Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn
The rundown: The world is flooded, and the last of humanity is floating in a disgusting, decaying ark. Iraxi is the sole surviving member of an oppressed minority group believed to have the ability to commune with and control the creatures lurking in the rising seas. She is ostracized on the ship because of her heritage and is also the inadvertent salvation of the ship’s dwindling population. Because Iraxi is heavily pregnant, and she is terrified of the creature in her womb.
The review: Rocklyn draws you into the world of the deteriorating ark with disquieting, ornate, enveloping prose that will raise the hair on your arms. The wet, crumbling texture of the ship’s wood is palpable, and the graphic descriptions of labor are, frankly, unsettling. Despite the limited setting and page count, the book succeeds in creating a sense of claustrophobia, most impressively using Iraxi’s own body. Beyond the typical issues pregnant people face, the child can control her body in terrifying ways, forcing her to relive traumatic memories and see visions of a condemned future, and her labor forces her into unsafe spaces aboard the ship. The similarities between this world and our own are immediately recognizable, and Rocklyn isn’t subtle about making sure the reader understands the point they are trying to make. Iraxi bears the scars of her people’s genocide, furious at the fact of her pregnancy, the circumstances surrounding it, and that she is still shunned by the other passengers despite being the only one able to carry a pregnancy to term. For Iraxi, anger is sustenance. And at the prompting of her otherworldly child, she embraces her rage to make the world a better place for herself. Rocklyn intentionally leaves a bit of ambiguity about a few things, including the mysterious monsters and the magical powers of Iraxi’s people; some readers may find that this contributes to the horror, while it may leave others wishing for a few more pages. Also, sensitive readers should be aware that the book does not treat pregnancy and motherhood gently or favorably.
Goes well with: If you haven’t already read them, Octavia Butler’s works would make excellent follow-up reads to this one. Rocklyn also has another novella, The Night Sun, that also explores what embracing monstrosity can mean for marginalized people but in a very different way.
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