If the reason I'd made this blog wasn't to primarily critique science fiction short stories as seriously as I can, I would have been waxing eloquent about this story right from the first sentence. As it is, it's proving very difficult to not do so. So let me just say this: this story made my day. I'm very happy right about now.
The Mountains of Sunset... features no human beings. (For another beautiful story which features no humans, read Second Dawn by Arthur C Clarke). Therefore, part of the difficulty underlying the story is in figuring out how these beings think, and why they think this way. A space-faring race is shown to be slowly changing and developing into a somewhat more benign and less wilder version of the species that they had been originally. In the midst of all of this, a lone old female lives on, missing the past, and finding herself out of place amongst the young. The latter have given up on flying, which she cannot bring herself to excuse.
I'll write a more detailed review as soon as I find time.
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