on the main plot and the main plot alone.
It is an interesting take on mind-linked soulmates, and has a nice theme of it being necessary to sacrifice some things for your own wellbeing.
The wordbuilding is really good. In fact, it has so much potential – this story only shows us a small part of Orin’s planet, as well as the dandelion magic, which occupies this beautiful space between the mundane and the otherworldly. On one hand, there is this incomprehensible element to it, but on the other, it is a normal part of the characters’ lives, and the things they use for the spell are things they are experts in, in their un-magical lives.
I also really liked how space travel was used to establish this other human community on a different planet, with different rules for its Reality.
I really loved this story, and highly recommend it.
The Reviewer
Beáta Fülöp is an aspiring filmmaker and writer. She identifies as aromantic and asexual, and has an autistic Special Interest in the representation of minorities. One day, she will use this knowledge in her own stories. Until then, she is happy to sit here and give her opinion on other people’s hard work.
