Wings of Renewal Book Review, Part 2

This week, I'm delving into the middle stories in the book Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology, edited by Claudie Arseneault and Brenda J. Pierson.

Did you see the first part of my Wings of Renewal Book Review? If not, click here for reviews of the first eight stories.

Not sure what "solarpunk" means? Check out my blog post on the World Weaver Press site called "The Brighter Futures of Solarpunk," as well as the comprehensive "Solarpunk Reference Guide."

And that is all the ado I shall give this week. On to the reviews:

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The Quantum Dragon by Tobias Wade

A water energy scientist learns a corporation is allowing fusion reactors to collapse and profiting from people who are fleeing Earth for a Martian colony, so he creates a virus to shut down the reactors—which makes things worse. I enjoyed the science in this story, but wish the author had delved a little deeper into it. The protagonist is working on a method to harness energy from ocean currents. Cool! But why is this the green tech that's going to save us, more than, say, wave energy (which already exists), or any of the other renewables? I'd have loved to know more.

Note: It has come to my attention that this story is not included in the re-issued edition of Wings of Renewal. I am reading a first edition, published by Incandescent Phoenix Books. The new edition republished by Claudie Arseneault contains fewer stories than the original.

Fighting Fire With Fire by Gemini Pond

A community works together to extinguish a fire that threatens the forest their forebears planted to stop the encroaching desert. Like a lot of the stories in this anthology, it could have used a bit more in the way of worldbuilding and characterization, but overall, this was a nice story about cooperation and perseverance.

Refuge by Mindi Briar

A stranded spaceship pilot is rescued by an ethereal dragon and taken to a utopian planet. This story would be right at home in a space opera or space adventure anthology, though it is a bit rare to see true utopias (that don't turn out to be dystopias in disguise). This story faces head-on a lot of the concerns writers have about utopian settings, and through exploration and contrast, comes to a satisfying conclusion. The author claims to be writing a novel in this world. I'll keep an eye out for it.

The Dragon of Kou by Caroline Bigaiski

The idea that dragons and other creatures of myth returned once we cleaned up the planet is a pretty common theme in this anthology. To be honest, that was the angle I took in the story I wrote for their call for submissions (which was rejected, as it should have been. It wasn't ready!). This story had some nice moments, but the narrative style was quite distancing for me, and I don't feel it will stick with me as one of the more memorable pieces. And to be honest, by this point in the anthology, I'm craving a little more "solarpunk" and a little less "dragon."

Deep Within the Corners of My Mind by CJ Lehi

I enjoyed the Romanian setting of this story—it's not one I see very often in science fiction. I can't speak for authenticity or representation, but nothing stood out to me as an obvious stereotype, and the setting did feel integral to the story. A bit more violent than the others so far in this anthology (though vastly less so than an average SFF tale these days), with a satisfying non-violent resolution.

Note: It has come to my attention that this story is not included in the re-issued edition of Wings of Renewal. I am reading a first edition, published by Incandescent Phoenix Books. The new edition republished by Claudie Arseneault contains fewer stories than the original.

The Witch's Son by Diane Dubas

I ranted last time about how I thought solarpunk should remain science fiction and not get too tangled up with fantasy and magic, but this story is making me question that assertion. This is urban fantasy in a solarpunk setting, and, I don't know, it kind of works. Is solarpunk a genre, or is it an aesthetic, the way horror can be considered an aesthetic? Can solarpunk be overlaid onto other genres without losing its core? Maybe it can. Magic exists in Dubas's world, but it wasn't magic that reversed our ecological damage. The backstory about climate change and renewal is too brief, glossing over how we got to this world, but that's also not the focus of the story. Really, it's a symptom of the fact that this should be a novel. It feels like a first chapter rather than a fully-realized short story, and if it were given the room to breathe, I'm sure we'd get all that backstory much better fleshed out. One of the most awesome parts of this story was The Red Door. This is such an great idea, and so much more could be done with it.

"The Red Door was synonymous with all things forbidden: sex, drugs, magic, and petroleum. Are you a duke with a penchant for diesel engines? The Red Door is your place. A countess with a kink for motor oil? The witch behind the Red Door is there for you."

Dragon's Oath by Danny Mitchell

In a world where people harvest dragon scales to use like solar panels, someone is hunting and shooting down the dragons. Like the previous story, this is much more of a first chapter than it is a complete short story. It raises a bunch of story questions but resolves none of them. Our protagonist finds one of the injured dragons and becomes a caretaker for its baby. That's great, but it's the start of a story, not a whole story. The characterization and worldbuilding on a micro scale is pretty good—I always had a good sense of the immediate setting, and the diversity of the characters is one of the best parts. We have a hijab-wearing Muslim protagonist, and Mandarin-speaking background characters, which is an intriguing mix. However, I was kind of lost on the macro scale: Are we in a future earth where dragons have reappeared (like many of the other stories in this book)? Are we in an alternate present-day earth where dragons have always existed? Are we on a new planet like Pierson's "New Persia"? Are we in a secondary fantasy world inspired by Islamic culture? I really couldn't tell.

The solarpunk tech in this story was mostly background, but there was a satisfying amount of it: "solar trees," which, without additional description, I'll choose to imagine like those awesome Singaporean solar collectors; molten-salt batteries for solar storage; ornithopter drones; electric bikes; etc. The idea of literal dragon scales as solar converters is dampened a bit for me by the fact that "Dragon SCALEs" is an actual type of flexible solar technology, but that probably didn't even exist when this story was written. Overall, my biggest critique of this story is that it really needs to be a full novel, and if it were, I'd definitely keep reading when I got to the end of the first chapter.

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Come back next week for Part 3 of my Wings of Renewal solarpunk book review!