I had high hopes for Kelly Robson’s High Times in the Low Parliament, expecting a charming comedic romp through a fantasy world of politics and the politicians who would deservedly be made the butt of all the jokes. I might have succeeded in connecting to the story if I’d found the narrator, Lana Baker, half as clever and engaging as the blurb makes her out to be.

Lana is a rather simple woman who is more interested in flirting and kisses and getting women into her bed than anything else, which is an unexpectedly unique take considering there are no men in this fantasy world—cis, trans, or otherwise male-presenting. You might wonder how procreation occurs, given that factoid, and the answer is explained matter-of-factly. The whys and what-fors of it are never explored, it simply is, and in terms of world-building, I felt a lot of interesting details were left untold that could have been a fun add to the story.

Lana is a scribe—the finest, in her own estimation—who was warned that kisses would be her downfall, and that bit of foreshadowing does indeed lead to her exile at Low Parliament when she agrees to deliver a letter from a stranger in exchange for a kiss. When Lana arrives there, she finds a parliament in disarray and the fairies on the verge of drowning all the humans if they can’t agree to quit disagreeing. Fairies are moody, miserable, unkind, and so Lana figures her best option is to try and befriend one. The fairy she selects, Bugbite, is chosen because she’s the homeliest of them, and, in Lana’s opinion, “outcasts always yearned for friends.” That’s where Lana’s personality grated, frankly, and she never managed to win me back. I did like Bugbite, though. Her general grumpiness hid a softer side that was exposed when she and Lana were busy getting high, which was often.

Lana also falls immediately in lust with a deputy, Eloquentia, and proceeds to try to charm her into bed while simultaneously becoming the heroine of the story. The take-away seems to be that not all women would rule the world better than their male counterparts, but perhaps some can and should.

High Times in the Low Parliament is a short novel that had potential, but in the end, I was left with too many “hows?” and “whys?” unanswered for it to satisfy.

(3.5 stars rounded up to a 4)

High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson is a weird but fun queer romp. It's a genre blend of fantasy and political satire with a dash of romance thrown in. The ebook version is 160 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at a little over four and a half hours and is narrated by Amy Scanlon.

Lana Baker is the best scribe in Aldgate, full of wit and down to flirt with just about anyone. She ends up sent to Low Parliament in place of another scribe. However, if Parliament does not agree in an important vote, everyone will be drowned. Lana seeks the help of Bugbite, a fairy, and Eloquentia, a human deputy, to attempt to save humanity and maybe get laid in the process.

For those of you who have some knowledge of alignment charts in Dungeons & Dragons, Lana is the epitome of chaotic neutral. The author apparently describes this novella as "a lesbian stoner buddy comedy with fairies--about Brexit" and that is a pretty apt description. I enjoyed the read but found it a tad confusing.

There seem to only be women in this alternate 18th-century England (known as Angland), which is never actually explained. Also, I may have understood the book better if I was more knowledgeable about Brexit or Britain's Parliament in general. That, or as the author is from Canada, maybe we both are confused about Brexit/Parliament?

All-in-all, I think this story would have been better if it was a full-length novel that was fleshed out with more worldbuilding. Knowing a bit about why the humans and fairies struck a bargain and created the Low Parliament in the first place could have been really cool.

Tropes in this book include: political intrigue, sapphic main character, sapphic side characters, fairies, unlikeable heroine

CW: drug use, binge drinking

Special thanks to Tordotcom, Macmillan, Recorded Books, RB Media, and NetGalley for providing an eARC and an audiogalley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

