Anima closes ær eyes and sees the world.

In the Watchful City: What a wonderful tale! I was lost part of the time but being lost is still beautiful in this tale, this world. Anima's climax is awesome, an amazing piece of writing. Much could be said of it. Best not. There is a section that tells the reader what is happening—directly, in easy to understand language. I appreciated it although it wasn't necessary. I was already happy with the way it was presented. The pronouns were fine; I just read them as written. Not a problem. The footbinding bothered me so much it pulled me out of the story, making it hard for me to understand the skycups competition. I'm happy with the way the story ended. The scene with Juniper was agonizing but wonderfully done. The final story is difficult but the ending is hopeful. The author has an amazing imagination.

In the Watchful City: Part Anthology-Part Novella, All Experimental Part novella and part anthology, “In the Watchful City” is a series of glimpses into the world of the City of Ora and its history through the eyes of one of its guardians, Anima, who lives interconnected to the magical/technological web in order to watch over the other citizens.It takes some time to settle into the City of Ora, to let go of the feeling of needing to fully understand Anima and the ins and outs of this strange science fiction city and just go with the flow. Ora and its abilities are really just a plot device for the other stories to take place and for its characters to find their way. Much of the world is left unexplained and can sometimes be confusing in a way that is unnecessarily distracting from the true focus of the story, which are the stories within the larger context and the characters’ relationships. But once the anthology aspect of the book kicks in during the second half, the story begins to find its flow and follows a more familiar structure that is easier to follow and sink into.However, by exploring so many different pieces in such a short period of time, this book felt too much like a longer piece that was condensed too much. There wasn’t enough time to really get to know the main characters, and by the time the book seemed to have found its ebb and flow, it was over. If this novella were to be expanded into a fully-fledged anthology, with more stories and room for the narrative that surrounds them, it would be much stronger and more engaging.I rated “In the Watchful City” 3.5 out of 4.Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

In the Watchful City: treasure trove of stories I was feeling hesitant about the book’s premise of a story within a story. That requires some pretty sophisticated storytelling. We’ll let me tell you, the author most certainly delivered. There is such confidence in S. Qiouyi Lu’s writing that draws you in. I even found myself more and more eager to know what discovery awaits in Vessel’s box and to hear of the stories connected to the trinkets found in their treasure trove of sorts. On my next trip to a second hand store I’m sure I will peruse the shelves with much more curiosity as I wonder what stories or tales are connected to each of these treasures. I found myself becoming more engrossed as the stories unfold. This book is certainly one of my favorite reads of the 2021.

In the Watchful City: I Wish There Was More I'm not going to lie. I was confused and still am about what went on in this novella, but I still liked the writing. There are stories within stories and those managed to be enjoyable as well! Like with all novellas, I wish there was more.

In the Watchful City: An absolutely stunning, beautiful, queer SFF story! Loved it! I thoroughly enjoyed this novella and am excited to see more from this author in the future! In the watchful city is a great blend of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Here we meet Anima who has spent her life protecting her city as one of the cities central nodes. But when not connected to the gleaming she spends the little time in her physical body in a small room. I loved watching Anima go from only knowing and understanding her city to realizing that aer world is so much bigger and complex and beautiful. The stories brought by the strange visitor were so good! I was amazed how in such a short novella the author was able to not only weave the main story line but make all the characters in the told stories so full and vibrant. Overall I thought this beautiful, queer novella was fantastic and would highly recommend to anyone and everyone!

In the Watchful City: Amazing Novella! In the Watchful City is a book about Anima (æ/ær/ær) who is an extrasensory human that interacts with the complex living network of Ora called the Gleaming. Anima maintains watch over all the citizens of Ora and makes sure no one comes to harm. But when a visitor with a cabinet of curiosities comes to visit, everything Anima thought was true comes into question.This story is full of stories within stories. It deep dives into what emotions and experiences make us human and the bonds that tie humanity together. This story also explores queerness in a way that's so normative it's like walking into a big queer group hug. Lu tells this story in fragments, and the non-linear timeline worked so well for this story. I loved seeing all the various characters and then coming back to the main storyline between Anima and Engima (se/ser/ser). Lu's writing was rich and I know I'm going to be diving back into this book soon to relive this experience!CWs: Suicide, death, death of sibling, foot binding, blood, colonisation, self harm, violence.

