EVER

A youngster who wants to be a soldier achieves that goal with bloody and troubling results in Taylor’s dystopian novel.

This action-packed story, set in the distant future, posits a post-apocalyptic, low-tech empire of Sagittarius on the Canadian prairie with an astrological religion that requires babies born outside a monthlong window to be sacrificed. Sagittarius is locked in perpetual war with the nation of Scorpio to the north and has enslaved the people of Taurus to the south. Centering the story is Saya, a Sagittarian tween who dreads having to hold to proscribed feminine roles of housekeeping and childbearing and longs to be a soldier. Saya’s gender nonconformity only seems to be accepted in an observatory run by freethinking astronomers. The young narrator’s soldiering wish comes tragically true when marauders, said to be Scorpions, destroy the town, and orphaned Saya is inducted into the Sagittarian army under a new name. Sai becomes a fierce fighter with sword and bow who’s abused by other recruits but gets respect from officers who address Sai by he/him pronouns. Most of the novel follows Sai’s military career, which undermines the protagonist’s vengeance motive. Sai loves slaughtering Scorpion soldiers in gory battle scenes—the Scorpions’ poison-coated swords inflict particularly grisly wounds—but this zealotry wavers in situations involving civilians, including a 3-year-old Taurian boy. Also influencing Sai is Fion, a gay officer whose soul-searching conversations feed Sai’s disaffection. Taylor’s ruminative, queer dystopian fable feels like a mashup of elements of the Hunger Games series, Mulan, All Quiet on the Western Front, and the daily horoscope. The writing is engrossing and punchy—“ ‘Suck it up,’ Fion scolded me with a biting, severe voice. ‘You’re a soldier now’ ”—and the action energetic: “I…lunged at the Scorpion fearlessly, ducked under his swing, and thrust my blade into his gut. I ripped my sword to the side and relished the sight of his frightened eyes dying.” However, the book’s gender-related themes sometimes feel underdeveloped alongside the narrative’s extensive carnage. Still, Sai’s journey makes for a resonant, absorbing read.

A vigorous yarn that mixes stout swashbuckling with moody reflection.