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bookaneer's review against another edition
2.0
I am very much in the minority since even though I read this twice, I thought it was just okay, nothing special.
balise's review against another edition
5.0
Bleak, but very moving and powerful. And an interesting application of some variant of the trolley dilemma....
nataliya_x's review
4.0
Hugo nominee for best short story.
A decision to start or escalate a war is usually made by those who send others for slaughter. Someone makes a decision; countless other someones die. This becomes even more horrifying when wars can be fought remotely, by pushing buttons that release deadly weapons, by nuking cities from the safety of far away, the bliss of remote detachment, the privilege of not seeing the dying.
When a person has the codes that would launch a lethal weapon, what would it take for the weapon NOT to be launched?
Nyma’s country was hit - Hiroshima-like - with such a weapon a couple of centuries prior. Now they possess the same kind of deadly weapons of mass destruction. But the country’s past experience with “justified” devastation requires that any future choice to use them would be a truly desperate action, when nothing else is possible.
The solution the Order comes up with, to give the necessary hesitation to those with the power to launch the weapons - is to place the codes in the heart of a young child who is required to remain with the leader for duration of their term. To get access to the launch codes, the leader needs to murder the child with a ceremonial dagger. Kill the innocent child in front of you before killing many others with your action. Bloody your own hands first.
What if it really came down to that choice? When people are dying without you pushing that launch button and will be dying if you do? And the child with the codes in her heart is in front of you?
This is a short story from the point of view of one of those children who carries the weapons codes in her heart. The girl who writes poetry and is not sure if she’s good enough yet to forgo the rhymes. The girl who, lets face it, is a tool for “her” side rather than a person - at least for a while. The girl who fervently believes in the purpose behind this cruel way of controlling the slaughter. The girl who nevertheless really does not want to die.
Good story. A touch too didactic, perhaps, but still good. Thought-provoking. Scary. Sad.
4 stars.
—————————
Read this story here: https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/as-the-last-i-may-know-s-l-huang/
Twitter thread about the author’s inspiration for this story: https://twitter.com/sl_huang/status/1215743396574388226
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569
——————
Recommended by: Dennis
“It’s not about right and wrong,” she said to him. “It’s about making it hard.”
A decision to start or escalate a war is usually made by those who send others for slaughter. Someone makes a decision; countless other someones die. This becomes even more horrifying when wars can be fought remotely, by pushing buttons that release deadly weapons, by nuking cities from the safety of far away, the bliss of remote detachment, the privilege of not seeing the dying.
“How can you justify a weapon that will vaporize an entire city in a single instant—buildings, children, hospitals, prisoners of war, millions of innocent civilian people, everything for so many hundreds of miles—gone? How is that not a war crime?”
When a person has the codes that would launch a lethal weapon, what would it take for the weapon NOT to be launched?
Nyma’s country was hit - Hiroshima-like - with such a weapon a couple of centuries prior. Now they possess the same kind of deadly weapons of mass destruction. But the country’s past experience with “justified” devastation requires that any future choice to use them would be a truly desperate action, when nothing else is possible.
The solution the Order comes up with, to give the necessary hesitation to those with the power to launch the weapons - is to place the codes in the heart of a young child who is required to remain with the leader for duration of their term. To get access to the launch codes, the leader needs to murder the child with a ceremonial dagger. Kill the innocent child in front of you before killing many others with your action. Bloody your own hands first.
“Do you truly wish to use such weapons so badly, that you would be willing to do as the law requires and murder a child of your own land with your own hands in order to gain access to them?”
What if it really came down to that choice? When people are dying without you pushing that launch button and will be dying if you do? And the child with the codes in her heart is in front of you?
“I love our people, Nyma. Can you understand that?”
“I think so, sir.” Nyma loved their people too. She’d been taught their nation’s history since before she could walk. “I think I love all people. But one thing I love most about us is how important other countries’ people are to us, too.”
