"...part of me is more me here, I guess. I'm not done with that yet."

GENRE: Anthology
RATING: 4.75/5
FORMAT: physical ARc

Overall Impression: What a beautiful Anthology that explores so many themes, including identity, where we belong and how we find ourselves in a world in which we do not fit in!

Review:
Amal El-Mohtar has a distinguished writing style that stands out and is unique, bringing with it so much beautiful, lyrical prose and that unique fantasy narrative style that we saw in The River has Roots.

Seasons of Glass & Iron has different short stories and poems, of which we dive into identity, who we are and how do we become our true selves. We also delve into the topic of finding our own home and what parts of ourselves we can be in there

My favourite short stories from this anthology were The Truth about Owls and A Hollow Play. I felt this explored the whole topic of where is home and why do we pick that place to be home as opposed to the place(s) we grow up in? It brings up the concept of how we want to belong somewhere where we can be the truest version of ourselves and the parts that we feel is true to us. Sometimes, we can't do this in where we were meant to be and so we go somewhere else, another place we feel a calling to and find our community there.

We also dive into the concept of language and what language is truest to us out of all the ones we speak: is it our native language? The language we use most during our lives? Any of the other languages in between? Language plays a huge role in identity and shaping who we are and finding our own home. I think this anthology (specifically The Truth about Owls) does a beautiful dive into three languages with our main character and how she uses them interchangeably.

As always, I can't wait to read more of Amal El-Mohtar's work! Thank you to the author and publisher for the Arc copy in the exchange for my honest opinion.