We Speak Through The Mountain by Premee Mohamed
I would like to thank ECW Press for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher - ECW press
Published - 27/6
Price - £14.99 paperback £6.49 Kindle ebook
Traveling alone through the climate-crisis-ravaged wilds of Alberta's Rocky Mountains, 19-year-old Reid Graham battles the elements and her lifelong chronic illness to reach the utopia of Howse University. But life in one of the storied "domes" -- the last remnants of pre-collapse society -- isn't what she expected. Reid tries to excel in her classes and make connections with other students, but still grapples with guilt over what happened just before she left her community. And as she learns more about life at Howse, she begins to realize she can't stand idly by as the people of the dome purposely withhold needed resources from the rest of humanity. When the worst of news comes from back home, Reid must make a choice between herself, her family, and the broken new world.
Warning this is a sequel to the excellent The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed and there will be mild spoilers
Science fiction has rightly praised the power of knowledge - finding out how things work and how things can be improved is what brought us out of the Dark Ages, made us leave Earth and solve problems from pandemics to sanitation. But there is an inverse that knowledge itself is power and how that gets used is rental to the future too. This is explored powerfully in Premee Mohamed’s excellent science fiction novella We Speak Through The Mountains which is in dialogue to how those with knowledge are themselves worthy of examination.
A brief recap of the story so far. The Earth is ravaged through pollution, climate change and so much more. Fractured communities live in the ruins of the past eking out hard lives and populations are declining with the added arrival of the Cad - a strange crossing of fungus and parasite that kills, maims and infects others. There are though some hopes a bright young woman named Reid Graham has been accepted into Howse University a mysterious hidden place of learning that has granted Reid a place. The journey there has been hard physically and emotionally and Reid herself is battling Cad. She reaches the destination and finds Howse is full of contradiction and not what she expected but can it save her world?
I loved this story as an extension of the excellent Annual Migration of Clouds which neatly inverses the original story but also has a strong examination on power, privilege and learning. The core of the book is Reid finding herself inside a utopia that isn’t really aware it too has hidden rules and prejudices. While all are equal there are bigger societal differences between those already part of the generation of the powerful taking their terms and staying and the outside young people Howse has recruited. Mohamed captures the culture which of a place where water is suddenly plentiful; food is too rich and medicine and technology are many years ahead of what they have back home. It is a place of wonder but it’s not necessarily a kinder place.
There is a fascinating set of interactions where we see those from outside judged harshly. Their outside skills are praised but more with curiousity and just a touch of nervousness. Why would you go outside a paradise? Why do you even want to share rooms with people and there are definitely many similarities with experience of anyone who comes from a background of the working class coming to a university of the privileged middle class who seem there more as it expected than any driver to improve things. Mohamed captures that difference of views and worlds perfectly.
Improving the world is a core part of the conflict of the book. Reid studied the history of the pace and notes it was less science than business and ultimately the safe haven for future rich people that would protect them from outside. That starting point builds the philosophy of the place and the key question what is Howse for? Reid sees the medicine, knowledge and technology as a way to help the wider communities outside including her won. Her fellow students and in particular its principle find this alien - knowledge is for the purist of knowledge and Howse’s continuance. There is a building tension between these two sides that is explored in small confrontations in classrooms and meetings but one external event makes Reid decide to act and that’s when Howse starts to push back? Will anyone else help Reid is the difficult question we then explore.
I love this exploration of a theme explored so well and also this book is in disgust with its successor. There Reid was battling the instinct to leave home and be further educated but now Reid is finding her place of learning too is flawed and not enough. There is certainly room for another story to come in this series and I’m intrigued to see what Reid can bring about. This is excellent thoughtful science fiction and I strongly recommend it.
