Title: Foundation
Author: Ann Aguirre
Series: Razorland #0.5
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dystopia, Science fiction, Zombies
Dates read: 28th – 29th April
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tor.com
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: And Austin?

Disease wipes out world’s humans. Family hides in underground. Boy narrator grows up, falls in love with another boy.

I absolutely loved Enclave. And one of the things that I loved the most about it was the world building. Which meant that it was such a pleasure to read this short story. It gave even greater insight into the amazing world that Aguirre had built. And it included a level of hopeful innocence that was in the main novels, but a lot less crushed.

The beginning of the apocalypse is thought to be caused in so many different ways. World war, nuclear attack, plague… there are so many different ways that people think the world could end. It’s hinted in Enclave that the end is caused by a bioweapon or plague of some sort. But the particulars are a little hard to unwind. Foundation provides that insight. In the moments before the world as we know it ends and just what it was like for teenagers at the time.

I also loved the fact that the lead boy in this story was in love with another boy. I’m finding that so many more stories and series I’m coming across include an LGBTQI character of some sort. And I love the normalisation that this provides. There is no big deal made out of their relationship, they’re just two boys in love. And it makes you smile as you turn the last page, even though they have to live the rest of their lives underground…

<- Vanguard Review

Enclave Review ->

Image source: Goodreads