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Lullaby for a Lost World
Charlotte died to shore up her master's house. Her bones grew into the foundation and pushed up through the walls, feeding his power and continuing the cycle. As time passes and the ones she loved fade away, the house and the master remain, and she yearns ever more deeply for vengeance.
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14 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 8, 2016
14 people are currently reading
992 people want to read
About the author
Aliette de Bodard
265 books2,246 followersAliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris. She has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award, a British Fantasy Award and four British Science Fiction Association Awards, and was a double Hugo finalist for 2019 (Best Series and Best Novella).
Her most recent book is Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. She also wrote Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press), a space opera where a sentient spaceship and an upright scholar join forces to investigate a murder, and find themselves falling for each other. Other books include Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and its standalone sequel Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.), fantasy books of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.
Her most recent book is Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. She also wrote Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press), a space opera where a sentient spaceship and an upright scholar join forces to investigate a murder, and find themselves falling for each other. Other books include Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and its standalone sequel Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.), fantasy books of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She lives in Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
May 1, 2020
They bury you at the bottom of the gardens—what’s left of you, pathetic and small and twisted so out of shape it hardly seems human anymore. The river, dark and oily, licks at the ruin of your flesh—at your broken bones—and sings you to sleep in a soft, gentle language like a mother’s lullabies, whispering of rest and forgiveness, of a place where it is forever light, forever safe.
this is another one of those tor shorts that offers up some interesting imagery and the shape of a situation without actually bothering to tell a cohesive story, so at the end you're left scratching your head over what you've just read and wondering what you're supposed to do with it.
the premise is intriguing - it opens in second person, which is always a pleasantly jarring device, and a scenario unfolds where we understand that in this unspecified location, unhealthy girls are ceremonially sacrificed in order to gratify the needs of a sentient house, overseen by a mysterious "master," in order to feed the magic that keeps the world at bay. the world outside the confines of the house is starving, war-torn, polluted, while the master enjoys fine wines and long life, hinting at sacrifices he has made which may or may not be greater than those of the girls feeding the house, the most recent of which, charlotte, is narrating this story, able to communicate and think in a limited fashion, and definitely still able to suffer.
but the specifics of the situation are left unwritten: what the arrangement between the master and the house is, whether it's an unavoidable curse, who the people in the house - these "archivists" are, and what they're archiving, who the master is, what's the dealio, where this house came from, how much time is passing between sacrifices, etc etc etc. and without knowing the details or the context, we can't assess the situation - we don't know if these sacrifices are necessary or voluntary - whether it should be interpreted as morally wrong or whether not making these sacrifices would result in even worse consequences, which all means we have no sense of whether there is any heroism here, or any villainy. all we have are scattered images which don't quite make up a story.
and that ending?? it's bonkersville with how much is unexplained. i mean, points for
and that's pretty frustrating.
as far as i can tell, this isn't a retelling of an already-known story, so it's not entitled to those storytelling shortcuts it could otherwise get away with if it were counting on the reader to fill in the allusive gaps.
it gets many stars for atmosphere and imagery, but it's the literary equivalent of cotton candy - a rush of flavor that vanishes without satisfying any of your hunger.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2016/06/08/lullaby...
come to my blog!
this is another one of those tor shorts that offers up some interesting imagery and the shape of a situation without actually bothering to tell a cohesive story, so at the end you're left scratching your head over what you've just read and wondering what you're supposed to do with it.
the premise is intriguing - it opens in second person, which is always a pleasantly jarring device, and a scenario unfolds where we understand that in this unspecified location, unhealthy girls are ceremonially sacrificed in order to gratify the needs of a sentient house, overseen by a mysterious "master," in order to feed the magic that keeps the world at bay. the world outside the confines of the house is starving, war-torn, polluted, while the master enjoys fine wines and long life, hinting at sacrifices he has made which may or may not be greater than those of the girls feeding the house, the most recent of which, charlotte, is narrating this story, able to communicate and think in a limited fashion, and definitely still able to suffer.
