2014 Story 71
From the March 2014 issue of Lightspeed Magazine:
71. THE ARMIES OF ELFLAND by Eileen Gunn & Michael Swanwick High fantasy comes to near-future Earth. After Elves invade and decimate the human population, a group of children become servants to the high court: teen Richard who lusts after Queen Melisandre; smart Frederic who tries to use science to outwit the magic; and angry Agnes who serves but rebels in small ways. Gunn and Swanwick keep the focus solidly on Agnes, a great strong female lead who does not need her male friends to enable her or "do for her." They also pace out the story so that several years of 'everything stays the same' are glossed over in a paragraph. (I found this noteworthy because even in novellas the penchant of high fantasy authors tends to be towards the minutae.) A brutal start and a smart twist ending bookend a lot of great character-building.
71. THE ARMIES OF ELFLAND by Eileen Gunn & Michael Swanwick High fantasy comes to near-future Earth. After Elves invade and decimate the human population, a group of children become servants to the high court: teen Richard who lusts after Queen Melisandre; smart Frederic who tries to use science to outwit the magic; and angry Agnes who serves but rebels in small ways. Gunn and Swanwick keep the focus solidly on Agnes, a great strong female lead who does not need her male friends to enable her or "do for her." They also pace out the story so that several years of 'everything stays the same' are glossed over in a paragraph. (I found this noteworthy because even in novellas the penchant of high fantasy authors tends to be towards the minutae.) A brutal start and a smart twist ending bookend a lot of great character-building.