(Post Apocalypse) Just as things are looking up, survivors in a Northwest community face a threat from the east. (6,503 words; Time: 21m)
Rating: ★★★★★ Award-Worthy
"Everything that Isn't Winter," by Margaret Killjoy [bio] (edited by Diana Pho), published on October 19, 2016 by Tor.com.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Beyond being a story about how Aiden and Bartley saved the people of the In-Between Lodge from the invaders, it's also a story of how Aiden opened up enough to really love Khalil.
From the very first sentence, "The evening sky was a spring gray, which is different than a winter gray," this story has powerful, hopeful themes of renewal. The In-Between and the New World are both safe, peaceful, and growing, and the threat to them from the Easterners is especially painful. But it's also about Aiden herself emerging from the winter. When Khalil asks why she doesn't talk to him, she says
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From the very first sentence, "The evening sky was a spring gray, which is different than a winter gray," this story has powerful, hopeful themes of renewal. The In-Between and the New World are both safe, peaceful, and growing, and the threat to them from the Easterners is especially painful. But it's also about Aiden herself emerging from the winter. When Khalil asks why she doesn't talk to him, she says
I’m afraid,” I said, louder. “I’m afraid. I’m afraid of you and I’m afraid of us and I’m afraid of this new world we’ve built, that one day soon it’ll be no place for me and everything I’ve done and everything I am. I’m afraid of everything that isn’t winter and I’m afraid of everything but dying.What changes after she survives the attack is that she lets herself believe in spring. Not just for her civilization, but for her own soul.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 10/19/16)
Margaret Killjoy Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
I didn't get why Aiden and Khalid were having relationship problems in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read that bit about the "eletromagnetic waves wiping out most of the technology from earth" in the story, all it did was remind me of that TV series "Revolution".