We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep
Andrew Kelly Stewart
Tor
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Alternate Timelines, Apocalypse, Diversity, Girl Power, Religious Themes, Seafaring Tales
****
Description
Remy is one of the lucky ones, or so she is reminded every day. She was rescued from the sinful, poisoned Topside and taken into the sanctuary of the Leviathan, the submarine that helped render God's punishment upon the wicked. She is even luckier than almost anyone else on board knows: though the rest of the crew is made of men and boys, the Choristers cut to preserve their purity and voice, she is a girl. Caplain Amita always said he saved her and kept her secret because God told him she had a role to play in the coming of the End Times, the launching of the last nuclear missile known as the Last Judgment that will destroy the world. But now Amita is dying, and has entrusted her with a burden she can scarcely bear. When a raid brings back a rare prisoner from the Topside, Remy finds everything she thought she knew about the Leviathan and its holy mission turned upside down.
Review
As one might expect from the description, this is a dark story of an apocalypse that came all too close to reality, the story of a rogue nuclear submarine crew has become a Biblical death cult, convinced their final missile will usher in the End Times and wake all souls for eternal judgment. Remy and the others sing and pray aboard their nautical cathedral, wholly convinced of the righteousness of their cause and the deceitfulness and damnation of "Topsiders" from the fallout-poisoned lands of wickedness above the waves. Already holding one secret from the others, Remy finds more piling on her young shoulder, cracking the surety of her faith in the Leviathan's cause. To doubt is to risk being sent aft to the reactor, a death sentence, yet to adhere to blind faith is to face a future measured in days, weeks at the most, when the new caplain, a man full of hellfire and brimstone and a fanatical certainty in the cause, means to launch the final missle and send them all to the depths. Remy struggles, torn by faith and loyalty and doubts and deception, and the more she learns about the Leviathan and the outside world, the more she realizes is at stake for everyone, on the submarine and above the waters. Even given how short it is, it sometimes feels a little stretched, and the relentless oppressiveness of the cultish crew can grow wearing, but all in all it's a decent, if grim, story of twisted faith and patriotic fervor.