In the Watchful City: A unique and engaging story. It defies genre with fantastic and vibrant world-building. In The Watchful City is original and beautifully written.- It has stories within stories- Lush and whimsical prose- Biocyberpunk and mythology- set in an Asian-inspired world- Queer characters using neopronounsI'm so daunted when I started this one since it uses a non-traditional narrative and neopronouns, and I keep getting confused. It is such a layered story. I love how it explores grief, identity, self-acceptance, and what happens when your view is challenged; the questions that arise and how the characters reflect on it. Overall, In the Watchful City is a unique and engaging story. It defies genre with fantastic and vibrant world-building.Thank you so much, Tordotcom and Netgalley for the review copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

In the Watchful City: A story about the power of stories to change lives Stories have the power to change lives. Cliché, but very true … if the reader’s/listener’s mind is open to new ideas and to changing. Anima, the main character of In the Watchful City, starts out resistant to change and accepting of the party line. In fact, the first scene of the book shows us Anima using ær ability to inhabit and control animals in an attempt to capture someone trying to escape the city of Ora. It’s a tense, action-packed, vertiginous scene that sets Anima’s character up clearly, letting the reader see where æ is mentally and emotionally through the physical action. Why the runner is running is a mystery to Anima and to the reader until the very last moments of the scene, in which Anima must confront ær prejudices about citizens of Ora and citizens of neighboring Skyland.Anima’s life is thrown into disarray with the arrival in Ora of Vessel, the mysterious outsider with stories to share. Those stories come at a price – Anima will have to give something of ærself in return – but as with the best storyteller/listener exchanges, Anima gets to decide what that something is and when it will be given. Anima even gets to decide which stories æ wants to hear of the plethora Vessel seems to have available. Each story has an incremental effect on how Anima views Ora, its history, and its rules, as well as what Anima wants ær life to be like going forward.The sharing of stories affects Vessel as well, who has ser own history and challenges revealed through the visits with Anima. Where Anima is resistant to change, Vessel is actively looking to change ser circumstances and future. The stories affect the taller as much as the listener.(A note here about pronouns: yes, both Anima and Vessel are non-binary humans who use different sets of pronouns. Some of the characters in the stories Vessel shares are non-binary, some are cisgender, some are transgender. In addition to a full spectrum of gender identities, the characters in the stories express a wide range of sexual identities as well.)In the Watchful City is a wonderful hybrid of “stories within the story” and “mosaic novel” modes of writing. The stories Vessel shares are not directly connected to Anima or Vessel’s individual lives (although they clearly have an affect on the future course of those lives), but they are connected to each other (in sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle ways), building for the reader a sense of the shared history of Ora and the Skylands. Each of the stories also stands perfectly well on their own, without the connective tissue of the main action of the novel. Any one of them could appear in a magazine or an anthology and be a fantastic read. It takes, I think, a certain mastery of the form to make that work as effectively as it does here.I should mention some content warnings: there is on-the-page suicide of a character, and several instances of physical or emotional abuse including the tradition of foot-binding. Foot-binding is just one of many aspects of Asian history, and in particular Chinese and Taiwanese history, that the book builds off to create the world in which it takes place.In the Watchful City is a book whose core questions of identity and expectations, complacency and change, linger with the reader long after the final page. I cannot wait to see where S. Qiouyi Lu takes us next.

In the Watchful City: A cabinet of curiosities -- a poetic masterpiece Tor novellas tend to be either a hit or miss for me but man when they hit they REALLY HIT - In The Watchful City is one of my top reads of 2021 (in a year where there are so many amazing sff books being released) and by-far my favorite novella that Tor has acquired. I think it's best to go into this book blind and discover it with the main character Anima, so I won't give away too much about it. However, I will say that it was an absolutely gorgeous mosaic of stories set in a "biocyberpunk" world that weaves in various aspects of different Asian cultures so seamlessly and beautifully I've never seen it done so perfectly before. I'm actually baffled at how much punch S. Qiouyi Lu was able to pack in such a small amount of pages as well. There is so much to unravel in this book and it is definitely one where new layers will be uncovered with each reread.In The Watchful City absolutely lives up to the tradition of its inspirations (*looks at Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities*) while 100% standing on its own as a shining gem of innovative storytelling.