Book Review — "Winterglass" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
I am so glad I read this novella.
Because I’ve never really been an ardent SFF buff. To be perfectly honest, the genre kinda intimidates me. You see, I have commitment issues when it comes to my reading habits. And it’s my impression that SFF novels are always huge, and not only that—every book is seemingly part of a series made up of multiple gargantuan volumes. I’m not loyal enough for that.
And frankly I lack the upper body strength for all the page-turning that heavy SFF novels require.
Thankfully, Benjanun Sriduangkaew’s Winterglass, the first installment in her Her Pitiless Command series, is only 130 pages. And most importantly: it’s a damn good read!
So many SFF stories grow to be so massive due to all the world-building involved. Dozens of pages dedicated to establishing how a civilization functions, or the events from the past that caused life to be lived such a way.
Sriduangkaew, however, has a very breezy way of giving readers the gist, without bogging things down with a great big detail dump. Which is both good and not so good (at first). Sriduangkaew trusts her readers. Offering enough context clues to put the pieces together. Maybe not right away. But over time, as things play out and more backstory presents itself in the form of action and dialogue.
This is good on the one hand because it keeps things moving. It’s also a not so good thing because sometimes dots are left unconnected for a while. Keen readers, though, will get it soon enough. Trust Sriduangkaew back, and let her paint this portrait stroke by stroke, because this world and the people who inhabit it are quite intriguing.
Winterglass is set in a city-state called Sirapirat, a land suffering through an infinite winter. The people of Sirapirat used to experience warmth and seasonal weather—but not since the Winter Queen usurped it as part of her unending search for these scattered glass shards, which will grant her unlimited power once reunited.
Some of these shards are buried inside the bodies of special persons. Nuawa, the primary protagonist, is one such person. She’s a rebel who seeks to overthrow the Winter Queen and end her tyranny of ice. So as to get close enough to the Queen to kill her and to restore order, Nuawa, a gifted fighter, enters a bloody tournament where the winner becomes a high-ranking member of the Queen’s military and the losers’ souls are seized for fuel. (Yes, this place runs on ghosts! So metal.)
Nuawa quickly garners the attention of Lussadh, the Queen’s top general. General Lussadh is perhaps my favorite character in this story. Like Nuawa, Lussadh also bears a shard—hers is in her heart. She also harbors a dark, regrettable past. Lussadh betrayed her country and pledged her allegiance to the Winter Queen (then became the Queen’s lover) in the interest of herself, and it has plagued her ever since.
Lussadh especially brings an unrelenting queerness to this story. Winterglass is effortlessly queer on its own already, but Lussadh is a key figure in the scheme of things. I admire Sriduangkaew’s refusal to adhere to heteronormativity. These characters are totally fluid—unbound by gender dichotomy and sexual politics. Some even have their own unique pronouns. Again, Sriduangkaew doesn’t explain that. It’s all just presented as it is. And I love that.
Language seems to be Sriduangkaew’s strong suit. Her prose is direct and specific. Her words are so apt and confident that she can convey in a sentence what other authors may need entire paragraphs to say. So of course the pace is quite brisk, sometimes to the narrative’s detriment in fact.
Okay, I’m about to sound like a hypocrite, so brace yourself… Winterglass could’ve been longer. Sriduangkaew really could have taken her time with it, let the scenes breathe a little more before moving on. Some would call it rushed. I call it expeditious. This is particularly apparent in Nuawa’s tournament battles—and her (without giving too much away) sequence of assassinations. Those moments are certainly well told and vivid, but they could have stood some milking and I wouldn’t have minded.
I’m itching to get to Mirrorstrike, the next installment in the series. Because I’m not sure yet how well this novella holds up on its own. I knew going into it that Winterglass was the first in a series, but in the end it feels more like the first part of a single novel—one of those giant ones I mentioned at the beginning. There is a climax here (with a hell of a reveal) and a resolution, yet it still feels… unfinished when it’s over. Like there ought to be more.
Of course, I haven’t read the whole series yet, but maybe the novellas that form it could’ve been joined into one massive single-volume queer fantasy extravaganza instead? But for what this is—an individual novella—Winterglass is a quick and worthwhile read. Perfect for when you’re seeing family over the holiday and need to retire into the next room to escape to Sirapirat when the festivities become overwhelming. I may have experience in that department…
Bottom line: I need to read more SFF like this. I know they’re out there. I know they exist. I just need someone to point me in the right direction, please.
