Author-ized L.J.I #amReading @vicorva ‘s #TheOldGoatAndTheAlien, and though it’s still early on I’m falling in love with the characters and world, from the dreamy descriptions of the fantastical scenery to the whimsical, lovable animals that populate this world. Yet the dynamics of this dreamy world are also amazingly relatable, including fraught family relations, neurodivergence, and bureaucracy! This is gearing up to be another unforgettable work of #CozyFantasy / #CozySFF from Veo and I can’t wait to read more.
I love how flawed and multifaceted a character Avari is, lovably catankerous and frustratingly stubborn while fundamentally well-meant. The titular old goat, as Jenna called them xD While the way Nova treated them was frustrating, even angering to watch, I can also see how Nova herself was trying to hold things together and how her communication style was not meshing well with her child’s. It’s great to have a protagonist and viewpoint character who is unreliable and flawed yet sympathetic.
Jenna’s straightforwardness when asked if she’s okay, that she’s not okay but will have to manage, is such refreshing honesty and an entire chronic illness/disability mood. I like her better and better and look forward to learning more about her!
“I dunno, she was a BIT of a burden.” Oh Avari, what an honest asshole 
At least they have the sense not to say it out loud.
At least they have the sense not to say it out loud.So Jenna’s a gardener with ME/CFS? Reminds me of someone I know! 
The social model of disability has entered the chaaaat
I’m at the forest
I’m at the city
I’m at the combination forest city
I’m at the city
I’m at the combination forest city
The Old Goat and the Alien is giving me so many THOUGHTS, it’s great!
Okay, a gardener with ME/CFS and arachnophobia? I’m just going to see “Jenna” and thinking “Gwenfar” for the rest of the book, aren’t I.
Veo’s description of the civilization of Viridus, with its choice to work with plants and existing features of the environment rather than paving and ploughing them over, will justifiably get attention and praise. While I was held rapt by these details too, the real a-ha moment for me that filled me with a new level of admiration was the offhand mention of there being very few vegetables at market. Of course! A world without large-scale fields and a civilization adverse to cutting trees to clear ground wouldn’t have as much of a vegetable and grain production, though plenty of fruit.
I also haven’t seen any mention of meat or animal products, and only mentions of wild non-cosmoran animals and not livestock, leaving me wondering if this is a vegan-by-default world. Maybe the food situation, including approaches to agriculture and hunting/livestock, is different in other regions that aren’t as arboreal as Lost Circle. At any rate I loved that attention to detail, which brought the world home to me as not just a shiny utopia but a world shaped by choices with tangible, if fully live-withable, payoffs.
I absolutely love Avari's past in going from a home disaster situation to a professional cleaner themself. I also love that while the help they got with home cleaning from their siblings was life-changing, that didn't necessarily mean they're always perfect with their own home, either. So relatable and realistic! I like how it's not a one-and-done character arc going from zero to hero, but having improvements and changes while still muddling through the messes (literally, in this case!) of life.
Also like... it occurs to me this is the first genre novel I've read, and possibly first work of fiction period, where a professional cleaner is the viewpoint character. Take that together with the other MC Jenna being a gardener, and it's so wonderful that the story is about people with very down-to-earth occupations at home and garden, not people whose main distinction is killing others or accumulating power. It's a story about, just, people living their lives and taking care of each other, and I find that deeply grounding and beautiful.
Also I squeed at the appearance of Needle the mouse as Avari's client because I recognized the name from a mention in V's feed! Maybe the spin-off story about them didn't work out, but I'm glad they have a home--if one that starts out messy--in this story ^_^ Their apologetic anxiety about the state of their home and wondering if they should have cleaned up for the cleaner were so relatable, omg. I knowww it's not rational, but there is so much shame knotted around the issue of home cleanliness, it's hard to be reasonable about it! 
Trying to contain my feels in the scene with Jenna & Avari, failing...
"They don't have to be bad people to hurt you. I'm sorry." 🥺
"I don’t think they were capable of loving me as I am. They only loved who they wished I had been." 💔
"But I’m so, so glad I get to be here. And that I get to be here with you right now, hiding from your mothers with you." 😭
Also is Jenna reading Murderbot to them?? That's so adorable! xD
Noooo I thought this was going to be cozy SFF, how DARE Veo hit me with all the feels in Jenna facing a deportation threat?? V I'm mailing you legos to step on is2g
(But seriously, my heart is wrenched and I've been shedding real tears. How dare.)
Rowyn