This is a short story from the point of view of one of those children who carries the weapons codes in her heart. The girl who writes poetry and is not sure if she’s good enough yet to forgo the rhymes. The girl who, lets face it, is a tool for “her” side rather than a person - at least for a while. The girl who fervently believes in the purpose behind this cruel way of controlling the slaughter. The girl who nevertheless really does not want to die.
“Damn you, man! Do you think I’d ever use the blasted things if I thought I had a choice? And you want to pinch us between annihilation from overseas and a bloodbath in our own country if I have to dirty my hands the way you people set me up to? You think that won’t be the hardest day of my cursed life already?”
“I feel little pity for that,” Tej said dryly, “seeing as it would be the last day of Nyma’s.”
Good story. A touch too didactic, perhaps, but still good. Thought-provoking. Scary. Sad.
4 stars.
—————————
Read this story here: https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/as-the-last-i-may-know-s-l-huang/
Twitter thread about the author’s inspiration for this story: https://twitter.com/sl_huang/status/1215743396574388226
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569
——————
Recommended by: Dennis
villyidol's review
4.0
***Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Short Story***
A nation on the brink of nuclear war has its president accompanied at all times by a child, the (in the beginning) 10-year-old Nyma, who carries the codes for the missiles inside her body. If president Han wants to pull the trigger and kill millions of faceless enemies, he has to kill the child first. He has to feel the consequences of his actions.
The story is told from the perspective of Nyma. She has not much else to do other than to be around the president and occasionally talk to him. So she spends a lot of her time writing poetry.
The two get to know each other over the years, while the war rages on. Decision have to be made. But which ones will it be?
Interesting premise, very nice prose. But a little something was missing for me. I feel like I should have cared more about Nyma. I should have gotten real anxious with every shift of affairs with the enemy. But for some reason I didn’t. Still, it’s a good story.
Can be read for free here: https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/as-the-last-i-may-know-s-l-huang/
____________________________
Best Novel
• [b: The City in the Middle of the Night|37534907|The City in the Middle of the Night|Charlie Jane Anders|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532447389l/37534907._SY75_.jpg|64654648] by Charlie Jane Anders
• [b: Gideon the Ninth|42036538|Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546870952l/42036538._SY75_.jpg|60943229] by Tamsyn Muir
• The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
• [b: Middlegame|35965482|Middlegame (Middlegame, #1)|Seanan McGuire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1537297437l/35965482._SX50_.jpg|57524946] by Seanan McGuire
• [b: The Ten Thousand Doors of January|43521657|The Ten Thousand Doors of January|Alix E. Harrow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548174710l/43521657._SY75_.jpg|63516505] by Alix E. Harrow
Best Novella
• Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom by Ted Chiang ([b: Exhalation|41160292|Exhalation Stories|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534388394l/41160292._SX50_.jpg|64336454])
• [b: The Deep|42201962|The Deep|Rivers Solomon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549411869l/42201962._SY75_.jpg|64281827] by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes
• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
• [b: In an Absent Dream|38244358|In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, #4)|Seanan McGuire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525436165l/38244358._SY75_.jpg|59926216] by Seanan McGuire
• [b: This Is How You Lose the Time War|43352954|This Is How You Lose the Time War|Amal El-Mohtar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545755487l/43352954._SX50_.jpg|58237743] by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
• To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Best Novelette
• The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2019)
• Away With the Wolves by Sarah Gailey ([b: Uncanny Magazine Issue 30: Disabled People Destroy Fanatsy! Special Issue|49245882|Uncanny Magazine Issue 30 Disabled People Destroy Fantasy! Special Issue|Lynne M. Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566875115l/49245882._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73105010])
• The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye by Sarah Pinsker ([b: Uncanny Magazine Issue 29: July/August 2019|52228003|Uncanny Magazine Issue 29 July/August 2019|Lynne M. Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562183674l/52228003._SX50_SY75_.jpg|71772498])
• Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin
• For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll
