I read these novellas at various points this year and figured at this point, it might just be easiest to do a quick post covering all 3 to get them done. The first two are part of the same series.
So Green This Land, So Blue This Sea – 3 stars
The one follows one of the side characters from Shawn and George’s original blog as he visits some of their network in Australia to write a news story about Australia from an outsider’s perspective. Unlike many other nations, Australia still emphasized preservation of its many unique large species when creating its zombie virus containment and safety protocols where in other countries, killing the large animals to save human lives would have taken priority.
While it is interesting to see more of the world and the differences in reaction to the zombie virus outbreak, it is definitely not necessary reading for the series. It’s just a fun expansion, and does even have some hopeful data about the future of the virus and potential adaptation but it’s pretty light and almost clinical. Grant (AKA Seanan McGuire) is an expert at packing an emotional gut punch into shorter formats like novellas and even stories but she isn’t going for that in this novella.
Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus – 4 stars
Yes, there is an octopus in this novella but the story isn’t about the octopus – it’s more about “Don’t taunt the octopus” as a metaphor/gneral lab safety warning, meaning, as Dr. Shannon Abbey puts it, “Have a sliver of self-preservation in that rotten walnut you persist in calling a brain.”
Dr. Shannon Abbey is another recurring character in the Newsflesh world, having appeared in the main trilogy and frequently made small appearances in some of the novellas as well. She is a rogue/mad scientist but after the events of the trilogy, she has been able to keep her lab relatively steady – it’s been 3 years since they have had to move the lab to escape authorities. However, when a malnourished, strung out woman shows up at the facility asking for help, everyone is on edge and wonders what it could mean for them.
I enjoyed seeing things from Dr. Abbey’s perspective since we have primarily seen her through Shawn or George’s eyes. This one was also a little bit more light fun that also advanced another supporting character’s story. I had a little bit more fun with this one than the Australia one but both worth it for some more time in the Newsflesh universe that also leave the majority of characters alive.
Sanctuary – 4 stars
This one is a complete change up since this is a whole different author and universe. Roman is a minor character in the Kate Daniels series/universe, and this started out as a free story they were publishing in parts on their website (their Clean Sweep series novels also get written like this initially). I had started it when they were first releasing but I have a horrible time remembering to check for updates on week over week publications so they usually only really work for me when I find out about them when all but the last part/chapter are available. So it was nice to see that they had finished and published the final version – I also think it ended up longer than planned because this is definitely more novella than holiday story.
Roman is off for the holidays, he doesn’t want to deal with family, and just wants to be home for a few days with some nog, cookies and stew. Naturally, that means things have to go wrong and shortly after a teenager and a dog show up on his property asking for Sanctuary, Roman ends up with an army of mercenaries at his door step.
This novella ended up going much more deeply into Roman’s background and story than I was expecting from the original set up – it had originally felt like a grumpy priest was just taking a break from his overly demanding god and chaotic family. Maybe that even would have been the case if they had stuck with the original plan of a story but as it turns out, there is quite a bit of emotional baggage that makes Roman want that distance. The novella left the door open for more so looking forward to see where it goes from here.