but the specifics of the situation are left unwritten: what the arrangement between the master and the house is, whether it's an unavoidable curse, who the people in the house - these "archivists" are, and what they're archiving, who the master is, what's the dealio, where this house came from, how much time is passing between sacrifices, etc etc etc. and without knowing the details or the context, we can't assess the situation - we don't know if these sacrifices are necessary or voluntary - whether it should be interpreted as morally wrong or whether not making these sacrifices would result in even worse consequences, which all means we have no sense of whether there is any heroism here, or any villainy. all we have are scattered images which don't quite make up a story.
and that ending?? it's bonkersville with how much is unexplained. i mean, points for
and that's pretty frustrating.
as far as i can tell, this isn't a retelling of an already-known story, so it's not entitled to those storytelling shortcuts it could otherwise get away with if it were counting on the reader to fill in the allusive gaps.
it gets many stars for atmosphere and imagery, but it's the literary equivalent of cotton candy - a rush of flavor that vanishes without satisfying any of your hunger.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/2016/06/08/lullaby...
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November 10, 2023
‘You do not rest. You cannot forgive. You are not safe—you never were.’
You’ve likely heard of the Trolley Problem, a thought experiment that asks us to consider the ethical dilemma of sacrificing one person in order to save a large group of people. French author Aliette de Bodard constructs an apocalyptic world where such a choice has been made in her short story Lullaby for a Lost World (you can read it HERE), a story she calls her ‘answer to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.’ Told from the perspective of the last girl who was sent to her death in order to uphold the safety of a giant mansion in which The Master is said to keep the numerous residents cared for, our ghostly narrator is stirred to revenge upon watching the next girl being sentenced to death. Knowing the Le Guin connection was almost detrimental despite it being what made me eager to read this as where Le Guin achieves a staple of short fiction through the way her tale confronts the reader with an ethical quandery, this falls short by being merely a narrative without enough grounding in its own trolley problem set up to feel like anything more than a cheap, violent revenge story. That said, Aliette de Bodard excels at creating an unnerving atmosphere and delivers some gorgeous writing that make this story, which can be read in about five minutes, still worth a glance.
There is a line in the poem Questionnaire by Wendell Berry that asks ‘For the sake of goodness, how much / evil are you willing to do?’ If one thinks about it, one must question at what point does any horrible deed make any “good” result no longer “good.” Le Guin probes this quite well in her story, Omelas, and I feel like that question is part of what gives the story its grit: the people are aware and complicit and because some have walked away we can really set up ethical boundaries to test our our opinions against. The problem with Lullaby for a Lost World is the level of complicity is very uncertain, just that once the narrator has gone to her death she realizes ‘it’s too high a price,’ in order to uphold ‘the tapestry of lies that made your old, careless life possible.’ Not that ignorance of the horrors can wash your hands of complicity—and we can certainly understand why the end paints with broad strokes of rage and survivorless rampage—but when positioning this as an answer to Omelas it feels cheap without the awareness that people have recognized they are choosing the sacrifice and have walked away. Without that it loses the spark that made Omelas so cutting.
I can enjoy a good gory action scene, which this story certainly delivers, and I even think the random and completely unexplained unicorn transformation (YEP) is kind of awesome, but it also felt like way too much without really earning it. If that makes sense? Was it just wish fulfillment? Also But also aside from the one conversation that we see The Master is grifting off their deaths, theres just not enough explanation of how anything is working to really make any of the punches land. The sudden violence being very graphic just comes across like explosions in a Michael Bay film at this point. Still, I have to say it was worth the read and I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I not known the Le Guin connection (or even picked up on the intended connection, which is pretty loose). Eerie, violent, and not a bad way to spend 5 minutes but also not a great way either. Definitely read the Le Guin story if you haven't, but for another take on Omelas, I think I'd still recommend N.K. Jemisin, The Ones Who Stay and Fight (read it here) over this one.
2.5/5
‘There is no rest. There is no forgiveness. And never, ever, any safety.’