• [b: Omphalos|41160292|Exhalation Stories|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534388394l/41160292._SX50_.jpg|64336454] by Ted Chiang
Best Short Story
• And Now His Lordship Is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9 September 2019)
• As the Last I May Know by S.L. Huang
• Blood Is Another Word for Hunger by Rivers Solomon
• A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 26, January-February 2019)
• Do Not Look Back, My Lion by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #270)
• Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, Issue 80)
Best Series
• The Expanse by [a: James S. A. Corey|4192148|James S.A. Corey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1573162332p2/4192148.jpg]
• InCryptid by [a: Seanan McGuire|2860219|Seanan McGuire|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1245623198p2/2860219.jpg]
• Luna by [a: Ian McDonald|25376|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372533252p2/25376.jpg]
• Planetfall series by [a: Emma Newman|3329042|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1425124402p2/3329042.jpg]
• Winternight Trilogy by [a: Katherine Arden|13922215|Katherine Arden|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1510754830p2/13922215.jpg]
• The Wormwood Trilogy by [a: Tade Thompson|5782077|Tade Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1593796763p2/5782077.jpg]
Best Related Work
• [b: Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood|40651648|Becoming Superman My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood|J. Michael Straczynski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552089537l/40651648._SY75_.jpg|63175235] by J. Michael Straczynski
• [b: Joanna Russ|44803864|Joanna Russ|Gwyneth Jones|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556682415l/44803864._SY75_.jpg|69488169] by Gwyneth Jones
• [b: The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick|40165912|The Lady from the Black Lagoon Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick|Mallory O'Meara|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539883807l/40165912._SY75_.jpg|56266883] by Mallory O’Meara
• [b: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|42632383|The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|Farah Mendlesohn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541399334l/42632383._SY75_.jpg|66365024] by Farah Mendlesohn
• 2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech by Jeannette Ng
• Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, produced and directed by Arwen Curry
Best Graphic Story or Comic
• [b: Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker|48729961|SDCC DIE Volume 1 Fantasy Heartbreaker|Kieron Gillen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573174207l/48729961._SY75_.jpg|65274583] by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
• [b: LaGuardia|42762071|LaGuardia|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542046220l/42762071._SY75_.jpg|66506690], written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford, colours by James Devlin
• [b: Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen|45899240|Monstress, Vol. 4 The Chosen|Marjorie M. Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559570414l/45899240._SX50_.jpg|70742623], written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda
• [b: Mooncakes|44774415|Mooncakes|Suzanne Walker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565183719l/44774415._SY75_.jpg|57982519] by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker, letters by Joamette Gil
• Paper Girls, Volume 6, written by Brian K. Vaughan, drawn by Cliff Chiang, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher
• [b: The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: "Okay"|46223693|The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 9 "Okay"|Kieron Gillen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560094188l/46223693._SY75_.jpg|66594104] by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Clayton Cowles
A nation on the brink of nuclear war has its president accompanied at all times by a child, the (in the beginning) 10-year-old Nyma, who carries the codes for the missiles inside her body. If president Han wants to pull the trigger and kill millions of faceless enemies, he has to kill the child first. He has to feel the consequences of his actions.
The story is told from the perspective of Nyma. She has not much else to do other than to be around the president and occasionally talk to him. So she spends a lot of her time writing poetry.
Peach petals drift down
Cheerful pink snow
And I clasp them to me
As the last I may know
The two get to know each other over the years, while the war rages on. Decision have to be made. But which ones will it be?
Interesting premise, very nice prose. But a little something was missing for me. I feel like I should have cared more about Nyma. I should have gotten real anxious with every shift of affairs with the enemy. But for some reason I didn’t. Still, it’s a good story.
