Sunday, July 09, 2006

Moon-Flash by Patricia A. McKillip

I thought Fool's Run was McKillip's only science fiction, but apparently not. I also thought I'd read this at some point when I was younger, but if I did, I have no memory of it at all, not the slightest sense of deja-vu.

Not nearly as obscure and allusive as her later fantasies. I really enjoyed it, so perhaps I haven't really lost my ear for McKillip. Perhaps this was simpler because it was a Young Adult, but mostly I think her stylistic characteristics were not at that time exaggerated.

One thing that struck me - the "primitive" peoples, the cultures on the plain and by the river, worshiping the space-ship so carefully sent out for them, the Moon-Flash - they were like animals in a wildlife preserve. Kept, to study and watch. Kept ignorant. Out of love, she said? The girl, her mother and the boy did grow, I think, leaving their place, they changed and learned. And no-one questioned whether it was reasonable to keep that from the others. Odd.

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