So it seems I end my gallop through Interzone as I started it, with a disappointment. “Bone Island” is the overlong, over-digressive tale of a hapless young male protagonist caught between two witchy women. There’s a deal of would-be portentious talk about types of magic, creation myths, and suchlike (“Just as the eggs flow from a woman on a river of blood, so do the futures flow from the world on a river of blood”); its attempt to portray a tight-knit island community rather pales in comparison to Ali Shaw‘s (and at times feels rather ersatz); and it is, most criminally, rather dull. A shame.
That’s pretty rough. I thought the story had some rough edges and stumbles. And it didn’t live up to what Jay Lake’s reputation had led me to expect from his work. But it was still an enjoyable read.
Not for me, alas.
I found myself skipping through this.