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A review by nataliya_x
Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #270 by Alix E. Harrow, Scott H. Andrews, Natalia Theodoridou
4.0
This review is for the Hugo-nominated short story Do Not Look Back, My Lion by Alix Harrow:
It’s a story set in a typical warrior culture, although matriarchical and with traditional gender roles flipped (women are warriors, men are mostly doing domestic duties) and designations of husband/wife referring to domestic duties regardless of gender.
It’s a country devoted to the god of war, glorifying conquest and battles above all.
Eefa is a cripple, a healer unscarred in battle - nothing that earns her respect in the bloodthirsty war-dominant callous society, while her wife Talaan is the Lion of Xot, a famed ferocious warrior who seems to value the service to god of war and the bloodthirsty Emperor above her family. Their four children are dedicated to war, and the fifth that Talaan carries now - the late baby of this long marriage - seems fated for the same even before birth. Which is too much for Eefa; and when you can’t fight you may choose to run instead.
It’s the eternal motifs of violence versus love, duty versus family, tradition versus rebellion, loss versus hope. Some head to the war in pursuit of elusive glory; others are left behind, waiting and mourning and hoping. Regardless of who does the fighting and who does the waiting, the point is the conflict between these opposing and conflicting demands and the toll they take.
And sometimes you need to walk away. To run. And not look back.
It’s amazing how much vivid worldbuilding Harrow managed to pack into such a short story. How much character development. How much emotion and feeling that was poignant but not overwrought.
4 stars.
———
Alix Harrow is a very talented writer, I have to say. This is her third work I’ve read - and each time I’ve been very impressed. Her wonderful debut novel [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] is also nominated for Hugos, and she authored one of the best short stories that I’ve ever read (a Hugo-winner, by the way) - ‘A Compendium of Doors’: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3359832361
Lovely work, Ms. Harrow, lovely work.
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569
It’s a story set in a typical warrior culture, although matriarchical and with traditional gender roles flipped (women are warriors, men are mostly doing domestic duties) and designations of husband/wife referring to domestic duties regardless of gender.
It’s a country devoted to the god of war, glorifying conquest and battles above all.
“Distantly, over the too-loud sound of her own shuddering heartbeat, Eefa imagines she can hear the great white wolf of war padding through the streets, howling its glee.”
Eefa is a cripple, a healer unscarred in battle - nothing that earns her respect in the bloodthirsty war-dominant callous society, while her wife Talaan is the Lion of Xot, a famed ferocious warrior who seems to value the service to god of war and the bloodthirsty Emperor above her family. Their four children are dedicated to war, and the fifth that Talaan carries now - the late baby of this long marriage - seems fated for the same even before birth. Which is too much for Eefa; and when you can’t fight you may choose to run instead.
It’s the eternal motifs of violence versus love, duty versus family, tradition versus rebellion, loss versus hope. Some head to the war in pursuit of elusive glory; others are left behind, waiting and mourning and hoping. Regardless of who does the fighting and who does the waiting, the point is the conflict between these opposing and conflicting demands and the toll they take.
And sometimes you need to walk away. To run. And not look back.
“All of it, all that golden, brimming life, she has given to Ukhel, to war. Now she will give her Death to something else. To life.”
It’s amazing how much vivid worldbuilding Harrow managed to pack into such a short story. How much character development. How much emotion and feeling that was poignant but not overwrought.
4 stars.
———
Alix Harrow is a very talented writer, I have to say. This is her third work I’ve read - and each time I’ve been very impressed. Her wonderful debut novel [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] is also nominated for Hugos, and she authored one of the best short stories that I’ve ever read (a Hugo-winner, by the way) - ‘A Compendium of Doors’: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3359832361
Lovely work, Ms. Harrow, lovely work.
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3295830569