(High Fantasy) The last Theodoran priest tries to save the last of their saints from destruction by an empire that has its own priests and saints. (6,863 words; Time: 22m)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average
"Corpus Grace," by William Broom [bio] (edited by Scott H. Andrews), appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies issue 234, published on September 7, 2017.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The priest dies, but he brings the saint’s body to a safe place, and she acquires a new set of believers.
The story portrays the Empire as a good thing by its own lights—it’s not pure evil by any measure. This is a conflict between two groups of people who both think they’re doing good.
Once can argue that Mirabina simply gave out blessings and comfort whereas Androminus slaughtered an entire village and that therefore the Empire is evil. But the same village preemptively killed a young man and would have killed the others, so there was blood on both sides. Ultimately, we have no way to judge between the two variations on what seems to be a single religion.
Con: It’s hard to imagine that anything good will come of the preservation of Mirabina. At most, it just extends the conflict by a few years.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 234)
William Broom Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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The story portrays the Empire as a good thing by its own lights—it’s not pure evil by any measure. This is a conflict between two groups of people who both think they’re doing good.
Once can argue that Mirabina simply gave out blessings and comfort whereas Androminus slaughtered an entire village and that therefore the Empire is evil. But the same village preemptively killed a young man and would have killed the others, so there was blood on both sides. Ultimately, we have no way to judge between the two variations on what seems to be a single religion.
Con: It’s hard to imagine that anything good will come of the preservation of Mirabina. At most, it just extends the conflict by a few years.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 234)
William Broom Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
I like how the priest allowed the nomads and villagers to have their own local variations on the rituals (originating from their former beliefs). Shows that the empire could have made a similar compromise with the Theodorans, instead of destroying their saints.
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