But this is the sort of formulation that becomes rather too familiar, particularly in the earlier reviews, with Harrison approaching his criticisms tentatively, almost apologetically. Since he is an avowed fan of Stephen Baxter (something he makes clear several times throughout the book) it is perhaps no surprise that, of Flood, he can remark that in the face of ‘cunningly intense passages it seems churlish to complain’ (the way that the ebook is laid out makes it impossible to give page numbers for any quotations). Particularly in the earlier pieces collected here (and the book is arranged in strictly chronological order, by the date the work under review was first published rather than the date the review first appeared, taking us from six reviews representing 2005 to one final review as he (temporarily) abandoned the field in 2014) he sometimes seems to bend himself into awkward contortions in order to balance a critical word with a more kindly gesture. For a start, a volume like this can cast a sometimes unflattering light on tics, themes, habits of thought and habits of expression.įor example, Harrison likes to be gentle, almost generous in his reviews. There is, after all, a big difference between reading individual reviews as they appear in different venues weeks or months apart, and reading all those reviews one after the other hugger-mugger in a single book. Not that that means that All These Worlds (Briardene Books, 2023) is necessarily going to get an easy ride from me. Frankly, we need all the reviewers like Niall Harrison that we can get. And I welcome this volume because, as it goes on so we find new writing beginning to creep in and so, along with his new column at Strange Horizons, it seems to indicate a return to the critical fold. A word to the wise: I know Niall, I was one of those who tried to dissuade him from his decision to stop reviewing a little under a decade ago.

Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett