★★☆☆☆
(Fantasy) Long ago, Sylvie turned herself into a tree to avoid rape, but she wonders if there might not be a better way. (4,515 words; Time: 15m)
"The Sycamore and the Sybil," by Alix E. Harrow [bio] (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas), appeared in Uncanny Magazine issue 33, published on March 3, 2020.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.154 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: It’s not a surprise that the narrator tells us that Daphne was her grandmother. In the Greek myths, Daphne was turned into a tree to escape sexual pursuit by Apollo. The timeframe seems a bit out of whack, though, since the story definitely takes place after the witch burnings of the middle ages, and more likely the 19th-Century or later.
Per the story, women gave up serious magic to avoid getting burned at the stake, but Sylvia manages to retrieve at least one important spell from the past: it lets women turn men into trees instead.
Con: This is all message, no story.
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Pro: It’s not a surprise that the narrator tells us that Daphne was her grandmother. In the Greek myths, Daphne was turned into a tree to escape sexual pursuit by Apollo. The timeframe seems a bit out of whack, though, since the story definitely takes place after the witch burnings of the middle ages, and more likely the 19th-Century or later.
Per the story, women gave up serious magic to avoid getting burned at the stake, but Sylvia manages to retrieve at least one important spell from the past: it lets women turn men into trees instead.
Con: This is all message, no story.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Alix E. Harrow Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
There is a story in here and it does convey a message - that message being "think about ALL your options" and "fighting back"
ReplyDeleteI read the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo a long time ago. Quite pleased the author took this myth and gave it a good hard look.
Worth reading
I really like this one. Although not directly related at all, the author says this is in the same world as her Once and Future Witches novel.
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