You’ve likely heard of the Trolley Problem, a thought experiment that asks us to consider the ethical dilemma of sacrificing one person in order to save a large group of people. French author Aliette de Bodard constructs an apocalyptic world where such a choice has been made in her short story Lullaby for a Lost World (you can read it HERE), a story she calls her ‘answer to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.’ Told from the perspective of the last girl who was sent to her death in order to uphold the safety of a giant mansion in which The Master is said to keep the numerous residents cared for, our ghostly narrator is stirred to revenge upon watching the next girl being sentenced to death. Knowing the Le Guin connection was almost detrimental despite it being what made me eager to read this as where Le Guin achieves a staple of short fiction through the way her tale confronts the reader with an ethical quandery, this falls short by being merely a narrative without enough grounding in its own trolley problem set up to feel like anything more than a cheap, violent revenge story. That said, Aliette de Bodard excels at creating an unnerving atmosphere and delivers some gorgeous writing that make this story, which can be read in about five minutes, still worth a glance.
There is a line in the poem Questionnaire by Wendell Berry that asks ‘For the sake of goodness, how much / evil are you willing to do?’ If one thinks about it, one must question at what point does any horrible deed make any “good” result no longer “good.” Le Guin probes this quite well in her story, Omelas, and I feel like that question is part of what gives the story its grit: the people are aware and complicit and because some have walked away we can really set up ethical boundaries to test our our opinions against. The problem with Lullaby for a Lost World is the level of complicity is very uncertain, just that once the narrator has gone to her death she realizes ‘it’s too high a price,’ in order to uphold ‘the tapestry of lies that made your old, careless life possible.’ Not that ignorance of the horrors can wash your hands of complicity—and we can certainly understand why the end paints with broad strokes of rage and survivorless rampage—but when positioning this as an answer to Omelas it feels cheap without the awareness that people have recognized they are choosing the sacrifice and have walked away. Without that it loses the spark that made Omelas so cutting.
I can enjoy a good gory action scene, which this story certainly delivers, and I even think the random and completely unexplained unicorn transformation (YEP) is kind of awesome, but it also felt like way too much without really earning it. If that makes sense? Was it just wish fulfillment? Also But also aside from the one conversation that we see The Master is grifting off their deaths, theres just not enough explanation of how anything is working to really make any of the punches land. The sudden violence being very graphic just comes across like explosions in a Michael Bay film at this point. Still, I have to say it was worth the read and I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I not known the Le Guin connection (or even picked up on the intended connection, which is pretty loose). Eerie, violent, and not a bad way to spend 5 minutes but also not a great way either. Definitely read the Le Guin story if you haven't, but for another take on Omelas, I think I'd still recommend N.K. Jemisin, The Ones Who Stay and Fight (read it here) over this one.
2.5/5
‘There is no rest. There is no forgiveness. And never, ever, any safety.’
July 17, 2020
The world is a dark place full of war and a dying environment. But there is one place that is different. Where people don't have to starve. How that is possible, you ask? Well, the House (imagine a castle) protects its inhabitants via magic. But magic always comes at a price. The really powerful magic only can be paid for in blood. Charlotte learns this at one point but doesn't fade away after her death. Instead, she festers and seethes underneath the earth. When is a price too high to be paid?
I loved this dark and twisted tale despite the obvious turn in the end. The set-up reminded me a bit of the castle in The Last Unicorn and I can never resist a dark tale about the price for magic. The writing style was also effortlessly flowing along like the river in the story and I actually wanted the tale to be longer and to continue.
Really wonderful though that is a weird description considering ...
You can read the story for free here: https://www.tor.com/2016/06/08/lullab...
October 11, 2021
This novella has an interesting concept and is well-drawn except for the ending. The story builds up excellently and left me anticipating more yet it chose to finish abruptly. In a sense, I understand why the author left it with an open ending, but getting a detailed and well-thought conclusion would be delightful. Plus, if Charlotte is capable of doing what she did in the end; why didn't she do it sooner?
Overall, a great start but weak finish.