Can be read for free here: https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/as-the-last-i-may-know-s-l-huang/
____________________________
2020 Hugo Award Finalists
Best Novel
• [b: The City in the Middle of the Night|37534907|The City in the Middle of the Night|Charlie Jane Anders|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532447389l/37534907._SY75_.jpg|64654648] by Charlie Jane Anders
• [b: Gideon the Ninth|42036538|Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546870952l/42036538._SY75_.jpg|60943229] by Tamsyn Muir
• The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
• [b: Middlegame|35965482|Middlegame (Middlegame, #1)|Seanan McGuire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1537297437l/35965482._SX50_.jpg|57524946] by Seanan McGuire
• [b: The Ten Thousand Doors of January|43521657|The Ten Thousand Doors of January|Alix E. Harrow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548174710l/43521657._SY75_.jpg|63516505] by Alix E. Harrow
Best Novella
• Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom by Ted Chiang ([b: Exhalation|41160292|Exhalation Stories|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534388394l/41160292._SX50_.jpg|64336454])
• [b: The Deep|42201962|The Deep|Rivers Solomon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549411869l/42201962._SY75_.jpg|64281827] by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes
• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
• [b: In an Absent Dream|38244358|In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, #4)|Seanan McGuire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525436165l/38244358._SY75_.jpg|59926216] by Seanan McGuire
• [b: This Is How You Lose the Time War|43352954|This Is How You Lose the Time War|Amal El-Mohtar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545755487l/43352954._SX50_.jpg|58237743] by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
• To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Best Novelette
• The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2019)
• Away With the Wolves by Sarah Gailey ([b: Uncanny Magazine Issue 30: Disabled People Destroy Fanatsy! Special Issue|49245882|Uncanny Magazine Issue 30 Disabled People Destroy Fantasy! Special Issue|Lynne M. Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566875115l/49245882._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73105010])
• The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye by Sarah Pinsker ([b: Uncanny Magazine Issue 29: July/August 2019|52228003|Uncanny Magazine Issue 29 July/August 2019|Lynne M. Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1562183674l/52228003._SX50_SY75_.jpg|71772498])
• Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin
• For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll
• [b: Omphalos|41160292|Exhalation Stories|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534388394l/41160292._SX50_.jpg|64336454] by Ted Chiang
Best Short Story
• And Now His Lordship Is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9 September 2019)
• As the Last I May Know by S.L. Huang
• Blood Is Another Word for Hunger by Rivers Solomon
• A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 26, January-February 2019)
• Do Not Look Back, My Lion by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #270)
• Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, Issue 80)
Best Series
• The Expanse by [a: James S. A. Corey|4192148|James S.A. Corey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1573162332p2/4192148.jpg]
• InCryptid by [a: Seanan McGuire|2860219|Seanan McGuire|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1245623198p2/2860219.jpg]
• Luna by [a: Ian McDonald|25376|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372533252p2/25376.jpg]
• Planetfall series by [a: Emma Newman|3329042|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1425124402p2/3329042.jpg]
• Winternight Trilogy by [a: Katherine Arden|13922215|Katherine Arden|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1510754830p2/13922215.jpg]
• The Wormwood Trilogy by [a: Tade Thompson|5782077|Tade Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1593796763p2/5782077.jpg]
Best Related Work
• [b: Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood|40651648|Becoming Superman My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood|J. Michael Straczynski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552089537l/40651648._SY75_.jpg|63175235] by J. Michael Straczynski
• [b: Joanna Russ|44803864|Joanna Russ|Gwyneth Jones|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556682415l/44803864._SY75_.jpg|69488169] by Gwyneth Jones
• [b: The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick|40165912|The Lady from the Black Lagoon Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick|Mallory O'Meara|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539883807l/40165912._SY75_.jpg|56266883] by Mallory O’Meara
• [b: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|42632383|The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein|Farah Mendlesohn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541399334l/42632383._SY75_.jpg|66365024] by Farah Mendlesohn
• 2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech by Jeannette Ng
• Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, produced and directed by Arwen Curry
Best Graphic Story or Comic
• [b: Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker|48729961|SDCC DIE Volume 1 Fantasy Heartbreaker|Kieron Gillen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573174207l/48729961._SY75_.jpg|65274583] by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
• [b: LaGuardia|42762071|LaGuardia|Nnedi Okorafor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542046220l/42762071._SY75_.jpg|66506690], written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford, colours by James Devlin
• [b: Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen|45899240|Monstress, Vol. 4 The Chosen|Marjorie M. Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559570414l/45899240._SX50_.jpg|70742623], written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda
• [b: Mooncakes|44774415|Mooncakes|Suzanne Walker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565183719l/44774415._SY75_.jpg|57982519] by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker, letters by Joamette Gil
• Paper Girls, Volume 6, written by Brian K. Vaughan, drawn by Cliff Chiang, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher
• [b: The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: "Okay"|46223693|The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 9 "Okay"|Kieron Gillen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560094188l/46223693._SY75_.jpg|66594104] by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Clayton Cowles
katie_konneker's review
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
peatsa's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
A very quick read for me, given both the story's length and how invested I became.
