3.5ish stars.Ever read a book that you respect more than love? This is that. It's a sprawling, epic, majestic beast of a novel that spans 30 years. It takes place in a beautifully unique setting chronicling the formation and history of the fictional country Everfair. Although it’s shorter than 400 pages long, it feels like the page count is 3,000+. It's also serious, intelligent steampunk, who would have thought? I've got to give Nisi Shawl props for ambition alone. And even if it was super diff...

Unfortunately, this is a book full of flaws, but underlying all of those flaws is also a book I really, really want to appreciate. Why? Because it's a story of the Belgian Congo under an alternate history banner that strives and reaches for its independence despite atrocity and thanks to technology. No more millions dead in unsung tragedy. Rather, we've got nation building in a rather fresh and ambitious undertaking.Pretty, no? And the themes and the problems explored is also quite impressive, t...

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.Blending alternate history, steampunk, and fantasy elements as well as tackling difficult social issues (colonization, racism, religious tolerance, and gender intolerance), Everfair sets out to tell an epic story of the Congo from the era of Belgian control (circa 1885) to post-World War I. Featuring a diverse cast, Nisi Shawl crafts her narrative to allow readers to see through the eyes of every one of the characters, as these diverse persons experience import...

My experience of reading this ambitious, odd, intriguing novel was akin to spending time gazing at an ambitious, odd, intriguing painting in a museum. There was much to admire about Shawl’s technical skill in crafting sentences, and their ability to never let me get ahead of the story they were creating. There was much to admire about their willingness to take on the immense themes of colonization, racism, war, and espionage, and imagine an alternate history of an Africa that was affected by the...

The premise of Everfair is utterly fascinating: an alternate history that takes place in the Congo starting under the reign of the tyrannical Belgian King Leopold II and ending several decades later. As Shawl notes in the forward: "At least half the populace disappeared in the period from 1895 to 1908. The area thus devastated was about a quarter of the size of the current continental United States. Millions of people died." It's a story not often told, and all the more important for it. The...

After reading a few short stories by Nisi Shawl, all of which I enjoyed very much, I was eager to read her debut novel. 'Everfair' is a steampunk-flavored alternate history. The 'what if' moment is: What if, during the horrific regime of Leopold II over the Belgian Congo, a group of free-thinkers/socialists and abolitionists had purchased a large tract of land on which to found a new, utopian state? The country in question is dubbed, 'Everfair,' and the novel follows the course of this social ex...

“By their very presence they poisoned what they sought to save.”So What’s It About?Everfair is a steampunk alternative history of the Belgian Congo in which Fabian socialists and black American missionaries band together to buy land from King Leopold and establish their own colony, meant to be a utopia and haven for their own people as well as the native people of the Congo who flee Belgian enslavement and violence. They band together with a local king to fight against Leopold’s atrocities, and

From the early 1890’s through the aftermath of WWI, a group of Europeans, USAmericans, and African refugees from the horrors of Leopold’s Belgian Congo try to establish a semi-utopia in Central Africa in a very slightly steampunk-ish alternate universe. But vague historical details, a cast of far too many, and too much jumping around in time turns what should have been a fascinating re-imagining into a colorful but non-cohesive mess. Oh, what a disappointment! This book sounded so good -- go rea...

When I heard about this book several months ago, I knew I had to read it. An alternative history where King Leopold's atrocities in the Congo were fought against, where a diverse set of individuals set up a sanctuary (Everfair) in Africa for former US slaves and for those who could escape from King Leopold's rubber plantations.Each chapter told of Everfair's founding and maintenance from a different character's perspective (in third person) so it was possible to get a sense of the enormity of th...

This was an incredible, complex book. It took me a while to read, because every chapter switches points of view, and there are tons of point of view characters. It spans decades, tackling politics, war, espionage, grief, love and betrayal. The alternate history of the Congo was fascinating, and although the steampunk element was more subtle than I was expecting, there was so much going on that I didn't notice. For the huge cast of characters, it's incredible how many get developed arcs. Also a f...

