"A Mariner Original Mysteries and murder abound in the sequel to Carrie Vaughn's post-apocalyptic mystery Bannerless. A century after environmental and economic collapse, the people of the Coast Road have rebuilt their own sort of civilization, striving not to make the mistakes their ancestors did. They strictly ration and manage resources, including the ability to have children. Enid of Haven is an investigator, who with her new partner Teeg is called on to mediate a dispute between households over an old building in a far-flung settlement at the edge of Coast Road territory. The investigators' decision seems straightforward--and then the body of a young woman turns up in the nearby marshland. Almost more shocking than that: she's not from the Coast Road, but from one of the outsider camps, belonging to the nomads and wild folk who live outside the Coast Road communities. Now one of them is dead, and …
"A Mariner Original Mysteries and murder abound in the sequel to Carrie Vaughn's post-apocalyptic mystery Bannerless. A century after environmental and economic collapse, the people of the Coast Road have rebuilt their own sort of civilization, striving not to make the mistakes their ancestors did. They strictly ration and manage resources, including the ability to have children. Enid of Haven is an investigator, who with her new partner Teeg is called on to mediate a dispute between households over an old building in a far-flung settlement at the edge of Coast Road territory. The investigators' decision seems straightforward--and then the body of a young woman turns up in the nearby marshland. Almost more shocking than that: she's not from the Coast Road, but from one of the outsider camps, belonging to the nomads and wild folk who live outside the Coast Road communities. Now one of them is dead, and Enid wants to find out who killed her, even as Teeg argues that the murder isn't their problem. In a dystopian future of isolated communities, can our moral sense survive the worst hard times?"--
"Decades after environmental and economic collapse, pockets of settlements struggle to maintain a much-reduced civilization by strictly rationing resources--including the ability to have children. Enid of Haven, an investigator in this community, travels to a far-flung village with her new, inexperienced partner to settle a minor resource dispute. But while there, the murder of an outsider demands her attention, and leads to explosive secrets"--
Good post-apocalyptic fiction about rebuilding communities
4 stars
The Bannerless saga is an interesting thought experiment into what makes communities. Is it common rules? Is it enforcement of said rules? Is it caring for people even if rules are broken?
I like that the "investigators" provide a service and are not just blind enforcers of law, the main character could be seen as a cop but the book is low on copaganda. It could be seen as anarchism in practice.
I keep seeing the word 'dystopian' in connection to these books; maybe it's the reproductive controls? I don't think they're dystopian. The society in them is culturally alien in places, but it seems to function fairly well, although there are still in-groups, pettiness, prejudices, people who are routinely treated unfairly, and very occasionally murder. This, like the last one, is a gentle, melancholy mystery story about doing one's best to live kindly and sustainably in the new world after the apocalypse. The prose lingers on landscapes, and things happen at the pace of people who mostly walk to get where they're going, but it never feels slow or padded. I like this series a lot.
Another well reasoned and written mystery. As in the 1st book in the series, the setting and description of the dystopian future is both interesting and plausible. I personally find Enid, the heroine, a most interesting and sympathetic character. "The Bannerless Saga" is wonderful reading for sleepless nights...
