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A review by gracecrandall
Realms 2: The Second Year of Clarkesworld Magazine SC by Lisa Mantchev, Tim Pratt, Catherynne M. Valente, Stephen Dedman, Sean Wallace, Loreen Heneghan, Mary Robinette Kowal, Garth Upshaw, Stephen Graham Jones, Rebecca Ore, Jeremiah Sturgill, Samantha Henderson, Meghan McCarron, Nick Mamatas, Jay Lake, Yoon Ha Lee, Ken Scholes, Eric Witchey, Sergey Gerasimov, Cat Rambo, Jeffrey Ford, Kristin Mandigma
3.0
This was really enjoyable, but it had a lot going on. I ended up happy I’d read it, but also a little confused.
At the end of time, a war is raging. The Blue Woman walks the battlefield, smells the stench of death, and is tired.
In another universe—another possibility—a young girl looks up from her math homework and finds the Blue Woman, who brings her to the end of time—to the war. The eternally losing fight.
The Blue Woman walks through possibilities, and she tells the girl that she is the very last possibility—the very last chance to win this war. But the Blue Woman cannot make the girl fight. That is a choice the girl must make for herself.
The story is fascinating, beautifully written and with undertones of heroism and self-sacrifice that inevitably made my heart sing happily in my chest. The landscape, very present and lavishly described, was also really interesting.
I think it’s part of the art of the story that it’s supposed to leave a large chunk of itself up to your imagination; but it also served to make me slightly befuddled.
Overall, the read was definitely worth it, and it was a super fun story :)
At the end of time, a war is raging. The Blue Woman walks the battlefield, smells the stench of death, and is tired.
In another universe—another possibility—a young girl looks up from her math homework and finds the Blue Woman, who brings her to the end of time—to the war. The eternally losing fight.
The Blue Woman walks through possibilities, and she tells the girl that she is the very last possibility—the very last chance to win this war. But the Blue Woman cannot make the girl fight. That is a choice the girl must make for herself.
The story is fascinating, beautifully written and with undertones of heroism and self-sacrifice that inevitably made my heart sing happily in my chest. The landscape, very present and lavishly described, was also really interesting.
I think it’s part of the art of the story that it’s supposed to leave a large chunk of itself up to your imagination; but it also served to make me slightly befuddled.
Overall, the read was definitely worth it, and it was a super fun story :)