Today in getting random library books because Libby put it in front of me and I went, “Well, it doesn’t look like there’s a romance in it so…” a science fiction book that I think was up for a Hugo along with This is How You Lose the Time War. So hopeful!
The story follows Sophie, a young student who gets arrested, dumped outside of town, and left for dead for a minor indiscretion. She meets a crocodile, the local species on January who are definitely not crocodiles, and returns to the city and meets up with her old roommate and unrequited love interest, Bianca, who is pursuing activism and is a little too open to violence to get her way without fully understanding what the consequences of her actions might be so long as she gets what she wants.
The other half of the story follows Mouth, a woman who is essentially a nomad on January traveling between places after her people were all killed by a natural disaster, her being the only one left alive and wanting that connection with who her people were while coming to terms with the idea that who they were in her memory is different than who they actually were.
This story feels much more… think-y than what I normally read. A lot of questions are raised in the context of these characters and none of the answers feel like they are correct. Sophie’s idealism is repeatedly punished or used to manipulate her, Mouth never seems to really bring herself into the present or find peace with the past, and Bianca’s activism ultimately proves to be shallow and shortsighted. I can see what the book was likely trying to say, but I don’t know that I ultimately agree with it.
I think I’m starting to understand what kind of books I want to read right now. I go through weird reading moods and right now I think I’m in one where I’m being drawn to ones where there’s larger societal conflicts being looked at through the perspectives of the individuals dealing with the results of them. At least, that’s the case with scifi and spec fic. This book absolutely fulfills that, and even though I really didn’t care for one of the two narrators, I really did enjoy the story and it left my brain feeling good.
Overall, I’d say check it out. It’s a really interesting science fiction novel with themes that feel like they resonate. And also the crocodiles.