ALT Unsaved by Pemry Janes

ALT <b><i>At one point, people had still called each cataclysm by its own name, acted like they were all unprecedented catastrophes that would be remembered forever. But they’d run out of names, and then out of hope.</i></b> <b>SPOILER WARNING</b> I started this one on a whim today, wanting something short and fun as I’m too tired from work for my chonky novels right now. And I quite liked this! It’s a dark little post-apocalyptic/end-of-civilisation tale about a robot sent to retrieve a young girl and bring her to safety. <i><b>Behind them, the melted remains of some edifice opened a deep wound into the planet, where the girl had been safe from ending upon ending.</i></b> I will say, the terminology was very impressively immersive for so short a story. (Handy tip: <u>There is a glossary in the back</u> that I wish I’d had at the start and only realised was there when I finished. So!

ALT If you, like me, find glossaries lovely and helpful, check the back!) <i><b>“The moon?” They looked up, scanning the sky. They found it in a moment, a cloud of rocks and dust. They pointed at it. “There, but it was smashed apart long ago. Your eyes can’t see it. As for the stars … without the light from the cylinder you would see some.” Most had died long ago, as the sun should have if not for humanity’s desperate meddling, but the last moments of the more distant ones took longer to reach Dust.</i></b> The vibe kind of reminded me of <i>Mad Max: Fury Road</i>, <i>Dune</i> and <i>The Last of Us</i>; very grim, and perhaps bittersweet, too. Actually! The more I think about it, the more I feel like it could vibe with <i>Dying of the Light</i> by GRRM. To be fair, I haven’t read that novella in yearsssss - like, a decade - but from what I recall, that novella takes place on a planet that’s freezing over as it loses any heat from its star, and the whole story is a guy trying to find some

ALT <i><b>How surely, if he could make others, there would be princesses and kings who would shower him in gold. Flattery and greed paved the wagon driver’s road into the toy maker’s home and into his trust. It wasn’t long until the old man couldn’t contain himself, he had to share how he had done it. And surely, the wagon driver would understand, since she already thought him so clever.</i></b> The world-building was super fascinating and I was left with many questions about what happened before the story, what brought Earth to that point, what’s going to happen next, and all the stories of the groups and locations that they travelled through. There were plenty of hints, and fragments of information, but I’d be super curious to see how it all expands in a novel-length tale set in the same world, either before or after this story. Honestly, this novella intrigued me so much - even when some of the terminology went a bit over my head at times - that I can’t wait to read more by the author

ALT The photo shows a building with light blue and dark blue windows with a grey building in front of it with a “Dobie” sign on it in multiple different colors. Photo by Reid Stacy.