Bacigalupi and Buckell build their world so precisely that everything feels natural and inevitable. Instead of seeming alien, their fantasy world gives the reader the sense that they are strolling into a world they already know ... all four stories are beautiful, subtle and well worth every moment spent reading them. Their writers understand not just how to give readers what they want but also how to write stories that couldn’t have happened any other way.
Conceptual, morally ambiguous, and incredibly timely, The Tangled Lands explores well-wrought narratives of feminism and environmental justice in a beautifully-crafted fantasy world that drips with rich lore and details at every turn ... The Tangled Lands is a profoundly enjoyable read — I would have been happy if it were at least twice as long ... I highly recommend The Tangled Lands for readers who enjoy high-fantasy whirlwind journeys through strange worlds, all the while maintaining a complex, nuanced, and profound connection to our own.
Buckell and Bacigalupi imagine the melancholy remnants of a once-grand empire, where magic-using citizens once lived in comfort ... The bramble—a writhing, insatiable growth of cruel vines and deadly seeds—was attracted to magic ... By the time The Tangled Lands begins, bramble covers the land, and people are forbidden from using magic ... by its final pages, The Tangled Lands occupies an awkward middle ground: It’s not quite significant or unified enough to feel like a novel, yet its parts aren’t independent or far-ranging enough to have the appeal of a story collection.
World-building details feel off-the-cuff at times, but readers drawn to powerful ethical questions will be immensely rewarded by the rich themes of the price of freedom and the corrupting quality of power.
Buckell and Bacigalupi’s shared setting has some solid worldbuilding, but the four novellas that comprise this collection (two by each author) vary in quality ... Without an emotional payoff or overarching plot resolution, these gloomy works serve the book poorly. Even staunch fans of the authors will wish there were more to this collection.
