Review copy provided by the publisher.
I like books that don’t follow a standard hero’s journey or quest narrative, and wow, is this in that category. This one has–and this by itself should tell you a large part of whether you want to read it–a gigantic whale of space–in space? but also comprising space? and multiple worlds inside the whale, that part is certain. Doors into unfolding different worlds, all inside the whale.
The whale used to be something else, but *what* else is a spoiler.
So there is more worldmaking than worldhopping here, and the titular sisters–there are two pairs of candidates for the title–are trying to figure out what madness means in their context. It is not a book that is trying to make a commentary on mental health in our own context, or if it is, it’s being very roundabout and obscure about it. But there is a lot about how cultures construe madness, sanity, fitting in and not.
And there are indeed sisterhoods, very strong sororal relationships. And also space whale. Which you might like, and if so, step right up, here it is.