Beneath Ceaseless Skies #424, January 23, 2025

“Late Autumn on the Pilgrim’s High Road” by Samuel Jensen

“The Garden Must Thrive” by Anaea Lay

Reviewed by Seraph

“Late Autumn on the Pilgrim’s High Road” by Samuel Jensen

There are a number of really classic themes present here, and I really wanted to like this story, but I couldn’t get there. I spent a long time going back and reading it a number of times, and it is like a finely woven yet ill-fitted shirt. No doubt crafted with care, but just doesn’t ever feel quite like it is sitting where it needs to. Usually the issue is small, sometimes the pacing is a little bit too slow and then jumps ahead to catch up to the plot for example. The issues really are of fit and finish, but there are enough of them that it is difficult to ignore. The young prodigy of a defeated militant order travels with the older field marshal who led the army that routed them? Consider my interest piqued. The inevitable betrayal of a new friend who ends up being more human than expected, and the not-so-oblivious veteran who has just survived too long to be fooled by yet another assassin? I’m here for it. The burning fear and passion of the young that drives them to replace the old warhorses out of desperation that the next wave will be the one that drowns the world? I’d be hard pressed to think of something more human and relatable, and kudos for simultaneously making me wonder when I ended up too old to still feel the flame but too young to have lost sympathy for it. I can’t recommend this story, but if my words ever reach the author, please don’t stop. I’ll remember the name, and look for more of your work.

“The Garden Must Thrive” by Anaea Lay

If the first story in this issue just didn’t fit right, this one just fell flat. Not every story should inspire passion or strong emotions… but it should inspire something. Else, is it still fantasy? I generally have a great deal of interest in magic, mythology, and all things supernatural, and am actively drawn to those kinds of stories. Which made the lack of magnetism from this story so much more pronounced. It has the right elements that could lead to something interesting. When dealing with pagan witchcraft, it isn’t supposed to be clean and sanitized, it is more about being grounded to the natural elements and the interwoven magicks of life and death. It is difficult to get more grounded than gardens and worms, and there is no lack of metaphors for life and humanity in cultivating a garden. But it just goes… nowhere. There’s a halfhearted attempt to make a point at the end, but the majority of this feels like the exposition in a longer story that may or may not have needed to be edited shorter, or cut entirely, to preserve the pace and advance the plot.