So, I’ve been snookered again by a pretty cover. I admit, my hopes for this weren’t particularly high but the idea of a layabout scribe only interested in wooing the ladies teaming up with a curmudgeonly fairy intrigued me. Also, did I mention that I like the cover? Nice colors, cutesy art featuring fairies and mushrooms = me like.
First, I’ll start with the pros of the book because all negativity is just a bit of a buzzkill. And I’m also saving that for another book review. The world is actually fairly interesting. It seems there are no men. At all. I don’t recall a single one - only mothers, sisters, aunts, and grannies. What happened to all the men? And there are fairies, who apparently are begrudgingly in charge of keeping the humans from ceaseless war and wanton destruction. The fairies aren’t happy about this at all and it rather soured the temperament of the whole people. It’s set in a pseudo-Europe where the countries have slightly off names, but that seems to be because they’ve remained somewhat provincial in nature.
Our main character Lana is from Angland. London to be precise. And she’s a scribe who’s rather full of herself and in her attempts to woo someone, she ends up being drafted as a Low Parliament scribe. Most unfortunate because the Parliament is hung and if they don’t unhang themselves the fairies are going to flood the place and drown everyone. So, Lana hands out magic yeast drugs, befriends Bugbite (the scribe’s fairy overseer) and tries to fix things the best she can. All while wooing one of the Parliamentary deputies she spent pages and pages fawning over.
This all sounds great, right? Yes! It sounds fun and quirky, but somehow it was so god awful boring after about 30 pages I was nearly ready to give up! It was a mere 160 pages, so I pushed on through and it just felt so pointless and meandering until riiiiight at the very end where everything worked out happily ever after. I really just feel like I wasted several hours of my life and I’m a little annoyed at myself for not DNFing this.

This is the story of Lana Baker who is a scribe in an alternate-universe-London where fairies exist. She gets sent to Low Parliament, a place you don't seem to be allowed to leave, to scribe the never ending debates there. To prevent an endless war (and drowning, I think?), Lana must rely on a fairy named Bugbite, and Eloquentia, a human who has sparked Lana's interest.

I was expecting to like this one a lot more than I actually ended up liking it, unfortunately. It was certainly an interesting idea but I had such a hard time keeping up with what was actually going on that I ended up skimming most of the end of the book just to see how it ended. The plot just seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once, and I found it very, very confusing.

I never really ended up liking Lana as a character, as she just seems to spend a lot of the time wandering around getting high and oogling every other woman there is. Oh, and this world appears to be totally women, so, there is a good bit of oogling. Bugbite isn't a very likable character by their very nature, so Eloquentia was the only character I didn't not like, and unfortunately it just wasn't enough to keep me interested.

So, perhaps that the problem is that I just didn't 'get it'. I'd say give this one a try if you want to try something really quite unique, but fair warning, it might not make much sense to you either.

This is a weird and wild ride of a novella! Through a series of unfortunate events, Lana heads to the Low Parliament at exactly the wrong time: when it's about to be wiped off of the map, quite literally, because the delegates are deadlocked in every vote. Of course, it takes Lana a while to figure this out, because she's just trying to get through her day-to-day life dealing with grumpy fairies, working as a scribe, and surreptitiously watching a beautiful dancer in the courtyards at night.

The novella takes a loving look at living in the moment and the power of kindness, which sounds kind of cheesy. But then you add in all of the bonkers, unexplained worldbuilding (there are only women in this world... who knows why?), the magical yeast and mushrooms, and the parliamentary debate - dance-off style - and it transforms from something cheesy to something wonderfully different. Definitely worth checking out if you're into historical fantasy - or stoner movies - or even just a new take on fairy lore.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the book.

This book was very fun to read! It was whimsical and light-hearted. However, at times I feel as if the writing was a little weak. It felt like the author was telling us, and not showing us, what was occurring in the story. The characters were fun, and the motivation for why the characters were doing what they did was there. It would've been four stars if the writing had been stronger.

I was expecting scrapes, shenanigans, and pickles in a parliament setting with fun, lovable characters. What I got could *kind of* be described that way, but it ended up being a very different vibe than I was expecting.

We follow a main character whom I didn't find lovable. Perhaps others will. I found her to be self-involved and lazy. Her characterization revolves around being a horny, high lesbian. Yeah, I wasn't expecting "high times" to literally be characters getting high constantly.

The world building is also very strange. The main character has to go work as a scribe in parliament...which is basically a prison you can't leave. And, everyone there is at risk of being drowned if parliament can't get a 2/3 majority vote. And some factions seem to want that? And fairies are rascally little wranglers who oversee human parliament and sting people. It was all just very strange and I didn't get it.

