A review by wardenred
Let All the Children Boogie: A Tor.com Original by Sam J. Miller

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 —that’s why I’m doing this, I guess. To tell you the future can be more magnificent, and more terrifying, than what you have in your head right now. And the one you embrace will be the one you end up with.

This story is supposed to be set in the 1990s; for some reason, it felt like something from at least a decade earlier for me, apart from the bits that felt all too modern. In a way, this anachronistic vibe actually works well for the subject matter. But it also creates a weird feeling of detachment.

Overall, though, I really liked it. I feel like it captures teenagehood well: that special period where everything is beautiful and tragic, where big revelations happen in a matter of moments and connections that feel like they have already lasted for eternity form even faster. The time of sleepless nights and those special songs on the radio and the smell of smoke in the air. The time when you know you're going to live forever; when you know you can disappear any moment.

When I was a teen—when I was lost and confused and vaguely in love—I used to feel like the person who was most precious to me back then and I went to sleep every night on the opposite ends of our city, holding hands. These two characters' connection born out of listening to the same radio station reminded me of that. It's a good memory. 
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