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barking_pumpkin's review
4.0
A really good issue of ASF with a good number of spooky dark fantasy stories mixed through (as this is the sept/Oct issue).
Standouts are WINDS WILL ROVE, by Sarah Pinsker, RIDING THE BLUE LINE WITH JACK KEROUAC by Sandra McDonald and AN INCIDENT IN THE LITERARY LIFE OF NATHAN ARKWRIGHT by Allen Steele, but really, the other stories are also good to very good. A pleasure.
Standouts are WINDS WILL ROVE, by Sarah Pinsker, RIDING THE BLUE LINE WITH JACK KEROUAC by Sandra McDonald and AN INCIDENT IN THE LITERARY LIFE OF NATHAN ARKWRIGHT by Allen Steele, but really, the other stories are also good to very good. A pleasure.
chirson's review
5.0
(I've read and rated a few novellettes and short stories in the last few days, but this is the first one that moved me to leave a review, in spite of the risk that GoodReads will decided this is not a proper independent text and shouldn't have an entry, and delete.)
I'm not familiar with that many Sarah Pinsker stories, but the few I've read so far have made quite an impression on me. And of all of them, "Wind Will Rove" is the new favourite. This story about a generation ship (and the generation as well as religious/philosophical clash on it) spotlights a few characters: protagonist, a history teacher and amateur musician; her family (including musical grandmother, actress mother and doctor daughter + small grandchildren) and friends (Harriet, standing guard over tradition); as well as her students (rebelling against authority of the past). It's a story about authorship, about the role and function of canon, about the way in which past and future are intertwined. It manages to comment on all those while at the same time conveying real human emotion, and creating a fully believable world with its own history and its own attitudes to history.
It is both a read to make you feel and think. A true achievement (and I don't even feel that strongly about music).
I'm not familiar with that many Sarah Pinsker stories, but the few I've read so far have made quite an impression on me. And of all of them, "Wind Will Rove" is the new favourite. This story about a generation ship (and the generation as well as religious/philosophical clash on it) spotlights a few characters: protagonist, a history teacher and amateur musician; her family (including musical grandmother, actress mother and doctor daughter + small grandchildren) and friends (Harriet, standing guard over tradition); as well as her students (rebelling against authority of the past). It's a story about authorship, about the role and function of canon, about the way in which past and future are intertwined. It manages to comment on all those while at the same time conveying real human emotion, and creating a fully believable world with its own history and its own attitudes to history.
It is both a read to make you feel and think. A true achievement (and I don't even feel that strongly about music).
titusfortner's review
4.0
Nominated for Hugo award for best novelette.
There are some surprising nuggets of exceptional goodness in here, but I don't emotionally connect with the music that is used as the vehicle for this story. Also, I'll blame the short format as causing the exposition to feel heavy handed.
There are some surprising nuggets of exceptional goodness in here, but I don't emotionally connect with the music that is used as the vehicle for this story. Also, I'll blame the short format as causing the exposition to feel heavy handed.
lonecayt's review
5.0
This piece of short fiction was just wonderful - a very thoughtful exploration of whether and how meaningful history is when the places, people, and shared experiences have been removed entirely.
imaginaryturtle's review
3.0
Meh. I have to say, I'm on Nelson's side here. History may be interesting and have the occasional lesson, but for the most part, we should be enjoying the present and looking out for our future.
bookaneer's review
2.0
Interesting premise: a generation ship. all arts were digitized. some jerk deleted the whole thing. people had to rely on memories to recreate arts including music. Wind Will Rove is one of the songs. Alas, the story is too slow for my taste.
PS: having dead-tree book editions could be useful one day, just in case, you know, all your e-books are gone.
PS: having dead-tree book editions could be useful one day, just in case, you know, all your e-books are gone.
rixx's review
4.0
Very nice scifi about an intergenerational conflict on a multi(think >100) generational spaceship, focussing on music, both the people keeping old music alive, and the younger people rejecting history. I liked the setting and world building and characters, but it fell a bit flat, all things considered. You can find it online here: http://sarahpinsker.com/wind_will_rove/
oleksandr's review
3.0
This novelette was nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards in 2018
The story is set in a generations ship, where quite early in the journey all non-essential information was destroyed, so there is no Earth’s literature, music, movies, etc. At the same time there were still a lot of people, who recalled both the Earth and its culture, so they tried to recreate it from scratch, including writing books or shooting movies “as I recall them”. The action is set a few generation down the way when young generation asks about the necessity of all this old stuff, to which they cannot relate. The story reminded me of [a:Franz Kafka|5223|Franz Kafka|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1495464914p2/5223.jpg]'s [b:The Great Wall of China|20299055|The Great Wall of China|Franz Kafka|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389536235s/20299055.jpg|46240729] as the problem when actual doers are unable to see what they do on a greater scale.
It is fine story but nothing esceptional.
The story is set in a generations ship, where quite early in the journey all non-essential information was destroyed, so there is no Earth’s literature, music, movies, etc. At the same time there were still a lot of people, who recalled both the Earth and its culture, so they tried to recreate it from scratch, including writing books or shooting movies “as I recall them”. The action is set a few generation down the way when young generation asks about the necessity of all this old stuff, to which they cannot relate. The story reminded me of [a:Franz Kafka|5223|Franz Kafka|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1495464914p2/5223.jpg]'s [b:The Great Wall of China|20299055|The Great Wall of China|Franz Kafka|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389536235s/20299055.jpg|46240729] as the problem when actual doers are unable to see what they do on a greater scale.
It is fine story but nothing esceptional.
elsiemookow's review
4.0
As I have mentioned many times, I don't love the length of novelettes. This is one of a few examples of one that I like. The generation ship is starting to become the new dystopian story, and this is a fresh take. There were a few holes in the story that kept it from being five stars, but I loved the musical oral tradition that permeated the story.
archergal's review
4.0
Now THIS was an interesting generation ship story. I may be very slightly biased because I know a little bit about fiddle music and Old Time music and old tunes and such. That knowledge makes it a tiny bit more personal to me, I guess.
What do you keep of your home world when you're separated from it by hundreds of years and millions of miles? Is it even worth trying to keep something of what was? Or is it better to start anew?
This story was an interesting way to explore those ideas. I liked it a lot.
What do you keep of your home world when you're separated from it by hundreds of years and millions of miles? Is it even worth trying to keep something of what was? Or is it better to start anew?
This story was an interesting way to explore those ideas. I liked it a lot.