SFINCS Semi-Finalist Review: Oksy, Come Home by Phil Williams

Review by Zachary Forbes

January 19th, 2025

These posts are just our opinions of the books we read, and don't yet reflect the decision of our judging team or the progression of the book in the SFINCS competition.

Summary:

Oksy is a younger woman serving in the army. In this fantastical world, the army is at war with mages, monsters, and more.

Oksy is educated and trained in marksmanship, but her commanders refuse to put her skills to the test, instead forcing her into supportive (or just broadly undefined) roles. She believes she can make a difference, and chooses to stay in service for the chance to do so, while everyone including what remains of her family insists she come home.

The Good:

The main character, Oksy, is complex. I like how the author fleshes this out without beating the reader over the head with it. Broadly, we see Oksy as super talented yet underappreciated, but if we dig deeper, we actually see some endearing flaws poking through. Oksy has a bit of an ego. She doesn't just want the world to change. She wants to be the one to change it.

The best example of this comes from the juxtaposition between her and Wild Wish. Oksy is serving as Wish's spotter, planning a shot, and gets a bit jumpy at the idea of taking it herself. Wish, who seems to be sanded by her time in service, states, "I honestly don't care who does it. Seems important to you."

In other words, Wild Wish only wants to see the mission completed. She takes no pride, holds no esteem over what she does. Oksy has not had the chance to prove herself. Deep down, that's what she wants. Only with real failures and successes will she one day achieve the same humility as Wish, but she does indeed need the chance to do so.

Another interaction I quite liked was between her and a male soldier, Toothless. Toothless seeks to understand her, though he can't quite seem to. His perspective is that many of these men are forced to be here, fighting to the death and crawling through the mud. Most of them hate it, yet Oksy insists on being there. He questions why she would do that, why she would want so badly to be in this hell. It's a good question, and Oksy doesn't have an immediate answer or snappy comeback. It is left to the reader to analyze for themselves.

The struggle this story puts Oksy through is also well-done. Things keep going wrong, and she is continuously blamed. Things go from bad to worse to worst. It really makes you empathize with her in a way that many stories of this nature fail to do. I was invested in her slips and her ultimate success the whole way. Her situation really did feel unfair.

And one of the best, most creative ways the author proves this is through the 'letters from home' that initiate each chapter. I really liked those. The letters become gradually more condescending, insisting Oksy must realize she was wrong, and that all she must do is admit that, then she will be home and everything will be good again. These letters are masterful replications of a narcissistic parent. They explain Oksy's desire to prove herself, and further invest you in her struggle.

The Bad:

My biggest fear with this story came from my initial interpretation of the thematic premise: a super talented woman whose biggest problem is men getting in her way.

This is a tired trope, in my opinion, and rarely finds success in making the reader feel immersed. Thankfully, however, this story does give more depth to its protagonist than that. Oksy is flawed, and her talents are fairly specific--sharpshooting--so she cannot simply cut her way through the frontlines during trench warfare. She needs to be put in the right position to succeed, and most of this story involves her trying to get there, thankfully.

But it is still difficult to escape the trope. I have not read the full series this serves as an accompanying novella for, so I'm not familiar with the team of female snipers which welcomes her at the end, but it did do a little bit of damage to the immersion seeing that apparently the only successful people in this war were entirely female, while all the men were spoiled, incompetent, or even outright malicious.

Overall:

Oksy, Come Home is a great read, skillfully adapting a very difficult trope.

Thankfully, this story leans a lot closer to the animated Mulan than to Captain Marvel in terms of how it handles this trope. And everything secondary to character, from the worldbuilding to the prose, is impressive.

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