A review by feelsattack
The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

On Goodreads I wrote: "Oh, WOW. So, the synopsis on the book basically spoils what's going to happen but it doesn't tell you the context around the situation. I did not expect that AT ALL, but in hindsight it was very predictable. I was expecting Statis to turn out to be crazy mad scientists trying to dissect Timothy but nah... they were just moving on. I suppose there's a subtle evil in that too. "

But yeah. I was honestly expecting Statis to attempt dissecting him or something, the synopsis led me to believe they were going to end up being the BIG BAD or something. But they're not, they were just moving on to the Middle Ages Project and could not spend their resources on Timothy anymore. I suppose that's a more subtle type of evil, the one where they rip a child from their natural state, force them into an unnatural one, and then force them back to where they came from. That's an entirely different type of evil, a corporate capitalist greed kind of evil, you know?

The ending was a bit icky though. I was hoping Timothy would become the mediator between the Other Ones and the People, but it's likely that the Other Ones don't speak English, LOL. I don't know why I thought they spoke English, but now that I think about it... that's an odd assumption to make. But either way, Timothy doesn't really know the Neanderthal language anymore, they don't know the language of the Other Ones... 

I should write an unofficial sequel. I need some kind of closure concerning this issue. SILVERBERG, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?

(I also read this book in a day, LOL. More out of urgency than out of choice.)