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language: Spanish
country: Costa Rica
year: 1995
form: novel
genre(s): science fiction
dates read: 11.12.22-12.12.22
Laura Quijano Vincenzi’s Una sombra en el hielo is a short, odd, but (mostly) charming book. set in 2195, it follows a group of scientists who are excavating an abandoned 21st-century polar research facility, following a trail left by the brilliant, enigmatic Puerto Rican scientist Rita Claramunt, who disappeared without a trace a century before. it’s part mystery, part ghost story as they explore Nescerelle, part speculative future history; in some ways it reminded me of Daibhidh Eyre’s Cailèideascop, although in many ways it was also quite different.
I enjoyed it, on the whole, although it was marred by some passing sexism. there was also some stuff about race at the end that I am not equipped to unpack in a Costa Rican context but which felt…weird. I don’t have a ton else to say about it. if you read Spanish (and can access a copy) and like long polar nights and future archaeology (less of it than I would have liked, but a decent amount), it’s probably worth checking out — it’s only 74 pages. it was published when Quijano was only 24, and I’m looking forward now to reading some of her other work.
moods: hopeful, mysterious