First impressions review: Lullaby for a Lost World, by Aliette de Bodard & Blood is Another Word for Hunger, by Rivers Solomon


I am really enjoying doing these free Tor short stories in thematic pairs! These tales from two of my favorite newly-discovered authors both deal with revenge against those who have exploited the protagonists, using their bodies to uphold their comfortable lifestyles.

 

In Lullaby for a Lost World, the narrator is dead, having been painfully sacrificed to ensure the survival of a house that is a last bastion of peace and comfort in a polluted and dying world:

The river, dark and oily, licks at the ruin of your flesh—at your broken bones—and sings you to sleep in a soft, gentle language like a mother’s lullabies, whispering of rest and forgiveness, of a place where it is forever light, forever safe. You do not rest. You cannot forgive. You are not safe—you never were.

What will she do when she sees another victim being prepared to uphold the order of things?

 

Blood is Another Word for Hunger starts with revenge, of a slave girl against her mistresses. She finds that murder brings no catharsis, and “It was Sully’s unsoftened anger in the face of what she’d done that cut a path between dominions.” She gives birth to a ghost, a teenage girl reborn named Ziza, and then several more. Sully doesn’t quite know what to do with Ziza’s cheerfulness – a cheerfulness that does not in any way come from ignorance of suffering.

“Haven’t you seen the sky today? Isn’t that reason enough to be happy?” Sully slid her hands into the pockets of her apron and focused her eyes hard on Ziza. “No.”… “I can’t make you look, but it sure is beautiful,” said Ziza, eyes now affixed to Sully. She was small and birdlike, her mannerisms sharp and jittery. Her body was too small for her spirit. “I don’t believe in beauty,” replied Sully, saying it because it sounded controversial, not because she particularly meant it… “If you don’t believe in beauty, then I suppose you must’ve never seen your own reflection before,” said Ziza. Now Sully didn’t have a response for that.

Gradually, they and their growing brown, reborn found-family start making plans – risky, bloody plans - to make their new life more secure.

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