In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns by Elizabeth Bear

This one was included in my Audible subscription, and I appear to have given it a spin out of order – I listened to book 2 not so long ago. This is book 1. In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns by Elizabeth Bear is part of the Sub-Inspector Ferron Mysteries and offers listeners a somewhat quirky dive into an India of the future, where virtual and augmented reality blend seamlessly with real life, and humanity deals with the challenges of climate change in a technologically driven society.

Genetic manipulation is par for the course in this setting, and designer pets are de rigueur – so if you want to meet a talkative parrot-cat called Chairman Meow, who is the only witness to what at face value appears to be an utterly bizarre murder, then step right this way. Actually, I was sold by the fact that this story has a talking cat.

Narrated by Zehra Jane Naqvi, this is a short escapade of two hours (unlike the 20+ hour beasts I tend to download) which I admit took me ten or so minutes to get used to Zehra's voice. I don't know why, but I seem to inadvertently mostly listen to audiobooks narrated by British men, so hitting a woman-narrated work was a bit of an adjustment – especially with her accent being on point in terms of the setting. But once I was used to her voice, I was fine, and Zehra oozes quirk in abundance.

There's much to be unpacked in this setting, and my only real complaint is that it's too short! I'm definitely going to keep a lookout for further titles, should these be rolled out. It's great to have a story that's not the usual western-centric fare. If fun, light mysteries, with unexpected twists are your jam, then this one is the cat's whiskers. Oh dog, I shouldn't mix so many metaphors.

A Blessing of Unicorns by Elizabeth Bear

I've been meaning to get into Elizabeth Bear's writing for a while now, so when A Blessing of Unicorns popped up in my Audible suggestions, I thought why the hell not. Only in hindsight do I see it's book 2 of a sequence of stories – The Sub-Inspector Ferron Mysteries, but it didn't bother me none that I missed the first instalment, and I may well go back to pick it up when I have a moment.

I will admit that it took a little getting used to narrator Zehra Jane Naqvi's voice, perhaps because the previous audiobook I'd listened to had been read by a man with a much deeper voice, but once I was over the initial shift, I got into Naqvi's style.

Set in the 2070s, which aren't that much different than current times, save for the deeper reliance on virtual and augmented reality than we have currently, A Blessing of Unicorns has Bangalore-based Police Sub-Inspector Ferron trying to figure out why internet-famous influencers are going missing. Not to mention figuring out why the missing women's flats are filled with small herds of artificial lifeforms in the form of multi-coloured unicorns.

Overall, this is a somewhat playful mystery that pokes sticks at society's tendency to put internet-famous influencers and their rather artificial lives on a pedestal. I enjoyed it, especially for the non-Western-centric flavour in speculating on an India of the future. And Ferron is a delight, and a pleasing change from the usual jaded, hard-bitten cops that often crop up in these sorts of stories.