Reviews

The Kite Maker by Brenda Peynado

zoes_human's review against another edition

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dark sad

5.0

Powerful, sad, dark and beautiful. One of the best short stories I've ever read. It was tragically realistic and speaks to who we are right now and the worst parts of our human potential.

heniaakbar's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0

 I love this so much. It's beautiful and profound, the story about seeking for forgiveness and those who think that forgiveness is not something to be freely asked nor given.
Damn powerful. 

rixx's review against another edition

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3.0

[The Kite Maker](https://www.tor.com/2018/08/29/the-kite-maker-brenda-peynado/) is a short story playing on Earth, 15 years after a peaceful alien race arrived. The Dragonflies, as they were called, were greeted with violence, and now that they are somewhat integrated into society, the right mob moves against them. Heavy-handed metaphore is mixed with good characterization, leading to an intentionally painful, okay-but-not-quite-good short story.

bluehairedlibrarian's review against another edition

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4.0

This short story is beautiful and punches you in the gut because people are terrible and this would totally happen.

trish204's review against another edition

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2.0

This, for me, was a strange story.

About 15 years ago, a race of aliens fell from the sky. It wasn't an invasion. They were more crash-landing, losing their ships and some anatomical abilities thanks to our atmosphere.
By now, they've tried to integrate, working certain jobs for almost nothing and, of course, there are tensions as some people don't want them on Earth at all while others are riddled with guilt about what we humans did to them when they arrived out of fear of an alien invasion.

On one hand, I know what the author intended with this story as it was very much on the nose. On the other, while there were some poignant observations, I can neither agree with the intended message(s) (at least not all, or unconditionally) nor do I feel comfortable with that scene when
Spoilerthe titular kite maker blows on Tove's wings as it signified rape
.

That, in fact is the most important scene in my opinion as it illustrates the passiveness of Tove's race as well as the more confident / direct way of the humans. However, just because a person is scared or generally more passive, doesn't mean another has the right to do whatever to them.
And to have the kite maker almost kill herself with guilt but then to become such a kind of predator was disgusting.

Moreover, the rest of the story was one massive guilt trip that strongly reminded me of Christian lessons from my childhood. The amount of self-loathing was staggering. After all, there is a fine line between actual guilt and subsequent atonement and this.

So yeah, I'm not sure what exactly to think of the story. Could have been wonderful but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

pikevilleut's review against another edition

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5.0

Best thing I have read from Tor.com, and that’s saying a lot.

marziesreads's review

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3.0

3.5 Stars

A allegory about immigration and racism.
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