I was hoping for an extension of the noir world from Rowe’s short story about talking/sentient animals, but this was good too—in a world dominated by a quasi-Roman empire but also full of communicating animals, a fox takes a priest, a woman who hates the fox for being involved in her sister’s death, and various hangers-on in search of the gates of Hell. It is dreamlike and compact, and I quite enjoyed it. ( )

My snap reaction to this work is that it's certainly very clever, and if I chose to make nominations for the Hugo next year it would definitely make my novella "short list." Your question is likely to be whether this story rises above feeling like the fragment of a larger work; in regards to the main character Quintus Shu'al, the story arc remains open-ended. I'd certainly like to see Rowe go further; while Quintus might be the only navigating fox, his name suggests that there were four before him. I would also observe that if you liked Avram Davidson's stories about Virgil the Wizard, you should, at least, really like this story. ( )

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

Quintus is the only known navigating fox. In his world, where humans live alongside animals who are "knowledgeable" and "voiceless," an Empire with a distinct Roman flare rules a portion of the world. Quintus can navigate paths that are unseen to others--and his last mission, a year before, resulted in no survivors. When he is called to task on that, he is enlisted to lead yet another expedition, this one to the very gates of Hell. The story takes on a back and forth format between the two expeditions, as what happened in the first trip is gradually revealed.

The world here is so fascinating. I'd love to read more works in this setting. It feels like we're given the bare minimum of worldbuilding, enough to tantalize. The format of the book initially baffled me but I soon found the groove. This is a quick read, engrossing all the way through, with an ending that has a definite sense of rightness to it. ( )