If the melt-down, flood, plague, the third World War, new Ice Age, Rapture, alien invasion, clamp-down, meteor, or something else entirely hit today, what would tomorrow look like? Some of the biggest names in YA and adult literature answer that very question in this short story anthology, each story exploring the lives of teen protagonists raised in catastrophe’s wake—whether set in the days after the change, or decades far in the future.
New York Times bestselling authors Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Carrie Ryan, Beth Revis, and Jane Yolen are among the many popular and award-winning storytellers lending their talents to this original and spellbinding anthology.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Segment by Genevieve Valentine
After the Cure by Carrie Ryan
Valedictorian by N.K. Jemisin
Visiting Nelson by Katherine Langrish
All I Know of Freedom by Carol Emshwiller
The Other Elder by Beth Revis
The Great Game at the End of the World by Matthew Kressel
Reunion by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Faint Heart by Sarah Rees Brennan
Blood Drive by Jeffrey Ford
Reality Girl by Richard Bowes
Hw th’Irth Wint Wrong by Hapless Joey @ homeskool.guv by Gregory Maguire
Rust With Wings by Steven Gould
The Easthound by Nalo Hopkinson
Gray by Jane Yolen
Before by Carolyn Dunn
Fake Plastic Trees by Caitlin R. Kiernan
You Won’t Feel a Thing by Garth Nix
The Marker by Cecil Castellucci
***
Out of all the authors here, I have only read Beth Revis's work. So this review will focus on "The Other Elder".
This short story fills me with dread. Yeah, because of the coldness of the new Eldest. And the whole deadly black patch thing. I mean, it is more horrifying than Across The Universe. Because in Across The Universe, there are emotions. Not very much, and kind of twisted. But still, emotions. But the short story stings me. The whole rebel thing on the vid, the need of control of the ship, is terrible.
The words are very detailed and delicate. Beth Revis is truly a good dystopian novel writer. She's got great ideas of a huge spaceship fueled by the need of control and lies. But the last part of the short story confuses me. Who is the Eldest? And who are the Elders? I know I will never know who they are? But what makes me curious is the replaced Elder-in-training. Is he the boy? Or is the Eldest the boy?
It's a great short story, and it makes the existence of Godspeed more... deep. I am looking forward to As They Slip Away, the short story set before the events in Across The Universe, and Shades of Earth.
Rating for the story: 8/10
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