More Hugo reading. I think I picked this because it was advertised in Locus, and the cover was really pretty. Thus the selection bias that rules our lives.

I will say for a book called The Wings Upon Her Back, with a picture of a cybernetic wing on the cover, I did expect the heroine to be able to fly for more than the first two pages of the novel. She was not. There were flashbacks, running parallel timelines of how she got into and out of this mess, but the flashbacks ended before she got wings. No flying.

That aside, I enjoyed this! The mess she was in was getting sucked into an authoritarian regime by following a charismatic leader, and then slowly understanding that every single thing she'd done in the last twenty years was bad actually, and trying to work out what to do next. Also, there were gods, which may or may not have been aliens, and a wonderfully creative mix of technology and/or magic dumped onto what had been a pre-industrial society, and maybe Star Trek was right about that being bad.

It sure is a time to be reading about fascism, and how spiritual abuse can be used as a cudgel to keep people in line, and how far a vulnerable young person will go to prove her devotion to the monster she's in love with.

So it's pretty dark. We meet the underground movement fighting to bring back some semblance of justice, who are also a hot mess, we see torture and destruction and things that can never find atonement. There are some very cool set-piece battles. I liked how the narration was pinned to one character, but was a shade on the side of omniscient, knowing what she was feeling even when she wouldn't admit to it, and how that gave a bit more room to explore a character who started out so locked into her worldview that she was unable to see reality when it punches her in the nose. (The writing style reminded me a bit of Genevieve Valentine.)

It does also mean spending more than half the novel inside the brain of someone who was ride or die for an authoritarian government, and that was a lot of brainspace to spend with a footsoldier of fascism, especially right now. I think the care and nuance with which Mills deals with her character was very worthwhile, and I'm a huge sucker for characters trying to pry themselves out of their previous worldview, and try to do what they can to make up for past sins, even if redemption isn't possible.

Overall really enjoyed this, if enjoyed is the word, and will keep an eye on what Mills does next. Could've used more actual flying.