I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water by Vylar Kaftan Published by Tor.com on May 21 2019
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 112
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A short, well written tale with a dream-like quality that gives readers plenty to think about.
This was such an odd little story, but I enjoyed it a lot. Vylar Kaftan has written a twisty, hallucinogenic tale about mental health and inner strength that didn’t go where I was expecting it to go—at all. I’m still not sure I understood everything that happens in this short novella, but I loved Kaftan’s atmospheric writing style and her exploration of how the minds of telepaths work. The main characters are queer Latinx women so if you’re looking for diverse rep in your reading, then look no further.
The story opens as two women are trapped in an underground cave system. The narrator, a powerful telepath named Bee, describes climbing through the dangerous corridors of the cave with her only companion, a fellow telepath named Chela. Together they help each other survive as they scramble to find food stores left behind by their captors and try to avoid the swarms of dangerous insects that seem to be everywhere in the caves. We soon learn that Bee and Chela have been imprisoned on the planet Colel-Cab after causing the deaths of thousands of people. Chela insists that there is no way to escape the caves and that they should just make the best of things. At least they have each other, right? But Bee is determined to find a way out of the caves and off the planet. Unfortunately, she’s also lost her memories and can’t remember anything about the incident that brought her here, or any details about her past. She must rely on Chela to fill in the blanks, but Chela seems oddly reluctant to explain too much.
One day Bee senses another presence close by, and suddenly a memory blooms in her mind—she can hear the voice of her wife, Jasmine. Convinced that Jasmine is trying to help her break out of prison, Bee decides she’ll do whatever it takes to find her freedom, even if it means leaving Chela behind.
There’s a powerful mystery to all these events, and you’ll have to read to the end before you understand what’s going on, but that was half the fun, not understanding but trying to piece things together as the story progresses. We’re given some scant background details about this world, where telepaths live in danger of being captured and “T-locked”—having their minds locked so that they can’t endanger anyone. It’s sort of terrifying if you think about it, having a gift like telepathy but everyone is afraid of you and wants to stop you from using that ability.
It’s also hard to know who to trust in this story. Bee seems like she’s an innocent, and both Chela and Jasmine might be lying to her. I even suspected at one point that Bee might be the unreliable narrator, but Kaftan’s story was hard to predict and I found that my theories were completely wrong at the end.
Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water is short but powerful. The ending surprised and delighted me, and I love the way everything seemed to come together and finally make sense. I’d love to read something longer from this author, because I think her ideas are unique and a novel length story would give her even more room to develop those ideas.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Sounds like an awesome book Tammy! I wasn’t all that interested in this one before but I think you’ve changed my mind.
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you decide to read it:-)
Sounds like they crammed a lot in in just a few pages. I’m glad you enjoyed this one. The cover has always intrigued me.
It was pretty short, but it worked for me:-)
Ah, this sounds fascinating! I’d been drawn to the cover previously, but didn’t know what it was about. Now I think I need to read it!
I’d love to hear some other opinions!
I love that cover, Tammy! It’s promising when an author leaves you wanting a little more – hopefully she can write a full novel next. Lovely review!
Yes, the cover is so lovely, and it really gives you a sense of the emotions and feeling of the story.
Ohhhh I’m absolutly loving the sound of this story. I think it’s one I would really enjoy reading and figuring things out as I go along. Great review!!
Thanks Stephanie:-)
I was sold at the mention of the word “telepath” – that was more than enough… 🙂
Thanks for sharing!!!
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And I think she handled the telepath element really well:-)
Ooooooo … hadn’t heard of this, but now I’m interested! Thank you!! 😀
The cover’s not too shabby either:-)
I honestly wasn’t planning on reading this just because I always sort of take a wait and see approach when it comes to novellas. But this sounds really good! I like short fiction with a punch 🙂
It was strange, but super short and I did love how it all suddenly made sense at the end:-)
I also didn’t expect it to go where it did! But it’s such a unique story. And the message was great.
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Yes, a lovely message and really, she did a great job fooling the reader but not making me angry for being fooled!
I get in moods where I love reading an unreliable narrator and hallucinogenic writing. I recently read one by Autumn Christian that was all that and more. I’ll be adding this one to my list 🙂
I’ve never heard of Autumn Christian, I’m off to Goodreads to learn more!
Oooh. Well I hadn’t heard of this but may have to check it out, I love atmospheric stories like this where you don’t know quite what is going on.
It was a mystery for most of the story, at least for me. I had a few guesses but I was wrong!
I’m thinking of giving this one a read. You sure enjoyed it and the title is so intriguing.
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Isn’t the title cool? I’m still not sure what it means, although there is a line about tracing the silhouette of someone’s face.
You had me at “twisty, hallucinogenic tale about mental health.” 😀 I wasn’t really interested in this one because of…well, the cover (*hides in shame*) but now I definitely need to check it out!
It’s worth checking out, and pretty short so you’re not investing a lot of time if it doesn’t work.
I would echo Mogsy’s comment. I was on the fence about this but it does sound good and the cover is just beautiful.
Lynn 😀
I love a good unreliable narrator. I’m intrigued.
This sounds spooky! I guess it’s good I don’t explore caves!
This sounds claustrophobic, creepy, cryptic and worth reading. Thanks.