Exile’s End: A Tor.com Original by Carolyn Ives Gilman
My rating: 5/5 cats
“She is the mother of us all,” Saronans said. She was the generous spirit of the planet that welcomed them and invited them to be at home.
The portrait dated to an era at least two hundred years after the original events. It was thought to be an Atoka artist’s image of Aldry, with wings foreshadowing her sacrifice. Who else could it show?
Unless it was Even Glancing, the daughter of the artist.
this is a beautiful, delicate story about conflicting mythoi around a cultural artifact and how difficult compromise can be between even well-meaning parties. two cultures, one long thought to have died out, have attached significance to a work of art, each with legitimate claims to its ownership. when a representative from the exiled indigenous people whose ancestors actually created the piece returns to retrieve it for ceremonial purposes, conflict ensues, since that ceremony, known as the immolation, involves—yeah—burning it to ashes.
it’s thought-provoking and sensitively handled examination of the complications around issues of repatriation, and it is the absolute perfect length for a story to be.
like this review. which is now over.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles…
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