A review by candacesovan
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

4.0

This is a post-apocalyptic, dystopian science fiction novel set in a future in which global warming did not turn out to be "fake news." The story takes place in a man-made city, Qaanaaq, that is located in the Arctic Ocean close to the top of the world. The story is told from the points of view of Fill, a rich gay man who has just contracted a sexually transmitted disease called "the Breaks," Kaev, a somewhat brain-damaged, almost-washed-up fighter who takes dives for a living, Ankit, a woman who is a reformed "scaler" (law-breaking building climbers) who is settling into a career as a bureaucrat, a non-gender-binary person named Soq who has worked as a messenger and is trying to work her way up to a position of responsibility within a local crime syndicate, Masaaraq, a kind of female, orca-bonded Ahab on a one-woman mission to do -- what?, and finally, the City without a Map, an underground running commentary on life in Qaanaaq. Their stories weave together into an adventurous tale, a quest and the liberation of the downtrodden citizenry of Qaanaaq. All in all, it's a very uplifting dystopian novel, and who can slight a story that weaves in an angry polar bear, a blue-striped monkey, a buzzard eagle, and an orca whale?