Ultimately, I was very bored and confused and didn't care about anything.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for the e-arc.

Sexual violence? I don't remember any. Other content warnings? Drug use, death

Ahoy there mateys! This was me first book by the author.  It is short and yet I was left shaking me noggin in complete confusion when done.  I had no idea what the point of the book was and the world building was nonsense.  The story follows scribe Lana whose life revolves around drinking and flirting and doing the least amount of work possible.  She inadvertently (and for no real reason) gets sent to Angland's session of Parliament to take minutes of the proceedings.  If Parliament does not come to an agreement then the fairies will make the world flood and start over.  Aye, fairies.  I am not sure what Parliament is discussing because Lana doesn't care and only wants to be high and flirt.  The only reason Lana ends up getting involved is because she lusts after a politician.  And how the day is saved makes NO sense.  Seriously.  The only good part of this book was that men don't exist.  However, the women seem to make a botch of everything anyway.  In trying to figure out what I missed in this novella, I was told the author described this book as a “lesbian stoner buddy comedy” and it is supposed to be a comment on Brexit.  Like Brexit this book makes no sense and maybe ye have to be high to enjoy it.  Arrrr!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
This is a sheer delight, a fun fantastical romp that is just a bit absurd. It delights in poking fun at the incompetence within Parliament, and while I did feel it needed a tad more grounding, I liked this alt-history with fairies and other creatures. And the romance at the heart between Lana and Bugbite (not to mention Bugbite herself) just makes the story super sweet.

I don’t know what exactly I was expecting from this. The author did mention that this features a stoner lesbian protagonist and that’s exactly what we got. Lana loves flirting with every beautiful woman she encounters, is not interested at all in the scribing job she has been forced into, makes friends with a grumpy fairy and loves getting stoned. The story on the other hand is probably a satire on governments in general where politicians keep arguing with each other and not doing anything productive even when the country gets destroyed due to their inaction. I had fun while reading it but neither the characters nor the world are fleshed out too much, so it just ultimately doesn’t leave much of an impression after we finish reading it.

A fantastical, original, and quite wild ride! I enjoyed the light humor present in this novella. I think if you really let yourself be taken in by the vibes of the world you will really enjoy this book, but unfortunately I kept getting caught up on minute worldbuilding details that I wanted more elaboration on (why do they all get high on yeast? is this a world of only women?). I did enjoy the fairy character, Bugbite, very much!

I really, really wanted to like this novella more than I did. It sounded like it was right up my alley: Stoner lesbian buddies deal with a hung fairy parliament (in a satire of Brexit)? Love that stuff. Unfortunately, the way it was executed didn't work for me at all. I'm giving this a 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because it is still immensely readable (I didn't feel the need to put it down at any point, even though it wasn't working for me).

I'm breaking my review below into what worked for me and what didn't, because if the stuff that doesn't work for me DOES work for you, then it'll be something I imagine you enjoy immensely!

What worked for me: As I mentioned, I found it incredibly readable. The prose was simple, clean, flowed quickly and smoothly, and the pacing of the story was great to sweep you along with it. When a story doesn't work for me, usually I have to put it down numerous times as I get through it; that didn't happen at all here. The glimpses of the world building were also very intriguing to me (there's a mention of the fairies 'making' humans? Matrons being granted children from a baby-gifter? A complete lack of men in the story that seems potentially tied to the fairies deciding to rule humanity and control its growth by making it impossible for humans to have children together otherwise...? All fascinating worldbuilding choices)! And I love that this ended up being a polyamorous story at its core. I didn't fully get won over by believing all three love interests were genuinely into each other, but I did buy the main pair's chemistry being fully established -- and I'm quite intrigued by their romance (including the third party in concept).

