WORLD RUNNING DOWN by Al Hess – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

World Running Down by Al Hess
Published by Angry Robot on February 14 2023
Genres: Adult, Dystopian, Science fiction
Pages: 335
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A feel good story with lovable characters, World Running Down is an engaging dystopian that offers plenty of food for thought. 

Despite the gloomy title, World Running Down was a breath of fresh air, an upbeat and optimistic story that tackles some heavy themes in an accessible way, and it was simply a delight to read. Valentine and Osric are two adorable cinnamon roll characters who stole my heart, and I was rooting for them from the beginning. Valentine is a trans man, and I’m so glad I had the chance to read such a personal, raw story from the trans point of view, written by a trans author no less.

Valentine and Ace are salvagers, roaming the salt flats outside of Salt Lake City in search of paying jobs. Their goal is to make enough money to get visas to the city, where healthcare is free and they won’t have to scrounge for food and other basic resources. Valentine hates his body and he knows he won’t be able to get the surgery he wants without a visa, but visas are expensive and it’s proving difficult to save the money.

One day the two are approached by a man from the city named Osric, who says he’s been sent with a message for Valentine and Ace. Osric used to be a Steward of the city, an AI connected to a vast network of other Stewards. But an altercation at work resulted in Osric being stripped of his title and thrown into a stranger’s body. The woman he works for is looking for a talented salvaging team to go after some merchandise that was stolen from her. And the best part? Payment for completing the job is two visas to the city, one for each of them.

Valentine and Ace are ecstatic and agree to accompany Osric back to Salt Lake City to confirm the details, where they learn that the “merchandise” is a group of female androids who work in Portia’s “house of tea and entertainment.” Osric goes along to help, but once they find the girls, Valentine realizes that returning them to Portia might not be the best idea. Faced with a moral dilemma, a sweet and handsome AI who is curious about his newly acquired body but who also feels out of place, and a partner who is increasingly hard to get along with, Valentine must face salt pirates, misgendering and the fact that his dream of a visa is starting to slip away.

Al Hess sets his story in a futuristic Utah, where only the rich and privileged get to live in a city full of wonderful resources, like free healthcare, access to exotic foods and high fashion, things that those without visas can only dream of. Although the author doesn’t go into great detail with the worldbuilding, I didn’t really mind, because the meat of the story isn’t the worldbuilding, but the characters and their relationships with each other. Valentine is a wonderfully complex character. He longs for a body that he can feel comfortable in, one where he won’t have to wear chest binders or stuff his pants with rolled up socks. He’s trying hard to make things work with his partner Ace, a scrappy woman who isn’t trying to be disrespectful to Valentine, but once in a while she slips up and uses the wrong pronoun. 

Valentine also has a soft spot for those in trouble, maybe not the best quality if you’re a salvager in a rough and tumble world. But his moral compass is in full working order, and because he knows from experience how rough it is when people don’t understand you, he tries his best to make sure everyone’s treated fairly.

When he meets Osric, he realizes they have some very important things in common. Osric has been thrust into a body he doesn’t want, just like Valentine, and so they are uniquely qualified to understand each other. Osric may not like his unfamiliar body and its strange urges, but when he and Valentine tentatively get to know each other better, he realizes there are advantages to having one. Hess does a great job of showing that nothing is really clear cut. There’s a tug-of-war going on with both men: Osric longs for his old life as a Steward, but if he goes back, he won’t be able to have a relationship with Valentine. And Valentine is such a good person, he wants Osric to be happy, even if it means giving him up.

This is the first book I’ve read that deals so frankly with the trans experience, and I urge everyone to pick this up, especially if you are curious. Hess talks about the emotions Valentine is feeling, of course, but he also delves into the physical challenges of having a body that just doesn’t feel right and the steps Valentine takes to change that fact, like taking testosterone. Osric and Valentine have some open conversations about the nitty gritty of sex and body parts, which I found fascinating, but as far as on page sex goes, it’s all very mild and sweet, so don’t let that scare you away.

I can’t end this review without mentioning Al Hess’s artwork, which graces both the cover of the book and the inside as well. Hess is a portrait artist, and his drawings of Valentine and Osric are included in the first pages of the book. On his Instagram account, Hess has drawn all of the characters in World Running Down, which is a lot of fun (check it out!)

And while there are messages aplenty in the book—in addition to the themes of acceptance and identity, Hess also focuses on sentience and the rights of androids and AI—don’t worry, because this is a fun, action-packed story with an engaging plot. The last third of the book in particular was full of high stakes, exciting action, and if you love a good “happily ever after” tale, then look no further. The ending felt like a warm hug, and in fact I wanted to hug Valentine and Osric myself!

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.