standback's review
A few comments and reactions:
The Art of the Dragon kind of annoyed me in its basic gist. I have difficulty taking seriously a "Moral of the Story" when the story itself is basically a humongous, rather unsubtle deus ex machina that goes "Rrrawr! I will eat things until the world understands the Moral of the Story!". It's like arguing against someone who has no actual claims to present except saying "but I'm right."
I'm not saying the story is without merit - a lot of the focus was on the panic and violence as a reaction to the dragon, which I think was fairly well-done - but I felt that in general, the story was too ham-fisted for me to take seriously.
"Token of a Better Age" was my probably my favorite in the issue - well-written, quick. intriguing, and definitely giving interesting glimpses of the larger world - while still telling a satisfying story. I should look for more from Ms. Snodgrass in this setting.
I was also very fond of "You Are Such A One" and "Icarus Saved from the Skies" - strong, powerful, and interesting voices, who manage to remain clear and involving.
Lastly, "The Others" I found very very dull. It seems like pretty straight pulp to me - running around on a generic alien world, blowing up monsters. I didn't feel like there was any more than that to the story, and nothing in it really engaged me. The device of transmitting clones, etc., has potential, but I felt hardly any use was made of it. (My usual test here is: imagine the story without that element - how different does the story come out? Here my feeling is: not very.) I had pretty much the same reaction to the "Daughters of Prime" reprint on the website. The ending, at least, seems to be pointing to a potentially more interesting direction (although it cuts Cara off from other clones, sooooo...).
That's it for now. I should, umm, get back to work.
The Art of the Dragon kind of annoyed me in its basic gist. I have difficulty taking seriously a "Moral of the Story" when the story itself is basically a humongous, rather unsubtle deus ex machina that goes "Rrrawr! I will eat things until the world understands the Moral of the Story!". It's like arguing against someone who has no actual claims to present except saying "but I'm right."
I'm not saying the story is without merit - a lot of the focus was on the panic and violence as a reaction to the dragon, which I think was fairly well-done - but I felt that in general, the story was too ham-fisted for me to take seriously.
"Token of a Better Age" was my probably my favorite in the issue - well-written, quick. intriguing, and definitely giving interesting glimpses of the larger world - while still telling a satisfying story. I should look for more from Ms. Snodgrass in this setting.
I was also very fond of "You Are Such A One" and "Icarus Saved from the Skies" - strong, powerful, and interesting voices, who manage to remain clear and involving.
Lastly, "The Others" I found very very dull. It seems like pretty straight pulp to me - running around on a generic alien world, blowing up monsters. I didn't feel like there was any more than that to the story, and nothing in it really engaged me. The device of transmitting clones, etc., has potential, but I felt hardly any use was made of it. (My usual test here is: imagine the story without that element - how different does the story come out? Here my feeling is: not very.) I had pretty much the same reaction to the "Daughters of Prime" reprint on the website. The ending, at least, seems to be pointing to a potentially more interesting direction (although it cuts Cara off from other clones, sooooo...).
That's it for now. I should, umm, get back to work.
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