Kinning

It's been eight years since Shawl introduced their alternate-history, anticolonial, steampunk world in Everfair (2016). Kinning is absolutely worth the wait. Immediately following World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution fails, but a group of Chinese socialists discovers a botanical method to generate near-psychic connections between groups of people. They hope to spread this Spirit Medicine to achieve worldwide anticolonialist goals without the need for revolution. Groups of European powers hatch a plan to drain the Mediterranean to gain land to compensate for their losses of colonial territories, and Russia develops an inoculation against influenza with some very unexpected side effects. The kingdom of Everfair remains a prize to be courted by all world powers, and its rulers play a daring game against one other. Kinning is a complex tale with a more explicitly worldwide scope than its predecessor. It offers a nuanced exploration of morality and ethics, greed and selflessness, duplicity and honesty, identity and responsibility, where the balance between individuality and collectivism is constantly at question. The scope of Shawl's imagination will leave the reader in awe, and their attention to detail is unparalleled. Kinning is a beautiful, hopeful, stunning evolution of one of the most unique alternate histories ever conceived.

In this ambitious outing, Shawl broadens the scope of their alternate history of the early 20th century to show how the eponymous independent African country whose founding was the subject of their first book, 2016's Everfair, interacts with the rest of the world. Now the two children of Everfair's king, Princess Mwadi and Prince Ilunga, both claim the right to accession to the throne, while outside powers attempt to gain leverage in the kingdom's politics. Meanwhile, Europe is in the midst of an influenza epidemic, for which a Chinese scientist has discovered a cure that involves spores that create empathic bonds between small groups of people. Siblings Tink and Bee-Lung set out to distribute the spores among residents of nations unwilling to accept them. There are so many characters and story lines to track that at times readers may become discouraged, but they're in capable hands with Shawl, who has clearly done the research to create this expansive and well-crafted world. Those who stick with it will be happy they did. (Jan.)