What didn't work for me: The story leaned heavily into whimsy, and avoided having to actually sit with the darkness of its themes, using with frequent drug trips to get the characters giggling and cheerful whenever the story's plot got too grim. I don't mind drugs as part of a story ever (many of my friends are stoners!) but they felt used by the narrative to maintain the overall cheery and light tone generally, rather than treating the escapism of doing drugs to avoid coping with the fact you're going to die tomorrow being treated as what it was. It felt like it tried to have it both ways by doing this: have a grim story with heavy stakes but have a super light tone. The protagonist was unlikeable to me -- she didn't seem to ever actually emotionally interact with the fact that she and everyone she knew were going to be forcibly drowned, because she was too busy licking yeast and trying to get laid and even though she knew it was going to happen she just sort of shrugged it off. (Relatedly, in this story, yeast gets humans high, which distracted me a lot because that'd work for me with fairies, but why humans? I did get to go down an interesting path of researching auto-brewery syndrome before concluding it didn't apply here). The mutual love interest for the main pair is just longed for from afar for about 65% of the book, and because of that, we don't really get to know her by the end, unfortunately (though I think the author did a good job of bringing in her personality traits once they start interacting); I'm not sure what she saw in the main pair, who didn't know her at all before they decided they were in love with her. Certain plot elements, or events in the story, felt like they were dropped without having a follow-through. Finally, the internal logic that brought around the climax didn't feel entirely solid for me -- it was a good emotional conclusion, but felt oddly matched to what had been going on in the story so far. In general, the plot and emotional beats, and the way certain harsh elements were deliberately softened and kept light, felt aimed toward a younger audience, but the subject matter was often mature.

Again, though: It was very readable, and if some of these things work more for you, I think it'd be an excellent read. If you're really into whimsy and giving dark themes light treatment, then I can see the way this story is executed to be a perfect fit.

Thank you to Tor and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was one odd little novella. It was charming in a way, but also frustrating because I don't think I ever really got the point. The juxtaposition of the main character's lackadaisical attitude alongside the supposed world-ending threat of the null votes in Parliament didn't work for me. I think the author was trying to create a clever critique of the seemingly never-ending partisan brinkmanship that has plagued recent politics. However, the ending was rather abrupt and didn't offer anything remotely resembling a satisfying solution to that problem. The world-building and history of the human and fairy co-existence was interesting, though, and it kept me amused and engaged with the story. I especially enjoyed Bugbite and would have loved to learn even more about the fairies than the story provided. Most of the characters spent the story sloshed or high out of their minds, and while reading, it felt like the person narrating was on a good trip that made little sense. So, maybe it was a job well done? I'm not sure. However, I enjoyed the writing and world-building enough to rate this 3 stars even if I'm not quite sure what I just read.

A strange and strangely delightful, sharply satirical romp of a book, following an unlikely set of friends as they attempt to get a legislative body to agree on literally anything and, as a result, save everyone in the building from death by drowning. Fun, funny, original, and wildly hallucinogenic, this wasn’t quite like anything I’ve ever read before.

I confess: I was not entirely convinced by this book at its start. But as the story continued to unspool, I found myself increasingly charmed by both the world and the characters. The unlikely relationships that grow between Lana, the fairy Bugbite, and the beautiful and serious MP Eloquentia were surprising, sincere, and sweet; the plot held my attention and felt like it provided enough tension to keep the story going. so if you’re uncertain at the beginning, give it a little time. (And if you like the beginning, you will CERTAINLY like the rest of the book.)

I would have liked a little bit more expansion on the world-building; this was a short book, and so many things were necessarily, I think, glossed over, but I felt like I had too many questions about the universe we existed in, and it distracted from my enjoyment of the story a bit. I would actually love to see something longer set in this world, because I want those questions answered! Some of the relationships, additionally, felt as if they could use a little more fleshing out; it wasn’t quite enough to pull me out of the story, but I wanted a little bit more from them.

All in all: recommended, especially if you like political satire, worlds where everyone is gay, stoner comedy, and unexpected friendships. Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

- HIGH TIMES IN THE LOW PARLIAMENT is a strange, funny little novella that I adored. It's such a unique world where humans and fairies are at odds yet working together, leading to both great tension and hilarity.
- The parallels of the book's deadlocked Parliament to our own real life struggles with Congress are a bit depressing, but watching Lana and her compatriots figure it out was thrilling.
- Did I mention this is a world of entirely women? No men, everyone is sapphic!