Overall, a great start but weak finish.
December 8, 2019
This is a very quick, horror-esque read.
It details the story of a young woman dying, and her thoughts from the afterlife.
I don't want to give any other details as it may spoil the entire story.
The storytelling was magnificent, i loved the author's writing style.
It details the story of a young woman dying, and her thoughts from the afterlife.
I don't want to give any other details as it may spoil the entire story.
The storytelling was magnificent, i loved the author's writing style.
February 7, 2017
Aliette de Bodard's website describes this story as "A dark and creepy answer to 'The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas.'" Since I re-read LeGuin's story (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) earlier today, as well as another story by de Bodard (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) (which I loved), it seemed like an auspicious time to go ahead and read this one.
Unfortunately, 'Lullaby...' did not fare well by comparison. I think I would've liked it better without any mention of the LeGuin story. While it features a similar situation, rather than exploring a variety of complex ethical questions, it presents a comparatively simplistic dark-occult revenge story.
In a post-apocalyptic scenario, one house, containing hundreds of survivors, is protected by the magic of a sorcerer who apparently gains his power through human sacrifice. His victims are the weak and the ill - apparently always young girls. The tale is told through the eyes of the ghost of one of these girls, roused by the impending fate of her successor.
The sorcerer is unambiguously portrayed as a hypocrite acting out of self-interest, and no mention at all is made of the choices of those who shelter in the house's safety (the parallel to what was the main focus of LeGuin's piece). There are no 'ones who walk away' mentioned.
In summary: decent occult horror; not an 'answer' to 'Omelas.'
Unfortunately, 'Lullaby...' did not fare well by comparison. I think I would've liked it better without any mention of the LeGuin story. While it features a similar situation, rather than exploring a variety of complex ethical questions, it presents a comparatively simplistic dark-occult revenge story.
In a post-apocalyptic scenario, one house, containing hundreds of survivors, is protected by the magic of a sorcerer who apparently gains his power through human sacrifice. His victims are the weak and the ill - apparently always young girls. The tale is told through the eyes of the ghost of one of these girls, roused by the impending fate of her successor.
The sorcerer is unambiguously portrayed as a hypocrite acting out of self-interest, and no mention at all is made of the choices of those who shelter in the house's safety (the parallel to what was the main focus of LeGuin's piece). There are no 'ones who walk away' mentioned.
In summary: decent occult horror; not an 'answer' to 'Omelas.'
September 29, 2020
Lullaby for a Lost Word
was such a dull short story.
There were a lot of unexplained things and I couldn't been less invested in what was going on. The whole plot was so absurd and the characters boring, the paragraphs were entangled between the MC's past and present but there's no middle point when one begins and the other end.
The ending was the worst part of the whole book, it didn't make sense at all. The writing was unique and captivating but it just wasn't enough for me to like this novella.
There were a lot of unexplained things and I couldn't been less invested in what was going on. The whole plot was so absurd and the characters boring, the paragraphs were entangled between the MC's past and present but there's no middle point when one begins and the other end.
The ending was the worst part of the whole book, it didn't make sense at all. The writing was unique and captivating but it just wasn't enough for me to like this novella.
June 27, 2016
4 Stars
Lullaby for a Lost World is a unique, interesting, and we'll written piece of short fiction by Aliette de Bodard. I am a huge fan of Aliette de Bodard and jump at opportunities to get her stuff, especially when you can read it for free on Tor.com. Lullaby for a Lost World is a short story about a draft girl.
The imagery is cool and the story fast. The writing is amazing...
"It doesn’t. It never will. Beneath the earth, you struggle to push at what holds you down—to gather shattered flesh and glistening bones, to rise up like the dead at the resurrection, raging and weeping and demanding justice, but nothing happens. Just a faint bulge on the grave, a slight yielding of the mud. Voiceless, bodiless, you have no power to move anything."
A fun short read from an amazing author.
