...two hundred years ago it would have been hard to imagine the peninsula with cities and settlements, forested valleys and fjords where glaciers had once flowed, and wolves and mammoths and elf stones. [loc. 1468]
Austral is a husky, a gene-edited human designed to thrive in the harsh climate of Antarctica. Not as harsh a climate as in the 21st century: climate change has warmed and flooded the world, and the ecopoets have been hard at work in the far south, helping the natural world adjust and create an ecosystem which can support human life.
Austral, daughter of ecopoets, has been a small-time crook and something of a drifter, but by the beginning of the novel she's a corrections officer at a work camp, overseeing convicts who are building a transcontinental railway. Her lover, a hardened criminal, is determined to escape the camp, using the imminent visit of a local dignitary as cover. He expects Austral to help, but instead she ends up fleeing the camp with the dignitary's teenage daughter, Kamilah -- who's Austral's cousin.
As the two traverse the wild and dangerous hinterlands of Antarctica, they share their stories, Austral trying to convince Kamilah that she's been lulled into believing a pack of lies, Kamilah more interested in her choose-your-own-adventure storybook, which has echoes of Tristan and Isolde, Theseus, and other legends. Both learn more about their world, their family, and one another.
The worldbuilding is splendid, as one expects from McAuley, and though I didn't always like Austral I found her a complex, intriguing character. She's competent, too, which is a good thing considering the dangers they're up against. And her account of her family history and the work of the ecopoets is fascinating. I'm intrigued by ecopoesis, a kind of professional rewilding, and want to learn more about it: McAuley's afterword includes some useful references. Austral is not always a cheerful read, but it is hopeful: it imagines a world in which humanity adapts and survives, and it makes that world beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment