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readerpants's review
3.0
What an interesting concept in terms of worldbuilding! The author's note said that initially this was much, much longer and that it was significantly edited down... while I like the impulse to let the reader dive right in and puzzle it all out, I think some some more length and focus on character development and padding out the worldbuilding would have given me a greater emotional investment in the plot. I'll be keeping an eye out for this author.
snazel's review
Really unique futuristic world based on ancient egyptian philosophy. The plot kinda lost me, but I'm still interested in crystals infused with the spiritual essence of singing. I have no idea what to rate this.
octavia_cade's review
3.0
You know, I'm revising my view on this. I was chatting with the author over Twitter, and it made me think about her story enough to come and reread it, and I like it better on reread than I did the first time around. I remember, when I read it that first time, that it reminded me a little of hard science fiction, a genre that I sometimes find difficult to easily read - it gets bogged down in talking about things rather than people. I still think that the beginning of A Question of Faith does this, with the whole brain processing information section, but on the reread that ended a whole lot quicker than it felt at the time. The relationships between characters took over as a focus of the story much sooner than I remembered, so it's getting an extra star from me. Sometimes you have to read things more than once to get them, perhaps - maybe the first time round I was so stuck on brain processing that I was still trying to grasp it while I was reading the rest, and that rest didn't sink in to my brain as it should have. I was wrong, anyway. I did like the story, and I'd absolutely read more set in this universe in the future.
Original review: There was a really interesting mix of fantasy and science fiction in this story, but ultimately I plumped for classifying it as fantasy because it's essentially a story of myths, of reaching out to communicate with gods and having the result of that communication turn out to be difficult and unexpected. In many ways, though, A Question of Faith reads like a possession narrative. Wahibra undergoes experiments that open his mind to religious contact, and what he contacts comes back into him and takes over. There's even what is essentially an exorcism, although the possessing god doesn't come across as evil so much as just different, operating on a vastly non-human sense of scale. The story does get bogged down a little sometimes in detail rather than feeling, particularly in the first half, and I wish it had explored the idea of singing a little more, but the Egyptian setting is compelling and I liked the relationship between Ceke and her wife.
Original review: There was a really interesting mix of fantasy and science fiction in this story, but ultimately I plumped for classifying it as fantasy because it's essentially a story of myths, of reaching out to communicate with gods and having the result of that communication turn out to be difficult and unexpected. In many ways, though, A Question of Faith reads like a possession narrative. Wahibra undergoes experiments that open his mind to religious contact, and what he contacts comes back into him and takes over. There's even what is essentially an exorcism, although the possessing god doesn't come across as evil so much as just different, operating on a vastly non-human sense of scale. The story does get bogged down a little sometimes in detail rather than feeling, particularly in the first half, and I wish it had explored the idea of singing a little more, but the Egyptian setting is compelling and I liked the relationship between Ceke and her wife.
ecath's review
Strange hi-jinx in Egypt? Sign me up. A curious blend of ancient and future meet in this novella from Liburd; a lovely journey in which a character dares to believe.
mariahaskins's review
5.0
This is such a mind-bending, gripping story about faith and religion, set in a world that is reminiscent of ancient Egypt. I especially loved the blend of religion and technology in this story, and the complex, layered world-building that is effortlessly built into it. A fantastic read.
sarah984's review
3.0
This is a super neat sci-fi novella with an Egyptian theme. I think the religious aspects were handled really well, but I don't feel like I really got to know any of the characters.
pers's review
4.0
Thia was as fascinating as the premise led me to believe. I loved the concept, and the characters were interesting - the story made me want to know them better.
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