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A review by profirebug
Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation by Brontë Christopher Wieland, Phoebe Wagner
dark
sad
slow-paced
0.0
I didn't finish this book. The first several stories were so disappointing that I couldn't bring myself to slog through any more. The editors who put this together have absolutely no idea what solarpunk is supposed to be about.
The following is a quick summary of each story's plot and my problems with it.
The Boston Hearth Project
Some techies take over a fancy new building intended for rich people and put it to better use. Reads like the environmental themes were written in after the fact to make it eligible for this collection. Does not feel politically or practically feasible. Punk, but stupid, and not the solar kind.
Speechless Love
This is a decent story. There is zero environmentalism. The surface of the earth became uninhabitable because global warming caused tectonic instability (yes, really) and so everyone lives in floating pods in the atmosphere. They still dump their garbage on Earth. There is no talk of trying to reclaim it someday. At best this is a cautionary tale. Not solarpunk.
Teratology
Set at a research station doing monitoring of fish populations. Another cautionary tale of a heavily damaged world. I especially enjoyed the tidbit that "[if] a fish meets oxygen, it chokes to death." A+ scientific understanding of the world and the other life we share it with. Not solarpunk.
Eight Cities
A plotless vignette set in a post-technological-collapse India. Ok, not solarpunk.
Dust
An asteroid turns out to be sentient, much to the consternation of some asteroid miners. In a generic sci-fi collection it would have been good. Again, there are zero environmental themes relating to Earth. Not solarpunk.
The following is a quick summary of each story's plot and my problems with it.
The Boston Hearth Project
Some techies take over a fancy new building intended for rich people and put it to better use. Reads like the environmental themes were written in after the fact to make it eligible for this collection. Does not feel politically or practically feasible. Punk, but stupid, and not the solar kind.
Speechless Love
This is a decent story. There is zero environmentalism. The surface of the earth became uninhabitable because global warming caused tectonic instability (yes, really) and so everyone lives in floating pods in the atmosphere. They still dump their garbage on Earth. There is no talk of trying to reclaim it someday. At best this is a cautionary tale. Not solarpunk.
Teratology
Set at a research station doing monitoring of fish populations. Another cautionary tale of a heavily damaged world. I especially enjoyed the tidbit that "[if] a fish meets oxygen, it chokes to death." A+ scientific understanding of the world and the other life we share it with. Not solarpunk.
Eight Cities
A plotless vignette set in a post-technological-collapse India. Ok, not solarpunk.
Dust
An asteroid turns out to be sentient, much to the consternation of some asteroid miners. In a generic sci-fi collection it would have been good. Again, there are zero environmental themes relating to Earth. Not solarpunk.