A review by naturalistnatalie
The Inconvenient God by Francesca Forrest

5.0

A highly enjoyable story. The god Ohin was very much a mystery. Why the sudden rush to decommission him? What was the real story behind his apotheosis? Turns out, the university had to honor Ohin for his sacrifice, but didn't want to get in trouble with the Polity. So, they created a story that made him safe. He was just a drunk novice, celebrated by all the other wastrels at the university. The real story was suppressed so much, even Ohin forgot it. He remembered enough to prank the university on the anniversary of his death, which prompted the desire for decommissioning in the first place. The university again didn't want to get on the bad side of the Polity. At least the decommissioning agent took the time and effort to find out the real story. I found the resolution of the problem to be very satisfying.

One side note on wording in the story. The people use unicoms as phones. I find that word choice problematic. The font I was reading on made the word very much look like unicoRN instead of unicoM. The first couple of times I read it, I couldn't figure out why they called their communication devices a unicorn. It makes a lot more sense as a unicom, but I still usually see unicorn.