One Message Remains

Nebula award winner Mohamed (The Butcher of the Forest) delivers more science-infused, dystopian speculative fiction in this hard-hitting collection of four interlinked stories. All are set in the Treotan Empire, a kingdom intent on colonizing everything it can reach. Mohamed offers a range of perspectives that, taken together, give a sense of what life is like for many vastly different kinds of people as they struggle to survive and do what they believe is right under the empire’s oppressive reign. The title story follows Major Lyell Tzajos, an ineffective leader bent on following the rules, and part of the colonizing army in Eastern Seudast. In “The Weight of What Is Hollow,” readers meet 17-year-old Taya, an apprentice in her family’s business: building gallows out of human bones for public hangings. “Forsaking All Others” braids the story of army deserter Rostyn with the history of his revolutionary grandmother. In “The General’s Turn,” an unnamed emcee narrates a barbaric game show in which a captured prisoner must compete. Mohamed delivers an effective if somewhat on-the-nose critique of war and colonialism without sacrificing storytelling. This one is tough to shake. (Feb.)