A review by mbmartin42
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Stories are valuable here. They are what we brought when we came here; they are what cannot be taken away from us.”

Blackfish City takes us into the not so distant future where climate change has left large swaths of the world either flooded or burned to rubble. The rich have fled, constructing massive floating cities in the Arctic, to which refugees flock from all over the fallen world. This story takes us into the heart of Qaanaaq, one such city constructed with eight arms like a giant asterisk. And truth be told, Qaanaaq might not be as idyllic for some as the settlement is bustling with corruption; strife between classes, organized crime, amazingly advanced technology that sometimes has a mind of its own, and a new disease ravaging the city’s population. But “when a strange new visitor arrives—a woman riding an orca, with a polar bear at her side—the city is entranced.”

Why has she come to Qaanaaq, and how will she affect the lives of the people there?

That central mystery keeps the pages turning as we follow four main characters, each with distinct voices and perspectives, all living seemingly unconnected lives in different sectors of the city along different points on the wealth and status spectrum. Through this and City Without A Map, a mysterious and anonymous news service, we are given a panoramic view of the city through individual experiences.

Because of this the story is a little slow to start but bit by bit things start coming together and just as I started to suspect certain things, the connections are made and BAM! Everything starts falling into place piece by piece as these characters lives come crashing together. The pages began to absolutely fly by. Like being caught in a brutal, dizzying whirlwind that culminated in a story of human connections, resilience and resistance.

In the end, I loved everything about this book. And even though it was a bit bittersweet, it left me feeling hopeful for the City and these people that I had come to fall in love with, faults and all.

“We are stories. We are the stories of not only our lives but also those that came before us, those of the lives that have touched ours, the loved ones we carry with us.”