"The Wings Upon Her Back" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come share all your thoughts about our scifi pick of the month!

Some questions to get us started:

1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of Zenya's life?
3. What did you think of the plot?
4. What worked or didn't for you?
5. Overall thoughts?

Non-spoiler thread here: First impressions

[Rachel]

Mostly this was Depressing

[Kaia]

Rachel wrote: "Mostly this was Depressing"

Agreed, Rachel. This was much more dark and depressing than I anticipated. I did find the world somewhat interesting, though, especially the idea that the “gods” were aliens who shared a bunch of technology with us and then decided to check out. I wish we could have learned more about the non-mecha areas - engineers, farmers, workers - though centering the story in the mecha realm does help you to understand how Zenya ended up as she did, I suppose. Zenya’s life was very hard for me to read, though, especially the storyline in the past, as Vodaya became more controlling and manipulative. I liked the back and forth in time between chapters, but I wished it had come together in a more satisfying way in the end. I didn’t really understand why older Zenya went back to the mountain. (I was really glad that she didn’t jump off to her death, though, which I worried was going to be the outcome.)

[Graeme]

Depressing for me too. I also found it a bit slow - especially the past timeline.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

It was very dark and very depressing and the scope was quite limited, in my opinion. I was hoping we'd get to know more about the gods. I liked the idea of them being travelers, but I was sort of hoping we'd get some sort of resolution, which I don't feel we really did. That might be honest for theocracies, but I'm not sure what we were to get out of it except despair, which is sort of not why I turn to this genre.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I understand better why there are literally billions of versions of religions. Zenya is a person who requires a person/object/thing to worship, otherwise, she misses the exultation of worshiping. Since all faith erodes eventually because of seeing faultlines in the object one worships as a god, the worshiper cannot give up the act of worshipping, and of being a follower of something they feel is perfection/bigger/better/faster/stronger. So, they create/seek a new god/person/object/thing to worship to recreate that feeling of worship exultation.

In my life, I lost my religious faith, so I grok Zenya. Like Zenya, I never felt like looking for something else to recreate that worship exultation. Some of us finally understand there are no gods.

[Bonnie]

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "In my life, I lost my religious faith, so I grok Zenya. Like Zenya, I never felt like looking for something else to recreate that worship exultation. Some of us finally understand there are no gods"

This quote goes along with that,

They shine their light upon those who share their ideals and turn away from those who don’t. The turning away is not malice (take comfort in this), but neither is the light a sign of love. It is wonderful, to bask in that light. It is addictive. A person may do anything to feel it once again. But it is not love. It is a smile at a mirror’s reflection.

And when we accept this truth—this truth, that the gods do not love us in the way we wish—then we must face another truth: it is our choice to follow or not, and always has been. It means the threat that hovers over our every action (do not put a step wrong, or they will not love us anymore) is, in the end, an illusion. We are struggling to hold on to something we never possessed to begin with.

[Bonnie]

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "I understand better why there are literally billions of versions of religions. Zenya is a person who requires a person/object/thing to worship, otherwise, she misses the exultation of worshiping."

She also felt *much* better when she could be fully on board, rather than worrying about whether X is right or not. When she questioned Vodaya and then Vodaya bossed her back onto the straight and narrow, Zenya liked to jump back into that river of surety.

I think I'm a 2.5 rounding up to 3.0 stars. I wanted to like it more than I actually did? Several times I wanted a symbol at the beginning of each chapter, signifying the past or the present story.

I didn't think very many people, in real life, would burn up old letters from family and the famous "Heretic" Scholar.
Agree, would have liked to learn more about the sleeping gods.