Review Summaries

• Readers respond to the way the work approaches its subject and to the prose that supports the story. It is also read as a work that asks for patience with quiet development and weighty themes.

Reviews

• Wow

  An adventure and murder mystery. That was easy to read. With engaging characters and a wonderfully interesting take on ethics. I love this book

• Excellent Mystery from the Post-Collapse Future

  Carrie Vaughn's science fiction mystery is set an unspecified period in the future in an area known as the Coast Road, somewhere on the West Coast of the former United States. About a century ago, the world suffered a profound collapse of the economy and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people died and civilization worldwide fell completely apart. The Earth is now in a recovery period -- so this is just a post-collapse novel, not a full-on post-apocalypse -- and the Coast Road is doing a lot better than most areas. A key element of the Coast Road region's rebuilding efforts is very strict birth control -- couples and household families who wish to bear children must earn the right to raise kids. Those who do are allowed to display banners at their households that symbolize this privilege. If you don't have a banner, you're not allowed to have kids. Households that don't have banners are considered, unofficially, to be less important than households that do have banners. And if you have a kid without earning a banner first, there can be serious penalties for the parents, and bannerless children can face lifelong, if unofficial and unsanctioned, discrimination. There isn't a lot of serious crime in the Coast Road communities, but it does happen periodically. So there are citizens who must sometimes take up duties as Investigators to learn who committed crimes and determine the proper punishment for the guilty. Our lead character, Enid, is one of those Investigators. She lives in the community of Haven, and she's fairly new to the profession -- she was apprenticed to an older Investigator named Tomas, and now that she's a full Investigator, he still serves as a mentor. Previously, she's investigated thefts, frauds, and other crimes, and she's helped provide disaster relief after the superstorms that periodically plague the area. But now there's a report of a suspicious death in a small, prosperous community called Pasadan, and Enid will take the lead on the investigation. In between the chapters on the investigation in Pasadan, we get flashbacks to Enid's youth, surviving a few of the aforementioned superstorms, having her first romance, and roaming between the various communities and villages of the Coast Road. As Enid and Tomas investigate the death in Pasadan, they must contend not just with determining whether or not the deceased died by accident or by murder but with a community torn by suspicion, fear, greed, and hostility, with Enid's past coming back to haunt her, with the continuing challenges facing the world rebuilding from ecological collapse, and with the possibility of more deaths on the horizon. So how's the book? Well, first, let's talk about how it is as a mystery. A lot of the details are telegraphed pretty early in the story. I mean, it'd be a pretty dull mystery if we got to the end of the book and it turned out the dead guy just tripped and fell, no murder, everyone go home. There are also strong hints given that certain characters are very shady. The bit of the mystery that's less anticipated is how many other crimes Enid ends up uncovering -- none of them are as serious as murder, but all are serious enough to require serious punishments for the households responsible. Ultimately, is the mystery fun? Is it satisfying? Does it keep the book moving along? Yes on all points. How is this as science fiction? It's really great. Not because it's full of robots and spaceships and cyberware -- the technology level on display here is significantly less advanced than what we have now. But this is speculative fiction about the future, and it does an outstanding job of imagining what the future could look like. In a number of ways, it seems like a healthier, saner way to live, especially in the aftermath of a societal collapse. People are nicer to each other and work together better, there's less violence, people are more in tune with nature, capitalism is much weaker, if not outright dead -- and there's still greed and shortsightedness and anger and resentment and discrimination. Things are better in a lot of ways, but people still suffer from the same weaknesses. Plus millions of people died! I also kept wondering if we were looking at a world getting back on steady environmental grounds again, or if it was all about to tip headlong into ecofascism. And to be honest, reading a story that leads me to speculate about what may lie in the future of the future seems like the mark of excellent science fiction. Characterization is also great. Enid and Tomas are wonderfully well-realized. Dak, Enid's first love, is a charming musician and all-around a perfectly nice person -- while still having enough selfish cad traits to make you wish he'd fall into the ocean, but not so many you forget that he actually is a decent enough person. There are dozens of other characters, named and unnamed, living in farmland, villages, fishing communities, the edges of the desert, and the ruins of cities, who we get to meet, learn what their roles are in this new human ecosystem, and find out what they think about the world around them. There's even one deceased character, Auntie Kath, the only person Enid knew who had seen the world prior to the collapse, and who we get to know through Enid's memories of Kath's stories about the old world. All told, we get a wealth of characters, most wonderfully different from one another, and we get to see the future through their eyes. I thought this was a really enjoyable book, and its themes of building a more sustainable world are going to be topical for years to come. Go check it out.

