4.5 starsHexarchate Stories is a collection of stories – from flash fiction and prose poems, both pre-existing and new, to a sequel novella – set in the universe of the Machineries of Empire series.While many of these stories develop the worldbuilding, give a PoV to characters that were only minor in the trilogy, and give you some insight into how this series came together, they’re not necessary to understand it. Nor – I think – would mean a lot to someone who isn’t familiar with the main trilog...

I picked this up after having read and liked Extracurricular Activities. No, I still haven‘t read Ninefox Gambit, which is probably daft. I am pretty sure I should read the novel(s) first, but this fell into my hands, so here we go...Apparently the last story is a spoiler for the trilogy and I should probably avoid it for now... can anybody enlighten me about that?I will post updates whenever I finish one of the stories...THE CHAMELEON’S GLOVES, ★★★★☆“Rhehan hated museums, but their partner Liye...

I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but every now and again I’m blown away by one. Of course Sanderson comes to mind or The Lady Astronaut of Mars which recently impressed me very much. This book is not impressive nor is it a masterpiece of writing. I’d rather describe it as “rambling about some random facts of a previously great character”. Contrary to many authors’ (and especially publishers’) believes: you can overdo it with your ongoing favourite characters (or series). At some point they...

This is the first work I have read by Yoon Ha Lee. This is important, as it significantly affects my review. I have seen references to his series, “The Machineries of Empire”, which begins with “Ninefox Gambit”. I thought choosing a collection of short stories might be a good way to decide if I wanted to pick-up that series. In hindsight, this was a mistake, as this collection is more appropriate for fans of that universe and I think the enjoyment from this collection would be greatly enhanced b...

4.5 stars. Much of the flash fiction didn't do anything for me, but the longer ones ("Battle of Candle Arc", "Extracurricular Activities") and the brand new novella sequel to Revenant Gun were great. *Please* tell me we'll get an interspecies war novel from Mikodez's perspective someday?? I need more of him!

I read this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley; my enthusiasm is genuine and unprompted and my own.First things first: this is very much a book for a reader of Machineries of Empire trilogy, or better yet, its fan: not a primer to Yoon Ha Lee's writing. Perhaps it's readable without knowing the context, but it must then be a peculiar half-dialogue overheard on the phone; you may laugh at some of the jokes, but you won't get the conversation. I don't think one needs to refresh the origi...

Rounded up from 3.5stars. I love the Ninefox Gambit and following books. My favorite short stories from this compilation I had already read. Some of the other short shorts are really mostly fun for the author’s accompanying comments.

An essential collection if you love the world in the Machineries Empire and if you want to spend more time with Cheris and Jedao. The first 2/3rds are really short stories, sometimes about mundane events but that's how I personally love the short story medium to be used. It can make a world more vibrant and as always Yoon Ha Lee's humor is woven into each work. Each story is also followed by author's notes that are AMAZING and really inform the decisions made into character development and world...

4.0 StarsThis was one of the most entertaining science fiction short story I have ever read. Normally I don't connect with SFF in this shorter format so I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this collection. These stories read like fanfiction (often the eroctic kind), but I mean that in the most positive way. A lot of these stories came from the author's writing exercises so they were episodic and often humourous tales. The final story, Glass Canon, also added some good additional conclu...

Let me come right out and say that this is definitely a book for uber-fans of the Machineries of Empire.Most of the stories are little snippets or even flash-fiction giving us every-day glimpses of Jedao and Cheris either in the deep past or the in-between bits of the trilogy or -- my favorite part -- AFTER Revenant Gun.Most of the stories are great for closing plot points and deepening the un-tortured figure of Jedao and are NOT action filled except for a few instances. I do not consider most o...

Fuck it, I'm knocking this up to 5 stars; I enjoyed it too much to rate it any lower. This is a book strictly for those who've already read and loved the Machineries of Empire trilogy (if you want an intro to YHL's writing, I highly recommend Conservation of Shadows and just skip "Battle of Candle Arc" until after you've read Ninefox Gambit), but it was basically everything I was hoping for as an accompaniment to the novels. Lots of young Jedao and Cheris, plus "Glass Cannon" is a wonderful coda...

Hexarchate Stories is a collection of flash fiction, short stories, and novellas all set in the Machinaries of Empire world. Some before the trilogy (starting with Ninefox Gambit) and some after. You get a story of an ex-Kel before the Hexachate was formed, stories of Jedao's and Cheris' childhoods/family's and pre-book life, and the capstone of the whole series, a short story following up two years after the final book in the trilogy. While Lee still captures the horrors and intensity of the or...

An outstanding collection of short stories, novellas, and prose set within the Machineries of Empire universe. Review: If you haven’t read the Machineries of Empire series, or at the very least Ninefox Gambit, most of these probably won’t be as enjoyable for you as they were for me. There were a few self-contained stories (including the stellar first one), but probably not enough of them for first time Yoon Ha Lee readers. This was definitely written for fans of the trilogy.The collection rang...

Now and forever, I'm your gun. Image credit: Yoon Ha Lee Yeah, at this point Lee could not do any wrong. He could write about Jedao masquerading as himself in Halloween and scaring everyone else or Mikodez munching all the chocolate candies in the Citadel of Eyes (with assassination orders on the side, please) or Cheris teaching snotty lil kids how to sing Mwennin songs....all the characters in his Machineries of Empire world were just that fascinating to read even doing silly, everyday thin

Yoon Ha Lee now has to be one the most prominent science fiction writers of our time and rarely does he let fans down. Hexarchate Stories is another stellar anthology of short novella length tales which, of course, suffer from the same issues that plague all of these ambitious collections: they each differ in quality. That said, each story is enjoyable but due to personal preference, every reader will find their own gems amongst these pages. Using the world created in his Machineries of Empire s...

While I enjoyed the short pieces set before Ninefox Gambit well enough, I really loved the longer novella piece at the end that is set after the end of Revenant Gun. Worth reading if you're a fan of the Ninefox series!

Excellent collection of the author's short fiction. Most were previous published and feature Shuos Jedao and take place before the action in Ninefox Gambit. The real gem is the original novella length story, featuring Cheris and Jedao, which takes place two years after Revenant Gun.As I love the three novel featuring these characters, buying this was a no-brainer.

I loved it. I'm also completely and utterly biased because the Machineries of Empire trilogy are among my favourite books, and I'll take any scrap of further writing from this universe and these characters I can get. As a collection, this a little weird, because it's mostly what YHL calls "flash fiction" (i.e. stories of about 10min audio runtime), then a few longer stories, and finally the new novella. I think I'm just gonna review these parts of the books separately.Flash fictionI loved all of...

Other than "The Battle of Candle Arc" (which is available for free online, and which I recommend to people who were confused by Ninefox Gambit as an easier-to-understand introduction to this universe) these stories will either make no sense or hold no interest for readers who have not read the Machineries of Empires novels. But if you enjoyed those books, you'll enjoy these stories, which are basically fanfiction of the series (that is, bits of prequel, a sequel, and interstitial explorations) b...

Review coming!