Lullaby for a Lost World is a unique, interesting, and we'll written piece of short fiction by Aliette de Bodard. I am a huge fan of Aliette de Bodard and jump at opportunities to get her stuff, especially when you can read it for free on Tor.com. Lullaby for a Lost World is a short story about a draft girl.
The imagery is cool and the story fast. The writing is amazing...
"It doesn’t. It never will. Beneath the earth, you struggle to push at what holds you down—to gather shattered flesh and glistening bones, to rise up like the dead at the resurrection, raging and weeping and demanding justice, but nothing happens. Just a faint bulge on the grave, a slight yielding of the mud. Voiceless, bodiless, you have no power to move anything."
A fun short read from an amazing author.
September 9, 2020
“Charlotte died to shore up her master’s house. Her bones grew into the foundation and pushed up through the walls, feeding his power and continuing the cycle. As time passes and the ones she loved fade away, the house and the master remain, and she yearns ever more deeply for vengeance.“
Grim! Beautifully written and unexpected. I liked it a lot.
Can be read for free here: https://www.tor.com/2016/06/08/lullab...
Further reading, interview with the author about this and that: https://www.tor.com/2020/07/09/aliett...
Grim! Beautifully written and unexpected. I liked it a lot.
Can be read for free here: https://www.tor.com/2016/06/08/lullab...
Further reading, interview with the author about this and that: https://www.tor.com/2020/07/09/aliett...
June 28, 2016
3.5 Stars
Gloomy, but beautifully written.
Gloomy, but beautifully written.
December 23, 2020
My main problem with Lullaby for a lost world is that it was too short to be comprehensible. We don't know about the 'House', the 'Master' and the reason why they feed them with the blood of young girls. So, it was not easy to understand Charlotte's anger, only her pain and what had happened to her through her memories. But it was creepy.
December 5, 2016
The Tor.com short stories always act as a treat for me. If I can complete reading a pre-designated number of pages in my printed books for the week, then I get a treat. A Tor treat. Always at night, so that any sound anywhere causes me to hold my breath. Tor was made for Winter.
This is one of the creepier Tor e-reads, and also one of the most puzzling. It grabbed me from the get-go, because the author does not give much away immediately. The reader learns, slowly, about the outside world which is violent and dying. Only the house survives, growing strong on the corpses of the young girls sacrificed for its ongoing health.
This had me almost until the end, when the unexpected happened and I just didn't believe it. Like Disney gone evil. However, it did bring to mind the horror movie from the 1970s, Burnt Offerings, when an evil Oakland mansion goes after Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and Bette Davis, reviving itself from their deaths.
I am on good terms with my house. I think.
Book Season = Winter (you don't own me)
This is one of the creepier Tor e-reads, and also one of the most puzzling. It grabbed me from the get-go, because the author does not give much away immediately. The reader learns, slowly, about the outside world which is violent and dying. Only the house survives, growing strong on the corpses of the young girls sacrificed for its ongoing health.
This had me almost until the end, when the unexpected happened and I just didn't believe it. Like Disney gone evil. However, it did bring to mind the horror movie from the 1970s, Burnt Offerings, when an evil Oakland mansion goes after Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and Bette Davis, reviving itself from their deaths.
I am on good terms with my house. I think.
Book Season = Winter (you don't own me)
June 3, 2020
read a book with a house on the cover
and this is a beautiful cover.
i fancied a quick read, and even though this was quick it had gorgeous writing. that was definitely my favourite part. as was the unique second person narrative. that was a beautiful choice that took the story to another level. the atmosphere was well-formed, but i didn’t feel myself completely connected by the story, i feel like it was a scene taken from a wider novel. a wider novel that i could see myself reading. the overall message of the story didn’t hit me until the end, with the all pieces coming together in my brain. the message however was something i enjoyed.
the fact aliette de bodard was able to create an atmospheric, beautifully written short story is amazing. yet i feel like it’s length hindered my enjoyment slightly and it’s memorability for me.
and this is a beautiful cover.
i fancied a quick read, and even though this was quick it had gorgeous writing. that was definitely my favourite part. as was the unique second person narrative. that was a beautiful choice that took the story to another level. the atmosphere was well-formed, but i didn’t feel myself completely connected by the story, i feel like it was a scene taken from a wider novel. a wider novel that i could see myself reading. the overall message of the story didn’t hit me until the end, with the all pieces coming together in my brain. the message however was something i enjoyed.
the fact aliette de bodard was able to create an atmospheric, beautifully written short story is amazing. yet i feel like it’s length hindered my enjoyment slightly and it’s memorability for me.
