Shelter

Susan Palwick was my random pick for the Women of Genre Fiction challenge, 2014. I wasn't aware of her work at all until I started looking to see what I could get and what I might like for the challenge.

On paper, Shelter doesn't sound like my kind of thing at all. It's a longish book, and it's largely about dealing with a troubled child, but I went into it without knowing too much about it and found it highly readable. The characters are rich and sympathetic, with distinct voices, and the writing is clear and flowing. It could be about anything - and it is about more than a bare summary could convey - and I think I'd still have enjoyed reading it.

If I have a minor quibble, I did find it tricky to swallow the belief systems. Gaianism seemed to have supplanted other religions, in a world that didn't seem enough changed to justify that, and the characters seemed to have extraordinarily polarised views on AIs.

Still, I'll definitely be looking out for other works by the author. I liked this a lot. I've given it 4/5.