It's about finding moments of peace when you believe you have access to none. And defiance in the face of injustice and those who would harm you and your own. But these stories are also about resilience. There are no straight answers to trauma and the corners that were broken inside you as a child, or as an adult, and the stories make it clear that some are luckier than others - not everyone has an Omar or an Ilyana or a Niko to protect them and guide them onto a path of healing.

The stories are unflinching about the realities of war and its casualties (as fans of the series should expect). Genuinely one of the best I've encountered in SFF.ģ) Jos needs more hugs in his life. So, so, so stupidly good - even though I'd read half of these vignette/shorts before, even as Karin takes my heart from its silver platter and stomps it to a pile of goo.ġ) rich and deep the Warchild universe runs, and there are infinite facets of the characters and the overarching plot left to explore.Ģ) Karin's switching of the first person voice for different characters is impeccable (and I'll harp on about it forever). and then come back and also read this short story collection because you'll want more! What I'm saying here is basically: Everyone who has read and enjoyed the original novels will also love this short story collection and everyone else should go read the books. and suddenly I 100% get why there will never be a book from Erret's POV (It would be a disaster). We get to see some events of the books, some from before and some after (!) through the eyes of people who were there, gaining different perspectives and witness how they think. Some of the stories were (partly) known to the old fandom already, but I was really glad to have them in the official canon now - especially the one with the Halloween party. Plus in the end we get a glimpse at the main character(s) of the fourth book and I'm very much looking forward to holding it in my hand one day (hopefully as a paper version). It was just so nice to be back in this universe with these characters, a lot of which we've never had as point of view characters before - Enas, Niko, Cairo, Erret and many more (I've decided that the two stories from Rick O'Neil's perspective were written specifically for me! Everyone has that super minor character somewhere they for some reason love despite the character only ever having like two scenes and one mention.

When this short story collection was announced, I was ecstatic and now that it's finally out, I wish there was a physical version I could put on my shelf next to the books, because it deserves its spot there!

Warchild by Karin Lowachee