Emergency Skin
Ratings122
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings122
Average rating4.1
What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award–winning author of the Broken Earth trilogy.
An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: a graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind—hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out eons ago. After all this time, there’s no telling how they’ve devolved. Steel yourself, soldier. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare.
N. K. Jemisin’s Emergency Skin is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.
Featured Series
6 primary books7 released booksForward Collection is a 8-book series with 6 primary works first released in 2019 with contributions by Veronica Roth, Blake Crouch, and 4 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
I did not even know how much I needed a story that showed a better world and a way to get there. This is (more or less) what might've happened on Golgafrincham if they'd sent out only an Ark of rich people.
Contains spoilers
💬: "To ensure success, and your mental health during extended isolation, we have equipped you with ourselves—a dynamic-matrix consensus intelligence encapsulating the ideals and blessed rationality of our Founders. We are implanted in your mind and will travel with you everywhere. We are your companion, and your conscience.
Jemisin, N. K.. Emergency Skin (Forward collection) (p. 3). Kindle Edition. "
📖Genres: sci-fi, fantasy, short story, novella, Hugo Award winners
📚Page Count: 29
🎧Audiobook Length: 01h 04min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
TW - <spoiler>Gaslighting, Ableism, Racial slurs, Sexism, Body shaming, Racism, and Xenophobia</spoiler>
"Emergency Skin" by N.K. Jemisin is a short story or novella from the short story collection, "Forward" published by Am*zon. A scout or explorer travels back to Earth to collect information, the danger lies in that Earth was destroyed by climate change centuries ago. When the explorer discovers that there is still some humanity left on Earth, he worries about how dangerous they are. He's instructed to get off Earth and survive any encounters. Will the soldier make it back home intact? Or was the mission more than the explorer could handle?
This was amazing. I am blow away by the fact that Ms. Jemisin created these characters, this story, and the world building within 29 pages. I'm not going to spoil anything, I want everyone to read this story while only knowing what the synopsis is.
"Emergency Skin" is definitely the best short story in the "Forward" Collection published by Am*zon. It's an amazing short story, I was speechless by the ending of the story. I can't believe she wrote this in 29 pages?! Ms. Jemisin is such an amazing writer, I know this and she still manages to surprise me with her talent. I'm giving this book 5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 Stars
I own this audiobook, I didn't find it available at the library.
This is one of six short stories published by Amazon and all of them deal with some sort of technological advancements which is not my usual kind of genre, so I don't think these would have even been on my radar if not for this short story by N. K. Jemisin. And she never disappoints.
I've actually come to associate second person POV with the author, so I wasn't at all surprised when this story began the same way. As per the premise, I was expecting the space explorer to find a much destroyed Earth but what he encounters is something completely unexpected. The author tells most of the story through the AI which lives inside his head (if we could even call it that), giving instructions to him about what to do on Earth and what rewards await. In just this short story, we get a great glimpse of the kind of new society these so-called Founders have built in a far away galaxy - a white homogeneous male world in which only the rich and privileged have access to skin and all other pleasures, whereas the majority live in composite suits.
The major theme of the story is the belief in a socialist utopian society, the idea that all the earth's problems would be solved if all human beings worked towards the betterment of everybody and not just themselves. In a story that's just about 33 pages, we get excellent commentary on misogyny, fat shaming, racism, classism, ableism and capitalist greed and while the author's solution to save the world might not feel realistic, the underlying problems she talks about are nevertheless completely true. And there's absolutely nothing wrong in envisioning a world that's better for every one of its inhabitants.
In the end, all I can say is that Jemisin packs a powerful punch in just a few words, and it's overall hopeful message is brilliantly done. It's a very short, enjoyable and thought provoking read and I think everyone should give it a try. You'll of course enjoy it more if you are familiar with the author's writing style (and like it) or lean more left liberal in your politics. I haven't still decided if I should try the remaining five stories in this collection, but maybe I should.
