The New Moon's Arms

I've now read this book twice. The first time I read it, I really liked it but forgot most of the plot. The second time I read it, I still liked it but felt like maybe the plot didn't make as much sense as I originally thought. (Or, perhaps, my second read was just not as attentive as the first?) One could argue that perhaps there are just too many moving plot ports for a character-driven fantasy novel of this length. That being said: There are a lot of balls in the air and if they don't all get caught at the end of the story, it doesn't really matter. The important plot points get wraapped up, and if some things are left open-ended that may have been intentional. What I liked most about the book was the main character, Calamity. She is a difficult heroine, perhaps even an anti-heroine. Calamityhas a lot of very good and very bad qualities, and Hopkinson is not shy about showing Calamity at her worst. Yet, you find yourself rooting for her anyway - rooting for her to become a better person and to find happiness. I think having a complicated first-person narrator is really hard, and Hopkinson nailed it. Overall, the book is a fun, poignant, whimsical modern fairy tale.