Lana is a scribe in a world governed by fairies or perhaps the fairies are the overlords. When Lana writes a letter for a potential love interest, she gets embroiled in parliamentary matters that need to resolve otherwise the fairies will wreak havoc on them all.

This was definitely different in tone. I'm just not sure it's something that was for me. It felt like a parody, Lana was more interested in chasing girls or getting drunk which made her a poor protagonist. She never introduces her world properly, she cannot focus on a single plot thread, and her antics get old very quickly. The repetition of her name also got really irksome (every other paragraph started with her name).

Overall, I think this must have been experimental writing which just didn't work for me.

Winner of both the Nebula and Aurora awards and a finalist for the Hugo, Sturgeon, and Locus awards, Robson (Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach) here offers a satirical send up of politicians and bureaucrats wrapped in a story of queer love and female friendship, sprinkled with fairy dust, and set in the 18th century. Lana has been packed off to Low Parliament as a reluctant scribe, just as the government is on the threshold of dissolving. Literally. The fae-controlled legislature will flood the building, drowning all the humans within it, if there are too many hung votes. Charming, insouciant, and frequently stoned Lana wants to live and pursue a romance with the dancing delegate from Provence, but she’ll need the help of a friendly fae and some psychedelic yeast in order to save her fellow scribes and ladylove. The story trips along as Lana charms her way into love, friendship, and surprising herself most of all, power.VERDICT Readers who like their political fantasies and power trips to go down with a spoonful of sugar will eat this up.

This little novella has fairies, politics, impending doom, magical mushrooms, and no men? I will fully admit that I was so wrapped up in what was happening in this book that I was more than a quarter of the way through before I realized there were no male characters in this book. It definitely doesn’t deter from the story line it’s self but it also isn’t outright explained so there’s a lot to put together yourself. Lana is an interesting character, a scribe talented in language and writing she spends the majority of the book either drunk or high. Which leads to several very amusing situations and dialog. She’s also a self proclaimed ladies woman, but the few attempts we are shown of her flirting are more awkward and cringy than not. My favorite character was definitely Bugbite the fairy. Equal parts sugar and vinegar she was really a delight the whole book. The whole story really revolves around the failing parliament and human fairy politics and the impending doom that would befall if votes continued to be hung. Honestly at the end of this book I have no idea what happened. While it seems this was a fantasy political satire it also seemed to have a bit of a found family/ finding one’s true potential vibe. I’m still a little confused. I definitely give it points for style though!

This novella was very creative, but it was not for me. Didn’t enjoy this one.

The protagonist is Lana, from an alternate version of London. Lana is mostly interested in chasing girls and getting high, but is unfortunately drafted to serve as a scribe in a sort of pan-European Parliament. This Parliament governs humans, but is administered by faeries. Parliament is presently paralyzed by a series of hung votes, which is a problem, because if the logjam doesn’t break the faeries will be drowning the members, the support staff, and everyone else who is there (obviously a matter of some concern for Lana).

Overall, it didn’t work for me. Lana would have been fine as a minor character in a larger story; make her the protagonist, and she got old quickly. There were a lot of things that I didn’t really get why the author did what she did (why are there no men at all in this universe?). There are things that aren’t explained (why is most of Parliament apparently willing to commit suicide?). And the things which I got (Parliament as a barely-disguised stand-in for the United States Senate) felt very heavy handed.

There are a number of things that I could understand why someone would like it, but none of it worked for me.

This seems to me to be a very experimental novella, and for some it probably worked as a very fun, lighthearted yet political story. For me it sadly did not work very well.
A big part of the story is it's whimsy, and the seemingly charming protagonist. Yet for me the whimsy was abit too much, and it made it hard for me to get a grasp of the worldbuilding and concept of the book. The main character was also described as being charming and funny, which she sadly wasn't in my eyes at all.
I think many would enjoy this though - especially those that don't mind worldbuilding that isn't that detailed, and whimsy.