Falling Bodies

, #3

by

eBook, 35 pages

English language

Published June 27, 2023 by Amazon Original Stories.

ASIN:
B0C4QJBCFV
3 stars (1 review)

A young man caught between two disparate worlds searches for his place in the universe in a wrenching short story by New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse.

Light-years from home, it’s Ira’s second chance. Just another anonymous student at a space station university. Not the orphan whose Earther heritage was erased. Not some social experiment put on display by his adoptive father. Not the criminal recruited by the human rebels. But when Ira’s loyalties clash once again, two wars break out: one on the ground and one within himself. Which will Ira stand with? Which will take him down?

Rebecca Roanhorse’s Falling Bodies is part of The Far Reaches, a collection of science-fiction stories that stretch the imagination and open the heart. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.

3 editions

reviewed Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse (The Far Reaches, #3)

Decent except for the incredibly predictable end

3 stars

On a space station, no one knows you are the former Patty Hearst. Kidnapped by terrorists, Patty Heart shoots her adoptive father when the rescue mission arrives and is convicted of that. In some sort of deal, Patty gets probation and anonymity on a distant space station university. OK, It's not really Patty Hearst, it's Ira and his adoptive father is a senator in a race of alien conquerors of Earth, and this is somewhat of an analog for indigenous kids getting adopted by White colonizers. OK, but the story is too short to get into Ira's inner life and that's needed to make the ending not feel didactic.