I wasn't a huge fan. My opinion is biased due to my dislike of 1st person POV writing styles. Overall, the plot was interesting.

I have read and enjoyed much of the science fiction of Alastair Reynolds and was curious to see how he handled fantasy. I was not disappointed. The Dagger in Vichy is not quite fantasy though. In it we follow a troupe of traveling actors through a far future post-apocalyptic France as seen through the eyes of the youngest member Rufus, an illiterate former thief who is being taught to read and write as an apprentice to the resident playwright. They find a dying soldier by the road and are entrusted with a relic from a monastery that must be brought to the Imperator immediately. They accept the charge with the caveat that they must honor their current contracts before they can go to Avignon. Things go downhill from there.

I found the characters to be convincing and likable and the pacing brisk. In such a short book one can’t learn the deep backstory of everyone but there is enough exposition and banter to learn how everyone relates to each other and enough history to understand what motivates them. I quite enjoyed this book and thank net galley and the publisher for the chance to read it in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this. It was fast paced and kept me engaged the whole time. I absolutely loved the world and the setting - it's medieval but also Sci Fi and post-apocalyptic all at the same time, which sounds confusing but it was awesome. I think explaining it would give away too much so I won't.

I really enjoyed the cast of characters and the fact that they were a theater troup, I kind of wish the book was longer so we got more time with them. I really enjoyed the perspective of Rufus, the main character telling the story, I didn't really understand his decisions at the end, but that's ok. I'm still thinking about it after it's done so that's a good sign.

The Dagger in Vichy by Alastair Reynolds is a novella set to be released later this year by Subterranean Press. This is a fascinating tale set in a future where society has regressed back to medieval times, yet advanced technology still lingers from ages past. It is a story that plays with Clarke’s theme of sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic. I have come to really enjoy stories that take characters in a low tech society and then introduce some kind of highly advanced and unexplainable tech, seeing how those characters react.

In this novella, a troupe of actors traveling across France in a wagon encounter a dying soldier on the road. This soldier entrusts them with delivering a mysterious box to the Imperator in Avignon. Master Guillaume, playwright and leader of the troupe, agrees to deliver the box and promises not to open it. A young actor and thief, who was saved from the noose by Guillaume, overhears his master speaking to the box, and from there the story sails.

This was a quickly paced story that can be read in an afternoon. The story showcases Alastair’s typical creative genius and his mastery over the science fiction genre. The characters are compelling and the plot is exciting. As usual, Al gives us just enough background to let our imagination ponder the possibilities, and yearn for more.

I would definitely recommend The Dagger in Vichy. Be on the lookout for its release later this fall from Subterranean Press. It is a perfect mix of medieval science fiction, a mashup not seen very often.

This is a fantastic short novella, an easy read! Great pace, very effective forward motion. I enjoyed the intricacy of the relationships between strangers to friends and the plot twist towards the end had me pulled in!

I want to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Subterranean Press for the E-Arc copy of The Dagger in Vichy in exchange for my honest review.

Okay... maybe I'm not in the right frame of mind for this right now but I am not getting Voltaire word play and motifs here—I'm getting middle school humor about urination and it goes on for the first four pages. I've tried a bunch of times to just get past it but I'm at a loss.

The writing itself is nice, and maybe somewhere down the line I'll give this another shot, but unfortunately it's a DNF for me.

The prose is nice, the humor is lacking but I don't think it's fair to give it less than 2.5 stars so I'm rounding up...

A big thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!

This short and fast-paced book follows Rufus, a horse thief turned actor, on his journey around France with his master, to deliver an important relic that must not be opened by its carriers. There is manipulation and betrayal, old friends turning on each other for the power and glory.

I will say that I did enjoy this book, but most of it fell a bit flat to me. It was no fault of the author, I simply don't think I was the target audience for this novel. I've never been one for fantasy outside of dragons and magic, so this read was somewhat outside of the norm for me. However, the writing style was fantastic and clever, with only a few words leaving me wondering what they meant.

If you enjoy reading books set in medieval times, with a simplistic but layered plot, this book might be for you!

Thank you to Sub Press for the ARC!

To be honest with you, I'm not really a big novella reader/fan. I always feel like just as the story gets going, it's over. However, that is not the case with "The Dagger in Vichy". Reynolds grips you right from the start. I found the story and characters to be very engaging. It is a theater troupe traveling around France in a wagon. It almost felt like I was in the wagon with them. At times this novella reminded me of Station Eleven and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It was a very enjoyable quick read and I do recommend it!

Enjoyed this book by Alastair Reynolds. I enjoyed the characters, well developed. And it was a great plot with great pacing. Will be seeking out more books from Alastair Reynolds. #TheDaggerinVichy #NetGalley

The Dagger in Vichy is a fascinating, genre-defying work of fiction. This novella is like an intricately constructed puzzle; with each page, I discovered another element of world-building that subtly altered my understanding of the story. Reading it was a delight.

Rufus is the youngest member of a close-knit troupe travelling the countryside performing plays in each city and village. When they discover a dying man on the road one night, he entrusts them with a box that must be taken to the Imperator. But when the leader of their troupe becomes dangerously obsessed with the thing inside the box, Rufus is drawn into a world beyond his understanding that may be destined to end in tragedy.

This novella is truly genre-defying; it seems to be equal parts fantasy, sci-fi, and adventure, with a wistful coming-of-age story woven throughout. It's a quick read, but it pulled me into the plot swiftly and entirely, and I suspect this story will linger in my thoughts for a long time.

I would recommend this book to fans of Station Eleven and The Butcher of the Forest, as well as to readers who enjoy post-post-apocalyptic worlds, sci-fi / fantasy mixes, and coming-of-age tales.

Thank you to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for the arc! All thoughts & opinions in the review are my own.

I fear novellas are not for me. I was quite confused by the point of the plot and motivations of the character and felt that the story was underdeveloped. It was a fast, decent read but nothing truly stuck out to me. I feel that I am missing something vital from it and that others who are more versed in the genre would appreciate it more.
It’s about 70% dialogue, and the lack of character tags make it difficult to follow along in the thick of it.

This was a quick fun read, albeit kinda confusing. It was mostly dialogue so it made for a one sitting read.

A fast and engaging read! Genre-bending through medieval fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. This goes several places you weren’t expecting in relatively quick fashion. With an incredibly interesting plot, and twists that you won’t expect, I would definitely recommend this! Especially if you like: medieval horror, A24 fantasy movies, or weird novellas.

THE DAGGER IN VICHY gives engrossing proof that author Alastair Reynolds can write Science Fiction Fantasy and post-Apocalyptic genres just as capably as he can Hard Science Fiction. Truly a can't-stop-reading page-turner, this novella is a one-sitting read packed brim-full of content, adventure, interpersonal conflict and coming-of-age, blending a tale resonant of Medieval Fantasy with a Post-Technological Era, long following the apocalyptic end of Technology, in which machines are sort of archaeological artifacts, and sometimes items very dangerous, even fatal, for the former Technology was far advanced over what we know. Not a moment's lapse in this story: an adventure to read, and well deserving of rereading as well.