Review of J. Amanda Ferry, “Magical Thinking,” Luna Station Quarterly 64 (December 2025): 73-93 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
Content note: Serious childhood illness.
Where’s the border between magic and science? It’s a hard enough question for an adult to answer, much less for a 9yo like the story’s narrator, Rainbow (even a “catastrophically precocious” 9yo like Rainbow). I was a bit nervous upon starting the story, because 1st person POV where the narrator is a child often goes awry; but Ferry handles the balance between making Rainbow be a child without being childlike exceptionally well.
In many respects, this is a stark, harsh, and sad story. But it was also utterly gripping — one of the best in this issue.
SFF Reviews 