Beneath Ceaseless Skies #438, August 7, 2025

“The Brittle Terrain” by Stephen Case

“The Forgotten” by Trae Hawkins

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

Two stories dealing with war and remembrance appear in this issue.

The title of “The Brittle Terrain” by Stephen Case refers to a land that has been enchanted in such a way that all knowledge of its details have been removed from memory. A woman who can perceive magic ink accompanies soldiers invading the land. She finds a map of the area written in this ink, invisible to anyone else. Leading the soldiers to the heart of the land in an attempt to end the war, she has to make a decision involving the person dearest to her.

There is much more to this story than I have indicated, which contains multiple fantasy elements. Some of these are not relevant to the main plot, such as the presence of trolls or the fact that the main character’s beloved friend can predict when people will die by tasting their blood. These elements give the story an exotic, otherworldly flavor, which many readers are likely to appreciate. Others may find it a bit too much.

The protagonist of “The Forgotten” by Trae Hawkins journeys to a region where a valuable mineral can be found, but at the expense of losing much of one’s memory until leaving the area. Flashbacks reveal how his father was killed in battle, and how his sister joined a rebellion. While caring for a fellow miner injured in the land of lost memory, he has to choose whether to remain there, along with a woman who has forgotten almost everything, or go back to his painful memories.

The story raises serious questions about the importance of retaining one’s self in the form of memories, even if they are unpleasant ones. It offers no easy answers. The use of second person narration, which often offers little advantage over other techniques, is appropriate for a story in which the main character has gaps in his memory.

Victoria Silverwolf has a bad memory.