Michael Barnes
Having read a few of Premee Mohamed's works before - her Beneath the Rising trilogy and her critically acclaimed The Siege of Burning Grass I had enjoyed them but I found I enjoyed them less than I expected to given how her narratives seem to be right in my wheelhouse - come on a mediation of the role of a pacifist in a War, with war pterodactyls or the apocalyptic earth and a multi universe eldritch horror squarely is my kinda a story. Her prose style is lyric and clear, a unique voice but they didn't give me that 'turn the page, what's next' feel.
That wasn't the case with this novella The Annual Migration of Clouds. Nineteen year old Reid who has gown up in a community scrambling to survive in post-apocalyptic Alberta ravaged by climate change. She was received an invitation to a university that seems to be half myth, as having security to survive comfortably. This first book in the trilogy covers her thoughts on leaving her community and setting off to this future and what she leaves behind. Through in a 'parasite' described as fungal but later said not to be fungal that seems to have a sapience that infects many of the community and can lead to a painful death our Reid has much to be plucky about.
Aigner Loren Wilson describes the novella thus "The Annual Migration of Clouds is less about the destruction or aftermath of disaster and more focused on how communities, families, and people learn to live together and apart. Despite all the disease, death, and decay surrounding Reid and her community, they still work to hold onto what they have and try to cherish the things they are forced to let go".
The conclusion is very cliff hanging, and this novella certainly feels more like it could be a first third of a larger book and so I was fortunate to be able to begin We Speak Through the Mountain and unless something changes then onto The First Thousand Trees.
Having read a few of Premee Mohamed's works before - her Beneath the Rising trilogy and her critically acclaimed The Siege of Burning Grass I had enjoyed them but I found I enjoyed them less than I expected to given how her narratives seem to be right in my wheelhouse - come on a mediation of the role of a pacifist in a War, with war pterodactyls or the apocalyptic earth and a multi universe eldritch horror squarely is my kinda a story. Her prose style is lyric and clear, a unique voice but they didn't give me that 'turn the page, what's next' feel.
That wasn't the case with this novella The Annual Migration of Clouds. Nineteen year old Reid who has gown up in a community scrambling to survive in post-apocalyptic Alberta ravaged by climate change. She was received an invitation to a university that seems to be half myth, as having security to survive comfortably. This first book in the trilogy covers her thoughts on leaving her community and setting off to this future and what she leaves behind. Through in a 'parasite' described as fungal but later said not to be fungal that seems to have a sapience that infects many of the community and can lead to a painful death our Reid has much to be plucky about.
Aigner Loren Wilson describes the novella thus "The Annual Migration of Clouds is less about the destruction or aftermath of disaster and more focused on how communities, families, and people learn to live together and apart. Despite all the disease, death, and decay surrounding Reid and her community, they still work to hold onto what they have and try to cherish the things they are forced to let go".
The conclusion is very cliff hanging, and this novella certainly feels more like it could be a first third of a larger book and so I was fortunate to be able to begin We Speak Through the Mountain and unless something changes then onto The First Thousand Trees.