• Highly recommended

  This was my first experience with Carrie Vaughn's writing and it most certainly won't be the last. Bannerless is a wonderful read and, in my experience at least, somewhat unusual for a post apocalyptic setting. This is no Hobbesian dystopia, far from it. The survivors of the Fall have worked hard to ensure the mistakes of the old world aren't repeated. That individuals and communities have enough of what they need but no more. They take care of each other and tend to community, rather than individual needs. At least, that's the theory. There is a quiet sort of fury (embodied in Enid, our wonderful protagonist) at the wilful selfishness and shortsightedness of the old world, our world, throughout the book. But it feels resigned and mournful, rather than polemical. The world building is second to none and the characterisation is so skilfully done. It is one of the first books in a long time that made me cry, I cared so much for these characters and was fully invested in seeing how things turned out for them. In many ways Bannerless is a gentle read, you get to know Enid and her companions slowly. The mystery reveals itself gradually too. But this absolutely suits the setting, Enid's world is slower than ours. If you like excellent world building and thoughtful characterisation I'm sure you'll love this. I sincerely hope that there will be more stories in this setting to come.

• A unique twist on a classic concept that promises to be something more!

  My Thoughts The dystopian theme is one of my absolute favorites. You simply mention it and you have my undivided attention. How it is that Bannerless escaped my clutches is beyond me. I only recently learned of this series when I received an advanced copy of the upcoming sequel. So while I was excited at the prospect of a new dystopian saga, I had little expectations as I jumped in nearly blind. The skinny.. Due to epidemics and economic collapse, the United States is now an almost barren land with small surviving settlements that have regressed in many ways. However, the Coast Road offers hope to many in the forms of a possible future and rebuilt civilization. In efforts to thrive and avoid outgrowing the land, this remaining culture has implemented a regulated form of population control where each homestead must earn the right to expand their families and bear children. That right is signified with awarded banners. For everyone else, birth control is not optional. When Coast Road citizen, Enid, an investigator from Haven is summoned to another settlement in regards to a mysterious death, she uncovers a possible murder that just might not only upend the whole town but the world as she understands it. “On the wall above the kitchen door hung a piece of woven cloth, a foot square on each side, a red-and-green-checked pattern for blood and life: their banner, which the four of them had earned.” What I appreciated.. Beautifully executed world construction that immerses the reader in life along the Coast Road. A unique twist on a classic concept. This is a dystopian story enshrouding a murder mystery with a true element of whodunnit. Enid is a patient and well-defined character who’s portrayal offers readers a rewarding glimpse into the beginning of a new civilization and era. The author offers viable aspects to man’s approach to rebuild, reclaim and even preserve some of what was. An alternating timeline of our protagonist’s childhood and the present adds a nice layer of depth to her character. “The worst storms were the ones that changed you. The ones you remembered not for how bad they objectively were, but for how much damage they did to your own world. Banners, planted in memory.” Challenges some may encounter.. At times, the slow and steady pacing can feel almost sobering or emotionless. Secondary characters remain almost undemonstrative and disconnected in comparison to Edin. This is not a complex story with high revelations. What Bannerless lacks in complexity it easily makes up for in a well-executed story, solid writing and the promise of something grand to come. It offers a dose of optimism in the midst of a desperate time which is often rare in this genre. I appreciated Vaughn’s decision to introduce a civilization that was making honest attempt to regain a worthwhile and constructive life. I am excited to see what direction she will take with this series and look forward to The Wild Dead.

• The quaintest dystopia I have ever read

  It could just be that I was really disappointed with the last few books I’ve read, but I absolutely loved this. Vaughn writes beautifully and a lot of what she says I found very relatable. When I read the blurb, I was expecting something along the lines of The Handmaid’s Tale, a future dystopian society where women’s reproductive rights are controlled. While the book does have that, it isn’t all that it’s about, and that particular part of the story is so subtly woven into everything else that at the end I was left feeling unsure how I felt about that particular conflict. It was about the women sure, but it was also about society as a collective. As far as post-apocalyptic dystopian societies go- the society presented on the Coast Road doesn’t seem like such a terrible way to live. Which is why I’m so conflicted- because I don’t think a government should be interfering with a woman’s body in any way. The focus of the story is Enid. We see her in two timelines, one where she comes of age, and another, as an adult. Both timelines pulled me in equally, and I was never felt disappointed, never felt like I needed to hurry through the next chapter to get back to the story I really cared about. It was impossible not to care for her- not be happy for her triumphs and adventures, not to be sad for her in her losses. The plot isn’t action filled, it goes at its own pace, but the setting and characters are so lovely, I never noticed. I would recommend this to anyone looking for something on the lighter side of dystopias, but still wants a book that will make them think. I absolutely can’t wait to read the next.

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