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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Rose/House by Arkady Martine
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Read for the 2024 Hugo Awards.
Ever wonder what a haunted house, and murder mystery story would look like in a science-fictional setting, where the ghost isn't, in fact, a ghost, but a house-wide artificial intelligence? Well, Ms Arkady's Rose/House offers an answer to that question that I, on the whole, really enjoyed.
I think the novella format was very skilfully utilised here. There was just enough world-building and 'thriller intrigue' (at times bordering on psychological horror) to keep me engaged, and the lack of broader word-building, or properly developed theming (on the nature of the self, consciousness, etc... basically the kind of stuff you'd somewhat expect from an AI-centric story), didn't feel too frustrating considering what I was actually given, in terms of entertainment and single-concept-execution, in the span of about 90 pages.
And as to Ms Arkady's prose: I found it very smooth and decently evocative overall, and certainly fit to give an appreciably immersive sketch of her near-future setting.
All in all, then, this is definitely one of the better, non-theming-rich novellas I've read so far in my life. So yay!
Ever wonder what a haunted house, and murder mystery story would look like in a science-fictional setting, where the ghost isn't, in fact, a ghost, but a house-wide artificial intelligence? Well, Ms Arkady's Rose/House offers an answer to that question that I, on the whole, really enjoyed.
I think the novella format was very skilfully utilised here. There was just enough world-building and 'thriller intrigue' (at times bordering on psychological horror) to keep me engaged, and the lack of broader word-building, or properly developed theming (on the nature of the self, consciousness, etc... basically the kind of stuff you'd somewhat expect from an AI-centric story), didn't feel too frustrating considering what I was actually given, in terms of entertainment and single-concept-execution, in the span of about 90 pages.
And as to Ms Arkady's prose: I found it very smooth and decently evocative overall, and certainly fit to give an appreciably immersive sketch of her near-future setting.
All in all, then, this is definitely one of the better, non-theming-rich novellas I've read so far in my life. So yay!