Reactor, January 2025

“Wolf Moon, Antler Moon” by A. C. Wise

“What I Saw Before the War” by Alaya Dawn Johnson

“Bravado” by Carrie Vaughn

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

“Wolf Moon, Antler Moon” by A. C. Wise takes place in a fantasy version of the modern world where teenage girls can be deer and men can be wolves. After an attack that leads to the death of five deer girls, the protagonist tames a wolf man and undergoes her own transformation in order to enact a sort of rough justice.

This story is much more ambiguous than I have made it sound. The fantasy content is mysterious, and much remains unexplained. There are hints of the former life of the main character’s grandmother, and references to a ritual that took place long ago. Some readers will appreciate the fact that more is implied than is made explicit, while others may find it confusing.

The narrator of “What I Saw Before the War” by Alaya Dawn Johnson left her family in the city to marry a farmer. When her sight begins to fade, she returns to seek medical care. In addition to impending blindness, she faces an uneasy relationship with her brother and the possibility that her husband will be drafted.

I have not mentioned the fantasy aspects of the story, which are relevant to the plot. The narrator’s fading eyesight also offers her visions and the chance to make use of magic. The impending war is fought by magicians who drain ordinary people of power to work their spells.

Despite the presence of looming warfare in the background, this is a quiet, domestic story. In addition to family tensions, much of the text deals with social class and race. This is made explicit, perhaps a bit too much so, when we learn that people with dark skin, such as the narrator, were formerly enslaved by people with light skin. Readers who do not find the allegory too obvious will be able to appreciate the author’s ability to create fully developed characters.

“Bravado” by Carrie Vaughn features a character who has appeared in other stories, seen here early in life. He lives on a planet where the inhabitants have multiple bodily enhancements. In particular, they are able to record all their experiences and share them with others. The plot deals with the protagonist’s first journey into space, where he must hide his enhancements, which are illegal everywhere but his home planet.

Because this is a prequel, it reads like the first chapter of a novel, with a plot that has hardly begun. Given the main character’s youth and inexperience, it seems best suited for young adults. (In particular, I was reminded of Robert A. Heinlein’s so-called juvenile novels.) The story begins and ends with sections unrelated to the main plot, but revealing aspects of the protagonist’s character.

Victoria Silverwolf has read a couple of Heinlein juveniles.