Upright Women Wanted

 I've been meaning to read Sarah Gailey every since I heard about their very first novella, River of Teeth. I finally bought Magic for Liars and then Tor.com made Upright Women Wanted one of the free books of the month. I'm so glad I finally read it, because now I'm even more excited for all of Gailey's work. Good thing I've already got one of her books sitting on my shelf.

I went into this book assuming it took place in the far past. I have no real justification for that assumption except that this book reads like a western, and westerns are generally a past thing. But this book actually takes place in a dystopian future, where all the trappings of the wild west have come back. The Librarians are slowly revealed as outlaws, hiding in plain sight. And Esther's desire to join up with them gets turned on its head when she finds out the sort of work they really do.

I absolutely loved this book, and I wish it had been fleshed out into a full novel if only because I wanted to know more about this world. But the length worked well for the story, and I loved that the ending was really more of a beginning. I both want to read more and feel like this was perfect as is. Which is quite the accomplishment.

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