Some of these stories were lame. The several 'funny' ones about the woman soldiers could have been in a book by themselves (and then I could have avoided that book). The two about music were thoughtful and fairly intense. I really recommend Gravesite Revisited, about the effects of time-traveling anthropologists. ( )

A collection of short stories from Elizabeth Moon, author of the acclaimed [b:The Speed of Dark|96063|The Speed of Dark|Elizabeth Moon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171309231s/96063.jpg|1128271] and the awful Paksenarrion series. Like her novels, this is a mixed bag of scifi, fantasy, and straight military tales; equally like her novels, the stories range from good to dreadful.
The Ladies Aid and Armory Society stories (about a group of female guards) are funny, though one of them really bothered me. (Why on earth would courtly ladies in a medieval society be concerned with having perfect abs and muscled legs? If anything, shouldn't they be aiming for dimpled thighs and round wrists? Felt anachronistic in its reaffirmation of the "lean is the only beauty" bs of modern times.)
I was impressed by the world-building in "Judgment".
"Gravesite Revisited" was a cool look at ancient burial practices, from the perspectives of both the people burying and the people discovering the graves. Reminiscent of Kage Baker's Company series, or Connie Willis's [b:Doomsday Book|24983|Doomsday Book|Connie Willis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167544945s/24983.jpg|2439628], [b:Firewatch|1123328|Firewatch|Cynthia Wall|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|1110417] etc world.

The nicest aspect of these stories is their focus. None of the main characters are the smartest, bravest, strongest person in the story. No one is a Chosen One. No one is royalty, not even secretly. Every single one of them are ordinary people who mostly pay attention to the mundane details of their lives--sometimes something extraordinary happens, but mostly it doesn't. It's a refreshing change, and in the hands of a better writer it would be truly wonderful. As it is, the "mundane details" are too often the entirety of the story. ( )

A collection of short stories, and it's a mixed bag. There's a WW1 naval battle that bored me rigid, and a Vatta's War story that's just barely mildly funny. But the Ladies Aid society tales cracked me up, and I enjoyed a couple of the small fantasy pieces, too. ( )

I'm always happy to read anything by Elizabeth Moon, and this collection of short stories was well up to her high standard. Ranging from pure fantasy to "space ship" science fiction, the characters are always absorbing, the plot twists always interesting, and the prose always a pleasure to read. ( )

Noveller är inte sällan ett verkligt lackmustest på en författares berättarförmåga. Därför var det viss oro jag gav mig på den här antologin av Elizabeth Moon, men löftet om en avslutande novell i samma miljö som hennes fantastiska serie "Vatta's War" lockade verkligen.
Resultatet är blandat. Här finns flera medelmåttiga eller rentav slätstrukna noveller som lämnar mig oberörd. Å andra sidan överraskades jag av "And Ladies of the Club", en humoristisk fantasypärla om medlemmarna av Ladies' Aid & Armor Society. Glädjen minskade inte av att antologin innehåller inte mindre än fyra noveller—samtliga som har publicerats—om dem.
Över lag var det för många noveller utan skruv eller överraskningar för att ge samlingen ett riktigt bra betyg (ett lysande undantag är "Gravesite Revisited", som inte bara är tankeväckande vad det gäller vår syn på förhistoriska kulturer och arkeologiska fynd utan också verkligen överraskar läsaren och utnyttjar de unika möjligheter som novellgenren ger). Novellerna om LA&AS, den nämda "Gravesite Revisited" och den härliga avslutande "Say Cheese" (härligt underhållande om några av Ky Vattas släktingars första handelsresa och som definitivt sprider samma härliga vardagskänsla av familjehandelsimperium som Vatta's War-seren) gör trots det att samlingen lämnar en skön eftersmak. ( )