These Prisoning Hills - Book Review

by Christopher Rowe

Sci Fi - Post-Apocalyptic (novella)

2022

TorDotCom

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

An interesting novella with complex world-building, These Prisoning Hills is less action than introspection, and while conceptually fascinating, it suffers a little from wordy prose and disjointed structure.

In a long-ago war, the all-powerful A.I. ruler of the Voluntary State of Tennessee—Athena Parthenus, Queen of Reason—invaded and decimated the American Southeast. Possessing the ability to infect and corrupt the surrounding environment with nanotechnology, she transformed flora, fauna, and the very ground itself into bio-mechanical weapons of war.

Marcia, a former captain from Kentucky, experienced first-hand the terrifying, mind-twisting capabilities of Athena’s creatures. Now back in the Commonwealth, her retirement is cut short by the arrival of federal troops in her tiny, isolated town. One of Athena’s most powerful weapons may still be buried nearby. And they need Marcia’s help to find it.

First of all, that COVER. Gorgeous.

Normally, I enjoy a novel where I have to piece things today, but maybe my mindset was just off or the style didn’t work for me, but I had a lot of trouble ramping up the enthusiasm to read this novella once I started. The storyline jumps around in time, but because there is so much backstory to fill us in on (the AI, how the AI and other tech works, the odd designations of the nanotech, the way Tennesse/Kentucky has been reordered, the different bands and what they mean, and Marcia’s story) I had trouble keeping it all lined up in my head. Most of the backstory comes from the blurb.

Now, there were some things I really liked. I loved that Marcia was an older woman in her sixties. We don’t often get this as a main character in this genre, so that was great. I also loved how this was not an integral part of the plot but did have some bearing on it - it was not just a random decision. In fact, it felt like nothing in this book was a random decision - it’s one of those novellas that I really think could have been blown out into a novel because there is so much going on.

As a result of this lack of space, Marcia was a bit bland, and her history with Carter didn’t feel integral to the plot or served to explain anything further. There were also a few side characters that kind of blended together.

I really enjoyed the metaphors and certain turns of the phrase that the author used. I can’t really quote anything, because it’s an ARC, but if you enjoy prose on the more flowery or perhaps more ethereal side, this would work for you.

Overall, if you have the time to devote to really digging into this novella, in taking your time to read it, I think it has a lot of merit!