A review by octavia_cade
The Children of Hamlin by Carmen Carter
3.0
A good solid read, although it skims over a few places I think. A four year old who's seen her home and family slaughtered, and who's been kidnapped by the aliens who did the slaughtering, is having so much fun after several days with them that she wants to go back after being rescued? Not buying it, sorry. I'm also not buying that someone as clever as Deelor didn't see Ruthe's final strategy coming a mile off, because I certainly did.
Nitpicks like these aside, however, this was a thoughtful and considered story about alienation, I suppose - about what happens when you're ripped from your culture and raised in another one, and whether or not it's in your interest, after a lifetime of assimilation, to be ripped away once again. And, from the other side, how ethical it is to build diplomatic relationships with those who slaughter and kidnap others. It's a book all about price and compromise is what I'm saying, and some of the prices are very heavy, and some of the compromises are fairly repellent. It's more sad than anything, even more sad than hopeful, and that's an unusual approach for Star Trek, though one I think that has paid off here.
Nitpicks like these aside, however, this was a thoughtful and considered story about alienation, I suppose - about what happens when you're ripped from your culture and raised in another one, and whether or not it's in your interest, after a lifetime of assimilation, to be ripped away once again. And, from the other side, how ethical it is to build diplomatic relationships with those who slaughter and kidnap others. It's a book all about price and compromise is what I'm saying, and some of the prices are very heavy, and some of the compromises are fairly repellent. It's more sad than anything, even more sad than hopeful, and that's an unusual approach for Star Trek, though one I think that has paid off here.