I read and reviewed Sisters of Mercy by Yuval Kordov as part of the SFINCS3 novella contest. My review is honest, and my opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my team (Team TBR).
Sisters of Mercy by Yuval Kordov is a companion novella to his Dark Legacies trilogy. It’s a bleak, post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi tale full of brilliant, immersive writing and heart-wrenching emotion.
The character-driven story is told entirely from the point of view of Hannah-9, a God-engine; a killing machine with part of a young human girl, including her consciousness, inside a sepulcher, fused to her outer robotic mech carapace. Hannah-9 is a righteous soldier, brainwashed and trained since birth, working with an older partner, Rachel-3, to rid their patrol sectors of the terrifying demons who have risen from the void following World War III. The two of them use call and response of learned-by-rote scripture to buoy each other up during the battles. By destroying the demons, they will hopefully clear a path for the future of humanity.
These battles with demons are gripping, and the emotional pull of the narrative is heightened through expert pacing during both these and the more introspective segments. Hannah-9 has to come to terms with her new horrific reality as a God-engine, trapped inside for the rest of her life, her hands amputated and eyes removed, replaced by technological enhancements. Her ‘sister’ Rachel-3 is approaching the end of her life, her symbiotic connections are beginning to fail, and she will soon have her human parts replaced by a sepulcher containing a new expendable human (rather like changing the batteries). She is able to recall some of her humanity; sharing her love of painting sunrises when she was still fully human with Hannah-9, which helps them to bond.
The author has filled this depressing, imaginative view of the future with powerful imagery and cinematic world-building, and he injects a much-needed beautiful vision of hope near the end with the idea that Mother Nature will always prevail, no matter how much damage we humans are determined to do to our home. I found Sisters of Mercy to be a gripping, emotional cautionary tale.
