The Annual Migration of Clouds

The Annual Migration of Clouds follows Reid, a woman infected with a parasite called Cad - it kills others, it leaves others, and Cad also chooses to stay in the bodies of certain people, not only living off them but making its carriers do (or not do) certain things. Reid lives in a community that is attempting to survive after civilization has collapsed due to a climate disaster (and Cad). She knows all her neighbours because no one that has left the community has ever come back, and no one really knows what is outside of it for certain. One day, she receives a letter - written in real paper! - offering her a place at Howse University (what is left of civilization) as long as she can make it there in two weeks time. Reid is then conflicted by the decision of abandoning her community that needs rebuilding to go to a place that may not even exist.

I thought the novella was incredibly well written, thought-provoking, and (while not necessarily fun) interesting. I usually hate reading short fiction because I like getting to know the characters I am reading about, and I feel novellas don't quite let me do this. Mohamed managed to write her characters perfectly and explore their relationships even when the whole plot was going on.

I'll just bullet point why I think this was an awesome read because I'm out of brain juice and can't write:
- Well-crafted and eerie dystopian world,
- Great characters,
- The parasite is creepy,
- The characters are aware they lack critical information (is the parasite sentient? does the university exist? what happened to those people who left? etc.) and thus there is no such thing as easy choices,
- The cover,
- The audiobook narrator, Eva Tavares, was really good,
- It's a novella but it packs a punch.