REVIEW: Updraft

Updraft – Fran Wilde (2015 Tor Books)

Pages: 384

Genres: Fantasy/Sci-Fi; YA

Sub-Genres: steampunk

Triggers: death, graphic depictions of violence

Updraft by Fran Wilde has a lot of good things going for it. I enjoyed the coming-of-age plot, despite its predictability. In fact, the predictability may have been a bonus since it made it easier to keep all the world-building straight. If anything, Wilde is a master world-builder. From flight etiquette to the secret rituals of the singers, everything had nuance without bogging down the reader or making the main character’s voice feel inauthentic. Wilde was particularly adept at implying depth outside of the Kirit’s POV, dropping little tidbits without distracting the reader from Kirit’s story.

The other aspect of Updraft that I really liked was the subtle and organic way in which Kirit’s opinions changed, in particular because it changed in relation to the position of power Kirit held at the time. <SPOILERS> Before joining the Singers, Kirit is afraid of them—not in the least because of their power to distribute bone chips that mark members of society as “law breakers,” the punishment for having too many can be death by falling from the sky. She resents them for their power to “play God.” After she’s initiated, however, she starts to believe that perhaps they were right all along. The singers hold this power, but it is also a burden to them. They are tasked with “remembering the true songs” and part of their song is we do what is best for the city, though it causes us great pain. </SPOILERS> Wilde discusses power throughout the book, calling it by its name, which I appreciated. It’s rare for an author, let alone the MC, to interrogate the structure and inherent biases of their society. Kirit is constantly questioning, always asking why things are the way they are and who decided them, which is what inevitably gets her in trouble with “the powers that be.”  What I particularly like about this dynamic is how it models the way in which questioning or outside perspectives can challenge the generally accepted order of things. Though her opinions are by no means perfect; Kirit does fall under the lull of perhaps the singers are meant to have this power, which is a dangerous mindset to have, especially when that power includes—essentially—throwing people off cliffs. But, Kirit is foiled by her best friend, Nat, who tends to call her on her shit—and from what I’ve seen of the sequel—continues to do so.

That being said, I did have qualms with Wilde’s depiction of disability, using the tired trope of people with mental and physical disabilities or those not able to work being “useless” and “unwanted” members of society. Of all her world-building, that part felt the weakest and had the least nuance, though there were hints of it being developed in the future. But even so, to cast disabled people into this role compounds the already prevalent idea of the “uselessness” of disabled people and has real and serious consequences for them. And though I would like to give Wilde the benefit of the doubt in that her intention was to criticize this social bias, the result was far too subtle.

Overall, I liked Updraft. It was a fast-paced but nuanced read that was responding to and grappling with issues we’re facing as a society, especially a society that considers ourselves “civilized” and “sophisticated,” yet we still can’t seem to grasp the idea that all people deserve human dignity.

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