January 13, 2024
A young girl is sacrificed for the eternal life of a manor and its master, while the rest of the world falls apart around it. It's a sad story with a vengeful ending, and it's inspired to find a copy of Ursula K. LeGuin's short story, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," which won the 1974 Hugo for Short Story.
September 17, 2018
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"You could tell her, if you still had a voice—of the day they will come for her, two footmen and a butler and the master behind them."
Delightfully chilling and grotesque, the tale of a young girl who must pay the price for her master's life. I've never read anything by Bodard before but this was such an excellent introduction to her work. Every sentence was constructed to perfection. I loved it.
September 11, 2020
Reminiscent of the world of the Dominion of the Fallen, set on the grounds of some grand house with beautiful, green gardens and numerous residents. The house and its enclosed grounds seem to be surrounded by a city/region at war, with fires and fighting happening, and a polluted river flowing nearby.
Charlotte, who was ill, was sacrificed brutally, in order for her death to fuel the protections on the house. Except, Charlotte’s angry. And furious watching a new girl be groomed for the same “honour”.
Another great story from de Bodard. The tale may be short, but it’s dark, violent, seething. And gorgeous.
Charlotte, who was ill, was sacrificed brutally, in order for her death to fuel the protections on the house. Except, Charlotte’s angry. And furious watching a new girl be groomed for the same “honour”.
Another great story from de Bodard. The tale may be short, but it’s dark, violent, seething. And gorgeous.
June 4, 2024
A compelling and atmospheric story with what could potentially be fascinating in terms of world building. Unfortunately, it was too short to get anything more than the scrapings off the surface. I hope de Bodard turns this into a longer story or novella at some stage.
March 15, 2019
Dark, creepy and sad.
Quick read that feels like you stepped into a dark fairy-tale. I admit I expected there to be some revelation twist-end where we find out Charlotte is going through some sort of metamorphosis and turns out to be a butterfly or something equally tame but I was wrong (and this is why I don’t write or plot anything).
So, I like the writing, like the tone of the story, and I do like these ‘window stories’…you know, not a lot of information but everything we need to know is there when the turn does happens, but for this… I just wanted more oomph in the end. My expectations probably didn’t help with that feeling.
Quick read that feels like you stepped into a dark fairy-tale. I admit I expected there to be some revelation twist-end where we find out Charlotte is going through some sort of metamorphosis and turns out to be a butterfly or something equally tame but I was wrong (and this is why I don’t write or plot anything).
So, I like the writing, like the tone of the story, and I do like these ‘window stories’…you know, not a lot of information but everything we need to know is there when the turn does happens, but for this… I just wanted more oomph in the end. My expectations probably didn’t help with that feeling.
Read
September 16, 2021You do not rest. You cannot forgive. You are not safe—you never were.
This really reminded me of The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. The overall tone is quite depressing, though the writing was good. It's really, really bleak though. :(
This really reminded me of The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. The overall tone is quite depressing, though the writing was good. It's really, really bleak though. :(
February 18, 2021
3.8/5
The dead don’t always rest in peace.
Lyrical, brutal, sweet and, an intriguing idea, well-drawn and engagingly explored. The twist at the end comes a bit too suddenly, though it resolves the tale satisfyingly.
Lullaby for a Lost World was deliciously scary. Anyone who loves their horror grim and ghastly should check it out.
The dead don’t always rest in peace.
Lyrical, brutal, sweet and, an intriguing idea, well-drawn and engagingly explored. The twist at the end comes a bit too suddenly, though it resolves the tale satisfyingly.