DNFI gave this 100 pages (105 to be exact). The writing was lovely and I quite *wanted* to like it, but unfortunately I found it boring and lacking in any character I cared about. Those 100 pages were told through probably half a dozen characters, none of whom stuck with me very well. And there was a very odd structural build to the narrative. We never *saw* anything actually happen on screen. Instead, character A would be standing in the ashes of some raid opining on all that had been lost. Did...

A frequent objection to utopian literature is that it's boring. Fiction relies on conflict. There is no conflict within a perfect society. One way of dealing with this problem is to develop external threats which the utopians must combat. Yet the big question that undermines the very existence of utopia remains. Is it possible for a society that intends to be utopian to be perfect for all those within its borders? Everfair by Nisi Shawl is an alternate history that approaches utopia honestly by

*2.5 starsWhen I first heard of this book, I was hesitant to pick it up because the story didn’t seem like something I would be interested in. But I wanted to read all the Nebula nominees this year, so I gave it a shot and read it. Let me tell you…it was a rough book to get through. I’ll start off by saying that I have to give credit to Shawl for attempting such a wide-ranging story, a story that spans 1889-1919, all within 381 pages. It was certainly an ambitious goal. It was also ambitious to

I enjoyed this. A sort of scifi imagining of the formation and evolution of a Congolese nation akin to Liberia. CONTENT WARNING: (view spoiler)[ slavery, ageism, racism, homophobia, torture/body horror, loss of a child, loss of a loved one, diaspora. (hide spoiler)]Things to love:-Honesty of the exercise. There isn't really more plot than the author's attempt to envision what it would take to form and continue a society of people without human violations, in a time when white supremacy was even...

With Everfair, Nisi Shawl not only redraws the steampunk map, she reworks history itself, revealing points at which change is entirely within our grasp. Within this sweeping narrative, Everfair's characters are beautifully drawn, yet treated with such a level gaze that one expects to find all of them in history books upon finishing the novel. Interlacing subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in hearts, minds, and communities against the background of the rubber trade, WWI, and King Leopold's reign, Sh...

A novel with so much potential that just failed to deliver.Everfair tells the story of the Congo being invaded Belgium and beyond, however, in this version of the Congo steam power has been discovered. Boats float in the air, functioning metal mechanical limbs are given to those who have lost limbs to King Leopold's savagery and a group of African Americans and Europeans have moved to the Congo in hope of a new life. We follow these colonists and the native Congolese people they eventually team

A big beast of an alternate history novel with steampunk, taking on the Belgian Congo. That monstrous abomination is a hell of a topic, but Shawl pulls it off to a large degree, reimagining an alliance of Congolese people and variously skilled and motivated immigrants (Chinese, American, French, English, lesbians, socialists, scientists) fighting back to drive the Belgians out with a combination of advanced tech and local knowledge. This could be really superhero-comic in the wrong hands but thi...

It's with some sadness and regret that I have to say upfront... I very much anticipated Everfair, but it ultimately did not reach the potential I thought it had. It has great qualities and some weaknesses, which I will tackle in turn.In Everfair, Shawl excellently uses steampunk in a new and exciting way. She explores how history might have been different for the Congo if the native people had had access to steam-powered technology, to give them an advantage against the brutal, horrific rule of

Well, I loved the premise of this book and at first I was hooked by the story. But while I was really slogging through the middle of it I realized I wasn't connected at all to either the story or the characters. It should have been right up my alley, but it wasn't. I am learning more about myself as a reader and I think this book just did not tick my boxes, as it were. I like very fleshed-out characters who engage in real meaningful dialogue that gives me insight into their lives and motivations...

I failed this book - although I really, really tried. It contains everything that I typically love in story making and world building, but I just couldn't put it all together to make it work for me. My fault, not the author's - but I will definitely give her short story collection a read one day in hopes that is where I can connect.This line was my favorite, taken not from the novel but from the first line of her Acknowledgements:"Writing is a solitary act that expresses the genius of a communit...