“So how are your new roly-poly friends?” he asked. “And the skittery ones?”
“Very technologically advanced. They like small babies, and Dinar’s jam, and taking apart gas giants to use as construction material.”
A HALF-BUILT GARDEN, by Ruthanna Emrys
Cory Doctorow has a great review of this book at Pluralistic; the one thing I’d call out that he didn’t is the rare foregrounding of motherhood in American science fiction. It spoils nothing to point out the very early-breaking detail that mothers have a near-monopoly on power in Ringer society, in large part because marshaling the village required to raise a child indicates charisma and leadership skills. Children are brought to high-stakes negotiations both as an icebreaker (it’s hard to stay mad when shenanigans break out or someone needs to nurse) and as hostages ensuring violence won’t break out. This isn’t presented uncritically as a good thing; the role of the childless in Ringer society gets air time as well. And Emrys spares no time in linking motherhood to gender — naturally enough on an Earth where all dimensions of gender have evolved a lot relative to 2022. Emrys’ description of the corporate world will evoke THE HUNGER GAMES for a lot of readers, and that’s fair enough, but the first thing that came to mind for me was Carla Speed McNeil’s depictions of Clan Llaverac in FINDER, especially VOICE — insular societies where gender is performance and performance is always about power.
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