Review of Tegan Moore, “John Simnel’s First Goshawk”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 297, February 13, 2020, Read online. Reviewed by Richard Lohmeyer.
It’s rare that I read a story in Beneath Ceaseless Skies and find it wanting. Nevertheless, while I’ve liked other stories of Moore’s–particularly “The Work of Wolves” in last year’s July/August issue of Asimov’s–this one doesn’t quite work for me. It reads more like a character sketch than a fully realized story. It does, however, offer a striking comparison between the breaking of a young boy’s spirit and that of a hawk’s. As Moore puts it, both involve “the shaping of a free mind into a tamed one.”
Again, not the best story of Moore’s that I’ve read, but your mileage may vary.
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