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geese82's review
2.0
It felt like a scene of a longer story, maybe a novella or a novel. This is the first of many stories Tor.com published in their website every Wednesday this 2013. Churning out new short stories every week will be awesome. I am looking forward to new stories after this.
keu482's review
3.0
Another Tor.com short story
I honestly don't know what to say about this story. The idea of people paying for drugs with their memories, and the young folks eventually breaking that system down...not sure I have enough to go on.
I honestly don't know what to say about this story. The idea of people paying for drugs with their memories, and the young folks eventually breaking that system down...not sure I have enough to go on.
peterseanesq's review
3.0
Please give my review a helpful vote on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/review/R5I2LPC2UC7AH/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
This is a very short story - more of a treatment - than a story that feels like a synopsis of a chapter from a longer book. Obviously, like most Tor.com Originals, this story is supposed to provide a taste of a larger work.
The writing is very good. It provides atmosphere and color to the impoverished, restricted cityscape, which is being cannibalized by its human inhabitants in a way similar to the way in which those humans are cannibalizing their own memories in order to buy "serum." What is serum? It was clear. Clearly, it is a kind of narcotic drug, but somehow it transforms the user into something else.
In such a short story, it is hard to answer the questions that I wanted answering, such as, what happened? There was a plague that drove city-dwellers from the city, but what happened then? Who are the frondy-limbed dealers who are talked about but do not make an appearance in the story?
I felt that I liked the story but it didn't hook me.
This is a very short story - more of a treatment - than a story that feels like a synopsis of a chapter from a longer book. Obviously, like most Tor.com Originals, this story is supposed to provide a taste of a larger work.
The writing is very good. It provides atmosphere and color to the impoverished, restricted cityscape, which is being cannibalized by its human inhabitants in a way similar to the way in which those humans are cannibalizing their own memories in order to buy "serum." What is serum? It was clear. Clearly, it is a kind of narcotic drug, but somehow it transforms the user into something else.
In such a short story, it is hard to answer the questions that I wanted answering, such as, what happened? There was a plague that drove city-dwellers from the city, but what happened then? Who are the frondy-limbed dealers who are talked about but do not make an appearance in the story?
I felt that I liked the story but it didn't hook me.
opaltrelore's review
3.0
This story left me wishing I knew more about the world the author created, including its internal logic.
catevari's review
3.0
On the one hand, I found this incredibly evocative, bordering on haunting. On the other hand, though it's a complete story in any criteria I can think of, I didn't feel entirely satisfied by the journey it took me on. Too much really intriguing suggestion of things and not enough actuality. She builds a hell of a world, though.
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