Sunday, October 4, 2015

City of Ash, by Paolo Bacigalupi

Matter, July 27, 2015; 2,107 words
Rating: 4, Recommended  Recommended By:    SFEP

In a near-future, water-starved Phoenix, AZ, Maria hides from the smoke of distant forest fires and thinks about everything that went wrong.

Readers of The Water Knife may recognize Maria. This fills in more of her story, but it does stand alone.

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: Very moving story. Maria's crash from hopeful about the future to utterly destroyed by the loss of her father really hurts. Her narration of how they got to their present condition works very well, even though there's not a line of dialogue.

Con: Something about the ending is just a little off. Maria's lack of response to the news hits a wrong note somehow.

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