The Jewel and the Comet

Being very busy this month (see editorial), I read the new Tim Pratt novel, because such things can be relied upon to be a quick read, and a lot of fun. Also these days Pratt’s social media persona is Tim Melody Pratt, with a very feminine presentation. The Jewel and the Comet is, in part, a story about one of the main characters, Glyn/Gwen, discovering and embracing a genderfluid trans identity.

Of course Glyn/Gwen is also in a very kinky relationship with the other main character, Vivy. This book even starts at the Folsom Street Fair, which is very Bay Area of it. Given the K Arsenault Rivera books that I reviewed in the past two issues, you could be forgiven for thinking that I’m getting a taste for lesbian BDSM relationships. Seriously, no. But Pratt’s books are fun in other ways.

The Jewel and the Comet is a sequel to The Knife and the Serpent, reviewed back in issue #65. Glyn/Gwen and Vivy work for a band of happy-go-lucky multiversal anarchists who have dedicated themselves to ridding the multiverse of nasty, authoritarian regimes. But sometimes there are bigger fish to fry.

As explained in The Knife and the Serpent, the multiverse can be thought of as a sheaf of papers, each containing a universe, and which you can traverse from one to the next. However, there are boundaries to this sheaf, and the closer you get to the ends the weirder things get. Outside the sheaf, the laws of physics don’t work in the same way, but that doesn’t mean that they are uninhabited. And sometimes the things that live Out There are possessed of what one might call Insatiable Curiosity.

Oh dear.

So The Jewel and the Comet is basically a story about trying to track down a naughty child with unimaginable superpowers before it does irreparable damage.

Given that this is a very Bay Area book, there is lots of talk about relationships, and about people needing therapy. One of the new characters is Vivy’s ex, Staci, who is a space station. Also Glyn/Gwen talks quite a bit about discovering their feminine side and learning to embrace it. Eddie the Sarcastic Spaceship discovers a new identity as a drag queen. And along the way they might just save the multiverse.

I am ridiculously pleased that books like this can get published. Of course Pratt writes very well, which helps, but in the current political climate this is very welcome indeed.

Title: The Jewel and the Comet
By: Tim Melody Pratt
Publisher: Angry Robot
Purchase links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bookshop.org UK
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