Elizabeth Bear, All the Windwracked Stars

All the Windwracked Stars

Elizabeth Bear

Tor, Nov 2008, $24.95

ISBN 9780765318824

The Valkyries know what defeat means so they fight to the end. However this is the Last Day so they all die except for historian Muire who cowardly fled.

Twenty-three centuries later, the ice continues to slowly expand across the world. Little is left beyond the last city the human settlement of Eiledon. Muire, living in shame for the two plus millennium since she deserted her late sisters, vows to save the remaining mortals. However, she is not sure how or for that matter why this sole outpost remains standing. As she begins to solve the mystery of Eiledon, Muire learns of the forbidden magic that keeps it afloat.

Imagine living twenty-three hundred years filled with guilt and remorse; knowing the only closure is your death. That is Muire's life since she deserted her Valkyrie sisters. She seeks redemption and is obsessed with joining her fallen comrades. She makes the tale exciting as her chance to redeem her soul (in her mind) has finally arrived, but proves extremely complicated because her choices could mean the end of the world. Although the storyline starts slow with the Last Day battle, twenty-three centuries later it turns into a great fantasy thriller.

Harriet Klausner