Clockwork Phoenix 2, part three
As I progress through the stories in Clockwork Phoenix 2, I am particularly enjoying how the stories are very different from one another; often when I read short story anthologies I find that the stories run together in my mind, which is certainly not the case here. I review the first and second story here and the third story here; at the moment I have just read the fourth and fifth story, and what follows are some of the impressions I am left with.
Angel Dust by Ian McHugh is a beautifully melancholic tale that propels the reader right into a richly woven world, and specifically into a city that seems to be in the grip of an endless cycle of invasion and defeat. There are no introductions here; the reader is made to deal with angels and angel dust, song ships (such a wonderful idea!), minotaurs and soldiers and gargoyles and ruling peoples. I was left with the impression of a huge, fully formed world that is only hinted at. There is not much plot going on; the story describes the unnamed city being threatened by an outside military force and the consequences of this threat for the life of the very vulnerable woman who holds the perspective of the story. In total, I enjoyed this story very much for its melancholia and its beauty and sadness, and for the interesting world that hosts these emotions.
In The Endangered Camp by Ann Leckie, the Earth appears to be populated by a bird-like race. The story takes place on a space ship - or sky-boat - in which the bird-people are attempting to reach Mars. Just as they have left the Earth's atmosphere, disaster strikes back on Earth, and the question becomes, what do they do now? Are they the only ones left alive? Do they then have an obligation to go back, or to continue on in the hopes that their mission succeeds? The issue is resolved by bringing out the history of their people so that they can attempt to learn from past events. I will not spoil here what they decide to do or why, but only say that the best thing about this story is the nagging, almost painful feeling at the very open ending that they decided wrong. This is in my opinion perhaps the weakest story so far in the anthology in the sense that it didn't immediately suck me into the world it takes place in in the same way that the others have done.