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A review by shilohskye
The Reclamation Project - Year One by James L. Steele, Graveyard Greg
5.0
It's relatively rare to see a post-apocalypse in which things kinda sorta worked out. There are still a plethora of problems in the world of Reclamation Project. More than you'd expect from a solarpunk book. Pirates, evil organizations, killer robots, ominous floating coins, etc, but things seem to be heading in a decent direction with a harmony between nature and technology, and that makes for a very unique setting. Especially when anthropomorphic animals are running around everywhere.
I haven't read a shared-world short story compilation before, and it was a joy seeing all of these authors develop this world side by side. Each story brought something new to the worldbuilding, and none of them really clashed with each other.
Altogether it was a pretty enjoyable read with a very intriguing world to explore.
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This book has a wide range of story tones and structures, so different readers will have different experiences, but to close out the review here are a few that really struck a chord with me:
The first story, Piece of Mind by John R. Robey, who also edited the book, is a great way to start things off. It indirectly introduces the world very nicely, and in particular it establishes the level of borderline-magic technology this sci-fi world has, which is very important context to have for the rest of the stories.
The first standout story for me though was Dark Garden Lake by Kayode Lycaon, which has, in my opinion, the most interesting protagonist in the book. Brooding assassins are done to death, but Moshi's got a vulnerability to him that really works.
The Flavors of Sunlight by James L. Steele made me drop the book, run my hands through my hair and say "oh, that was a good story" out loud. I will say nothing about this one here. You just gotta experience it.
A Journey to the Skies by Ferric the Bird is another hit, with my favorite premise in the book. Unexpectedly, it also had a moment of unseen horror that made me read a page over a few times. Heartbreaking stuff.
Chromium Manuevers by Matt Trepal closes things out nicely, with a great ending line that reminds us this is an ongoing, evolving world. But more importantly it did a good job of exploring the culture of the Furry Development of Ambara Down.
I haven't read a shared-world short story compilation before, and it was a joy seeing all of these authors develop this world side by side. Each story brought something new to the worldbuilding, and none of them really clashed with each other.
Altogether it was a pretty enjoyable read with a very intriguing world to explore.
---
This book has a wide range of story tones and structures, so different readers will have different experiences, but to close out the review here are a few that really struck a chord with me:
The first story, Piece of Mind by John R. Robey, who also edited the book, is a great way to start things off. It indirectly introduces the world very nicely, and in particular it establishes the level of borderline-magic technology this sci-fi world has, which is very important context to have for the rest of the stories.
The first standout story for me though was Dark Garden Lake by Kayode Lycaon, which has, in my opinion, the most interesting protagonist in the book. Brooding assassins are done to death, but Moshi's got a vulnerability to him that really works.
The Flavors of Sunlight by James L. Steele made me drop the book, run my hands through my hair and say "oh, that was a good story" out loud. I will say nothing about this one here. You just gotta experience it.
A Journey to the Skies by Ferric the Bird is another hit, with my favorite premise in the book. Unexpectedly, it also had a moment of unseen horror that made me read a page over a few times. Heartbreaking stuff.
Chromium Manuevers by Matt Trepal closes things out nicely, with a great ending line that reminds us this is an ongoing, evolving world. But more importantly it did a good job of exploring the culture of the Furry Development of Ambara Down.