Early Review – These Prisoning Hils by Christopher Rowe (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 112 pages
Publisher:‎ Tordotcom
Release Date: May 31, 2022
ASIN: B09C4G3R4X
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley to Review
Rating: 3/5 stars

“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.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone novella. I got an eGalley of this from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This had potential but was a bit confusing. I read more and this is part of a world that Rowe has written about in another novella “The Voluntary State”. I did not know that and did not read that before reading this book. The book follows an older woman named Marcia and alternates between the current time and the past. I had some issues with this because the storylines for both were so similar, I had to keep looking back to see if I was reading about the current time or the past. This made the story confusing and hard to follow.

I did enjoy the ideas in here but the world seems a bit half-baked and confusing. There is a lot of terminology thrown at you and the history of this world is very hard to splice together. The author does try to give some of the world history in little blurbs before each section but they don’t help much. It would have been better to have a prologue or history section at the beginning of the book explaining things.

I also had some trouble engaging with the characters, they are all very similar and pretty 2D. In the end I just felt very “eh” about it all. It doesn’t take long to read and I did enjoy the concept here. It would be great to see this as a more complete novel or maybe combined with the previous novelette “The Voluntary State”. The way this is presented feels more like loosely connected notes than a story.

My Summary (3/5): Overall the premise here is unique but it just isn’t executed very well. Maybe if I read “The Voluntary State” first I would be less confused. However, the world-building, characters, and plot were all a bit lackluster. The story is confusing and the characters are so similar, that in the end I just didn’t care much…I just finished it and moved on. Rowe has amazingly cool ideas but needs to work on making those a into a more cohesive world and story.