Lullaby for a Lost World was deliciously scary. Anyone who loves their horror grim and ghastly should check it out.
June 9, 2016
This is a really good story. It's more than a little creepy, but it's a powerful story even so. It's so short, that I'm not sure what I can say that won't be a spoiler. But at the end, I was not at all sure who was the monster.
June 12, 2016
This is basically a rewrite of The Lottery or The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas but with a stronger response from the sacrifice. Is it ever right to survive off of the suffering of others? Charlotte doesn't think so.
December 3, 2021
Probably more of a 3.5.
As expected, the writing by Aliette is beautiful and haunting and very unapologetically horrifying. It was painful to read from the beginning, which slowly transformed to anger and then satifaction, but I'm still a little unsure of something that happened towards the end. However, it was too short for me to dwell on it too much and the story is vague enough to be immersive without feeling incomplete.
I'm not sure why but the master and the house reminded me so much of House Hawthorn and Asmodeus from the author's Dominion of the Fallen trilogy.
As expected, the writing by Aliette is beautiful and haunting and very unapologetically horrifying. It was painful to read from the beginning, which slowly transformed to anger and then satifaction, but I'm still a little unsure of something that happened towards the end. However, it was too short for me to dwell on it too much and the story is vague enough to be immersive without feeling incomplete.
I'm not sure why but the master and the house reminded me so much of House Hawthorn and Asmodeus from the author's Dominion of the Fallen trilogy.
August 6, 2016
4.5 stars, but rounded up because I enjoyed reading it and it's short.
I could see this creepy tale growing out of the origins of one of the Parisian Houses in The House of Shattered Wings, also by Aliette de Bodard. In fact, I'm internally speculating (hoping?) this might end up being referenced in The House of Binding Thorns, which I still need to wait nearly a year to read.
You can read it here.
I could see this creepy tale growing out of the origins of one of the Parisian Houses in The House of Shattered Wings, also by Aliette de Bodard. In fact, I'm internally speculating (hoping?) this might end up being referenced in The House of Binding Thorns, which I still need to wait nearly a year to read.
You can read it here.
September 14, 2018
This was an interesting experimental piece of very short fiction, and it ended up being surprisingly good. It's true that you can't really develop a lot from the story in only a few pages, but that's exactly part of the charm. It gets you so curious about everything mentioned and not explained at large that you really wish it was longer so some of the mystery can be solved :).
I would love it if the author would make this part of a more detailed universe in a series of hers, but of course, it's a great short story in itself, too.
I would love it if the author would make this part of a more detailed universe in a series of hers, but of course, it's a great short story in itself, too.
June 9, 2016
Lullaby for a Lost World is an eerie and lyrical tale about a horrifying ritual and the child it abuses that has so much potential that just isn't met in such a short work. The piece relies on emotions built up over time, but given that this slow simmer was not something readers got to experience, the power of the climax is dulled. However, it's still chilling piece with beautiful visuals.
July 7, 2016
" “Better the weak and the sick than all of us. I know it doesn’t excuse anything.”
It doesn’t. It never will. "
Great story, I read The House of Shattered by De Bodard earlier this year and I didn't like it at all however, this short story was everything I expected from her debut and more, great writing, creepy and beautifully sad.
It doesn’t. It never will. "
Great story, I read The House of Shattered by De Bodard earlier this year and I didn't like it at all however, this short story was everything I expected from her debut and more, great writing, creepy and beautifully sad.
December 31, 2020
i've read this only cause i wanted a quick read to finish this year with an even number on my reading challenge. and i hoped that, with the horror premise, it would at least be a quick creepy read. it was bland, i had no feeling if not bored and determination to finish my 2020 reading challenge. this zombie revenge finale, was really cheesy and it wasn't at all satisfying.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2016
This story is stunning and eerie in its beauty. Highly recommend. I read it in a single sitting and wanted to go back and read it again. Aliette is a stand-out talent.
July 11, 2016
Very creepy and wonderfully written story.
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