Welcome friend! Last month, Ariel and I discussedThe Annual Migration of Clouds, the first book in the series of the same name, written by Canadian author, Premee Mohamed. In September, we continued on to book 2, We Speak Through the Mountain for our buddy read for September. Here is what the book is about:
Premee Mohamed | Goodreads
The enlivening follow-up to the award-winning sensation The Annual Migration of Clouds Traveling alone through the climate-crisis-ravaged wilds of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, 19-year-old Reid Graham battles the elements and her lifelong chronic illness to reach the utopia of Howse University. But life in one of the storied “domes” ― the last remnants of pre-collapse society ― isn’t what she expected. Reid tries to excel in her classes and make connections with other students, but still grapples with guilt over what happened just before she left her community. And as she learns more about life at Howse, she begins to realize she can’t stand idly by as the people of the dome purposely withhold needed resources from the rest of humanity. When the worst of news comes from back home, Reid must make a choice between herself, her family, and the broken new world. In this powerful follow-up to her award-winning novella The Annual Migration of Clouds , Premee Mohamed is at the top of her game as she explores the conflicts and complexities of this post-apocalyptic society and asks whether humanity is doomed to forever recreate its worst mistakes.
Content notes include Animal death, death, blood, body horror, medical content, classism.
We Speak Through the Mountain – Discussion
Kriti: The Annual Migration of Clouds ends with Reid leaving her community and heading off into the wilderness towards the Dome, the university that has accepted her for a four year program. In the midst of this climate disaster-affected world where there is no electricity, it is with excitement and trepidation that Reid makes her way to the place she will call home for the next few years. She sees nomads on the road and the condition of women captives terrifies her. She reaches the university without much harm and is amazed by how different it is from back home. This is a place where the knowledge she thought was lost lives on. She finds herself angered by how much they have kept to themselves but also hopeful about what she would be able to share with her people on her return.
Ariel: What is so jarring when Reid arrives at her new home is how easy it was for them to “cure” Cad. There was no fanfare, no long or painful recovery, nothing. She was injected and immediately did not have to worry about Cad anymore. All of the struggles of the first book were immediately gone, and that leaves Reid even more motivated to take this powerful knowledge back to her community.
We Speak Through the Mountain has a post-apocalyptic academia feel that I haven’t read before! Reid meets people from other communities like her who are affected by Cad just like her. She is also disappointed by the education being offered to her. She has done much harder things back at home. She meets people who have never left the university and grown up in its safe ecosystem. She finds it unnerving that none of the history presented at the university mentions a timeline for when things happened.
Agreed, this was a cool blend of a post-apocalyptic/utopia and academia that becomes exceedingly layered. The knowledge that she has from “the outside” is immediately discounted by the “inside” community, and even though she has a lot more practical, hand-on learning than many of the other students, she is shocked to see how little they regard her and what she can contribute. There’s an element of contrasting and combining knowledge and power, those who have and those who have not, those “outside” and those “inside.” I liked how Reid continually rebels from these predetermined assumptions and maintained her own identity and community history throughout.
the constant gentle relentless redirection means that we can no longer look at where we came from, us outsiders. Because we came from the past. We have all come from places where time stood still for a little while, then began to move backwards. And for them in here, it moved forward. Why not let us say it? Why not acknowledge it? What would I have to do to make them see as people?
Quote from We Speak Through the Mountain
But between all this, she also experiences things she never imagined possible. She learns how to ride a bike. She gets a glimpse of what life would be for herself and a community if there was no Cad. A life with hot water and showers is amazing.
She takes initiative and though is at times shunned for her efforts, she makes it her mission to convince the people inside to share with the outside. I liked her insights and how she did not want to be sucked into this comparatively luxurious life. She recognizes how her hard life so far, facing death and uncertainty every day, has changed her.
The Utopia that the Dome has built is so focused on protecting that sense of safety and luxury that they refuse to acknowledge their painful history, and refuse to acknowledge questions directly asked of them from someone on the outside. There’s a constant invitation for her to assimilate to “their” ways, but it is an uphill battle for people to realize her worldview also has value.
We Speak Through the Mountain ends with news that Reid had been dreaded from the moment she got her acceptance letter. Another ending that makes me want to read the next book right away but this time it’s not out yet.
Do you enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction? If yes, add this to your Goodreads.
Thanks for reading our discussion! Let us know what you think of this book!
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