Nyma is a young girl, an aspiring poet, and may be the key to her country's survival during the current war. 200 years ago, her country was hit by a bomb and suffered massive casualties, and now, 200 years later, her country owns those same bombs. The access codes are implanted in a capsule next to Nyma's heart, and to obtain them, the president must cut her open.
This story was very straightforward (does feel a little heavy-handed) and focuses on Nyma's life after she's been chosen. The two supporting characters are President Otto Han and Nyma's mentor, Tej. These men are at odds about the situation.
Given that I knew this book was dystopian fiction before I started, I didn't expect to find the events believable, and the idea that people would implant the access codes of a nuke-level bomb in a child is equally horrific and unimaginable to me. However, this was still a pretty interesting read for me and I could find myself feeling sympathetic towards President Han's want for his country to live, versus his horror at what accessing the weapon codes would take.
Nyma is a young girl, an aspiring poet, and may be the key to her country's survival during the current war. 200 years ago, her country was hit by a bomb and suffered massive casualties, and now, 200 years later, her country owns those same bombs. The access codes are implanted in a capsule next to Nyma's heart, and to obtain them, the president must cut her open.
This story was very straightforward (does feel a little heavy-handed) and focuses on Nyma's life after she's been chosen. The two supporting characters are President Otto Han and Nyma's mentor, Tej. These men are at odds about the situation.
Given that I knew this book was dystopian fiction before I started, I didn't expect to find the events believable, and the idea that people would implant the access codes of a nuke-level bomb in a child is equally horrific and unimaginable to me. However, this was still a pretty interesting read for me and I could find myself feeling sympathetic towards President Han's want for his country to live, versus his horror at what accessing the weapon codes would take.
lizabethstucker's review against another edition
4.0
Nyma was just ten years old when she was selected to be the Carrier. In order to impress the consequences of using seres on another country, the Order choses to hide the codes in the body of a child. To obtain access, the President must personally kill the child Carrier and rip her heart open. AS the enemy forces draw ever deeper into the country, Nyma waits.
Oh, this one was gut-wrenching. Seriously gut-wrenching. And yet, the logic behind the Order's idea was extremely logical. Force the President to basically live with the child he must kill to get access to the seres that will kill millions, make it real. And Otto Han is disgusted by the Order, but it is what it is. Again, the idea makes sense, but that doesn't mean that it isn't horrifying. Not to mention torturous for the child who must live with the idea that they can be killed at almost anytime in order to kill millions of other people. 4.5 out of 5.
Oh, this one was gut-wrenching. Seriously gut-wrenching. And yet, the logic behind the Order's idea was extremely logical. Force the President to basically live with the child he must kill to get access to the seres that will kill millions, make it real. And Otto Han is disgusted by the Order, but it is what it is. Again, the idea makes sense, but that doesn't mean that it isn't horrifying. Not to mention torturous for the child who must live with the idea that they can be killed at almost anytime in order to kill millions of other people. 4.5 out of 5.
mimiathereader's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting take on Roger Fisher’s proposal. It’s written to make us think because it’s from a little girl point of view and because it summons a whole world where this was proposed, accepted and then a country grew with this decision in its foundations.
It’s a short story and well worth a read. It can be found on here
Spoiler
who’s going to die if the missiles are releasedIt’s a short story and well worth a read. It can be found on here
drewvan's review
4.0
Buy it or read it for free on tor.com but just read it.
https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/as-the-last-i-may-know-s-l-huang/
https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/as-the-last-i-may-know-s-l-huang/