Breath of Earth by Beth Cato
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Breath of Earth by Beth Cato is at once satisfying and disturbing. In a San Francisco with a subtly different history than our own, the great quake still happened, but for a much different reason than simple plate tectonics. We experience this magical place through a steampunk lens, while also examining the forgotten way things really happened. The author brings up feminism, racism, and lgbt rights, without being overly preachy. Yes, a genre novel that made me think.
The world is wonderfully built, using the scaffold of true history and coloring it with Asian influence, for well explained reasons. So why disturbing? As a person of Chinese descent it was uncomfortable to see “my culture” as the bad guys, or the ones that everybody looked down on. Intellectually I know that was the case in actual history, but no one talks about it. I’m pleased to hear about all the research that the author did to find the hidden history of the area, and her ability to combine the actual past with her magical world is refreshing and intriguing.
I enjoyed the characters in this novel. People acted in reasonable, realistic ways, while pushing back against the norms of the time. The worldbuilding is excellent, describing a historic place that feels true to its reality but delightfully embellished with magic and cultural elements that I could believe in. Topics that tend to fluster the less progressive among us are presented in believable context, talked about in a natural way, neither harped upon or shoved under a rug. Huzzah diversity in fiction! Highly recommended.
Received as a free digital ARC via Edelweiss and the publisher. I have also met the author at conventions but this did not affect my review.