/lit/ - Literature

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach - Kelly Robson (2018)

Third novella for the day. I didn't and still don't like the title. The Lucky Peach is a vehicle. The protagonist, shown in the image, is an 85 year old human female with prosthetic octopus legs. The year is 2267 and the setting is a world several decades into recovering from multiple catastrophic events where humans have begun to reclaim the surface. The synopsis says, "uses time travel to merge climate fiction with historical fantasy." All three of those are generous descriptions. The first half, and I mean literally 50%, is preparing for the time traveling which involves haggling for funding from "private banks" and similar bureaucratic disasters. There's not much worldbuilding beyond what is immediately necessary, so if you're someone who wants that, this isn't that. I was left with many questions about most everything. While it's ostensibly about climate as that's about the vast majority of this is about, it's entirely superficial and doesn't say much other than "Wouldn't it be nice if humans could consider the long term rather than being exclusively concerned with the present?" The "historical fiction" is traveling back to 2000 BC and their interactions with the people back then, which was not something I would personally describe as historical fiction in any way. At the 75% mark exactly, the big drama and twist begins to happen. The story ends very abruptly and seemingly badly for the protagonists, but then maybe it doesn't actually considering the also abrupt change in the antagonist's behavior. There's supposedly going to be a sequel novella sometime, but I don't know if I'd want to read it.
3/5, rounded up, because I liked the prose.