2043...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
Ratings17
Average rating2.5
African-descended USians are finally obtaining reparations—underwater. Plunge into the action of a visionary future by the award-winning author of Everfair, with narration by LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation).
Five miles off the South Carolina coast, Darden and Catherina are getting their promised forty acres, all of it undersea. Like every Black “mer,” they’ve been experimentally modified to adapt to their new subaquatic home—and have met with extreme resistance from white supremacists. Darden has an inspired plan for resolution. For both those on land and the webbed bottom-dwellers below, Darden is hoping to change the wave of the future.
Nisi Shawl’s 2043 . . . (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting.
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6 primary books#3 in Black Stars
Black Stars is a 6-book series with 6 released primary works first released in 2021 with contributions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nnedi Okorafor, and Nisi Shawl.
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Amazing Concept, Lacklustre Execution
I wanted to love this one. The premise is intriguing: in the near future, “USian” (Americans from the United States) of Black, Indigenous, and other non-Caucasian backgrounds have been given land as reparations... but the land is all underwater, and they must undergo technologically-assisted body modifications to become “mer”-people in order to live on and claim this land. While some racists believe the mass exodus to be a good thing, others just see it as another reason to be angry and feel jilted. Aside from being very heavy on the tech side of science fiction, the premise seems believable enough and like the making of an amazing story.
Unfortunately, the execution just isn't enough to do the premise any justice. It feels a bit like reading a fanfic for a series I've never seen, starting a fantasy novel in the middle, or beginning a multi-novel series in the third book: lots of terms are introduced without definition, elements are explored without introduction, characters are name dropped without ever meeting them. Bits and pieces of lore are quickly strewn throughout, but since some of these are world building done through excerpts of white supremacist characters' communication, it's not pleasant to read and not something I really WANTED to absorb.
Things happen, but even in the middle of action the terminology is so dense and confusing that the story just ends up being boring. I'm still not entirely sure what the plot is... much less what to make of it. I spent most of the story thinking “what's that, who are they, why's this a thing, what does that mean... what is going on?” And that made it an unenjoyable experience.
I'd have rated this one star, but its closer to 1.5 for the premise alone. It just deserves a full novel or a series, not a short story.
There are concepts here that I like, but I don't think I'm the target audience or have can really understand what the author is getting at here without some translation. I like the underwater world the author builds. I also like the way the author illustrates the way bias creates hate in people who really don't understand what they hate or why. I would like this to be bit longer and full in more of the story that seemed disconnected so I understood some of the plot points better.
