This review is not an agreement that I’m done with this book. To write this review, I’ve made a bargain with myself: I purchased Hexarchate Stores, so I can dive right into that, and Conservation of Shadows is going to live on the coffee table for a while longer. You might be done reading the book, but the book isn’t done with you. This is what Yoon Ha Lee does: writes fiction you don’t want to stop thinking about. But there’s something different about a book that is floating around the house because you are still thinking about it, and a book that you’ve put back on the shelf and categorized in your mind as “I’m done thinking about that book”. Can I reread these stories any time I want? For sure. I’m not ready for these characters to not be in my life anymore. I didn’t want to put Conservation of Shadows back on the shelf along with all the other books that “I’m done thinking about”. The time came for me to start thinking about the review. When I felt ready, I’d try another story/meal. Once I identified a story I enjoyed, I’d reread it three, or four times, getting into into my rotation. I consumed this collection in such a strange way, I consumed it the same way I use a cookbook. And then I read Iseul’s Lexicon, which I then, read again. When I did crack the book open, of course the first story I read was The Battle of Candle Arc.

And once I opened it, it would evaporate and soon barely the scent would remain. Like it was the last bottle of whisky from a famous yet shuttered distillery. I don’t know why, but I felt the need to save this book for some time when I really needed it. This was the book I didn’t want to review.

Grosvenor gambit