A review by ielerol
Ha'penny by Jo Walton

4.0

Why do I keep reading alternate histories about Nazis taking over the UK (and the US is straight-up allied with Hitler) when here we are in actual history? Well, in one way it's comforting to read these books and know that the current crop of fascist assholes are so much less competent than the ones portrayed (though in another it's frustrating because they're so incompetent and yet also they're NOT OUT OF POWER). But in a larger sense, the stories are looking at historical change: when can a small-seeming nudge tip the balance of power, or public opinion? And what kind of events gather a momentum that eventually becomes much harder to stop? One thing I definitely keep thinking about in regard to the current moment is, how do we tell when we're balanced at a tipping point, and how do we tell when we're too far gone for anything but a long, slow slog to bring us back? These aren't questions I look to a work of fiction to answer, but I do find fiction useful to help me think through what the possible answers are.

And then there's a certain compulsive readability I find in most of Walton's writing. I know, I know these books can't end the way I want them to, and yet. I can't help but be sucked into hoping. It's like Hadestown, I guess, which I also adore. It's a sad song, we all know how it's going to end. But we're still gonna sing it again.