The Undefeated

"The Undefeated" is a beautifully crafted novella about unconscious privilege, ubiquitous slavery and their consequence, seen through the eyes of a memorable, if not always reliable, narrator.


What I enjoyed most about this book was the way Una McCormack slowly built up my understanding of the central character, Monica Greatorex, both by showing me how she sees her current and past self and by letting me see the things about her to which she is mostly blind.


Monica, in her sixties, is returning for the first time as an adult, to her childhood home on Savanah, a periphery world, once proudly independent and now part of the Commonwealth. She is travelling with a Jenjer companion that she paid a great deal for. She is travelling against show more the flow, with most people fleeing (although they would deny that description) to the core worlds.


Much of the novella is spent understanding Jenjers, why people are fleeing, and why Monica is heading in the opposite direction. Much of this is revealed in the childhood memories Monica immerses herself in,, often recalling with shame the thoughts and actions of her childhood self.


The novella seems to me to be about the corrupting effects of slavery on a society whose wealth depends on the work of slaves but whose sense of worth is maintained only by denying the humanity of those slaves. It looks at how blind the wealthy and powerful become to the reality of their situation, how hatred and the need not just for justice but for vengeance builds in the enslaved and how neither side will willing acknowledge this.


Although the story is set in a far future in which humanity has expanded its reach to many planets, the tone of the story seems to me to be Edwardian. This unusual juxtaposition of setting and tone made me look harder at what was going on.


From the beginning, I saw Monica Greatorex as one of those wealthy, independent, Edwardian women who travelled the world on a bicycle, absorbed in collecting butterflies, eschewing the conventions of Society but still benefitting from the protection of wealth and privilege that they so took for granted that they were unaware of it. I think this is clear from the first sentence of the novella:



"MONICA GREATOREX HAD, in her sixtieth year, resisted acquiring dependents but had (in that easy way we may observe in the rich wherever and whenever we are) accrued considerable wealth without particular effort on her part. Money begot money, and this miraculous alchemy had eased Monica’s passage through life, a life which she would be the first to admit had been blessed—with adventure, travel, lovers of all persuasions, and, above all, the liberty to do whatever she chose. Looking back over her six decades, she was satisfied that she had not, on the whole, squandered either her talents or her resources."


As we can see, Monica thinks well of herself. She sees herself as a warrior with words whose writings from the frontlines of Commonwealth expansion have helped to awaken a social conscience in Society and shape policy. She is alone and likes her solitude, provided her comforts are arranged for her by her Jenjer.



As she stands in the what's left of the town she was raised in and confronts childhood memories through an adult's eyes, she readjusts her picture of herself and her situation, finally allowing herself to acknowledge what is going on, how she has contributed to it and what it is going to mean.



I ended the book liking her a little more and admiring her courage and her dignity.


I was very impressed with this novella. I hope that it does well and the Una McCormack gifts us with more work like it.


As an aside, this novella is one of those where I'm left wondering if the publisher didn't understand what they were publishing or didn't have the courage to market it for what it is. Here's the publisher's summary:


"Una McCormack's The Undefeated is a thrilling space opera adventure featuring a no holds barred heroine on the front lines of an intergalactic war...
She was a warrior of words.
As a journalist she exposed corruption across the Interstellar Commonwealth, shifting public opinion and destroying careers in the process.
Long-since retired, she travels back to the planet of her childhood, partly through a sense of nostalgia, partly to avoid running from humanity’s newest—and self-created—enemy, the jenjer.
Because the enemy is coming, and nothing can stand in its way."


This isn't a space opera. Monica is not a "no holds barred heroine". She's a grown woman finally coming to understand that she was once a privileged little princess and to understand and be ashamed of the sources of that privilege. To me, that makes "The Undefeated" much more interesting than a pocket-sized space opera. show less

This was an excellent first installment in what should be an ongoing series. Tor.com has started publishing some of the original short fiction from some good up-and-coming authors and this is one of those books. This one was very polished and a really good setup for any stories that will follow. The characters are interesting and garnered my sympathy. The setting is described in terms that make it easy to imagine the world, complete with a culture, to which the heroine has returned. The plot is well thought through and told from different points in time that flesh out the heroine and her reasons for being where she is at this point in time. The fact that the heroine is not the usual kind brings an interesting perspective to this show more novella, and the plot twists just add to the fun. I await the next installment. show less

The Undefeated sets out to be a thoughtful, introspective sci-fi novella about memory, colonialism, and reckoning with one’s past—but unfortunately, it stumbles under the weight of its ambition and brevity.
The story follows Monica, an aging author who returns to her childhood home on a distant planet as a form of nostalgic pilgrimage, all while an ominous political and societal collapse brews in the background. It’s a premise full of promise: a woman confronting the remnants of a broken empire she once benefited from, set against a crumbling world on the edge of change. But while the themes are compelling, the execution falls flat.
One of the core issues lies in the book’s length and pacing. At under 150 pages, it simply show more doesn’t have the room to build its world or develop its characters meaningfully. Much of the text is devoted to dense descriptions and reflective flashbacks, which feel disjointed and don’t always connect clearly to the present-day narrative. This makes the story feel directionless at times, and many of its potentially powerful ideas—particularly those about privilege, racism, and systemic oppression—go underdeveloped.
Monica’s character arc does hold a glimmer of value. Early on, she questions her own role in the world she left behind, and by the end, there’s a subtle evolution in her understanding of her complicity. However, this internal growth is muted and often overshadowed by the book’s vague worldbuilding and lack of emotional weight.
One bright spot is McCormack’s prose, which can be elegant and thought-provoking in moments, especially when exploring Monica’s introspection. Still, it’s not quite enough to anchor a story that feels more like a fragment of a larger novel than a satisfying standalone.
The Undefeated offers an interesting concept and touches on timely, important themes—but its short length, disconnected structure, and underdeveloped world keep it from reaching its full potential. If you're drawn to slow-burn, reflective sci-fi with social commentary, it may still be worth a quick read—but temper your expectations going in. show less

This Tor.com novella is by Una McCormack, who I know from her excellent work on Star Trek and Doctor Who tie-in fiction-- so excellent that I've long thought she needs to do more original stuff, so I'm happy to see her in such a high-profile venue as this. An aging journalist returns to her home planet, even as the area of the galaxy it's in has been evacuated in the face of an unstoppable onslaught. The book combines her youth with her return into one narrative. It is, as always, well written. I always like Una's narrative voice, and the book marshals a sense of inevitable tragedy in all its time frames, and its grasp of character and social dynamics is astute. I did find myself wishing the ending had been sharper; I felt like I ought show more to have learned something that I had not actually learned, and I don't know what. show less

"The Undefeated" is an interesting piece of speculative fiction that has a unique premise and a slowww story. If this was much longer I would have lost interest early on but it manages to hold just enough interest to keep the pages flipping. I think the story needed a little spice, a little more action here and there; it became a bit more like a quasi-memoir, and that didn't really work because the reader doesn't have enough time to get to know the main character, Monica, before being thrown back in time. I just felt like I was being held at a distance from the whole story.
That being said, again, the overall premise is interesting! The idea of the jenjer uprising and coming back for justice provides a constant source of stress and show more excitement for the reader, and the story does a good job at letting you know what happens after the pages run out - there is such a solid sense of inevitability. I would have liked to see Monica in a longer story, but this was a decent afternoon read as it is. show less

Through a series of flashbacks, we see the story of a war correspondent. Her privileged life with her servant a genetically engineered human slave. This is the beginning of the end for the Commonwealth, yet few understand it. People are fleeing the frontier from an as-yet-unnamed foe. Coming to her home planet near the border, brings back memories of her past. Those memories are now seen through the lens of an adult; The writer comes face to face with the impending danger and her part in it. This novella was a change from the normal space war stories I read in the past. Where those stories were replete with action, this is the exact opposite. Thie prose invites you to read more. The more I read, the more interested I became in the show more central character's life and destiny. show less

HAH! I found this one on my own! But apparently I had zero memory of it... So it kind of feels that I got sucked in by social media...

***WHO SUCKED ME IN***
Tori Morrow on YouTube in their Science Fiction in One Sitting | 8 Short Recommendations video published on 25 aug. 2020

Short stories I can read in one sitting but also science fiction that actually work in a short book?! How can I not get sucked in. Bit of a shame that I can't seem to get most of them in paperback. I actually like to buy novella's even though they are a bit pricey. I don't know I'm always a bit worried that if I don't buy them in physical form, they will somehow disappear from my memory even if I enjoyed them so much. Also novella's are perfect to recommend to show more non-readers! show less