Friday, September 18, 2015

The Ladies' Aquatic Gardening Society, by Henry Lien

Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2015;  ~11,000 words
Rating: 2, Not recommended.

Two ladies in late Nineteenth-Century New England fight over their places in society via their gardens.

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

The little reminders of the casual cruelty of the rich people are very effective. For example, the hummingbirds cemented to sticks.

The speculative element--that the flowers eventually cause an ecological catastrophe--is simply added on to the end and is not an integral part of the story, in that it has no effect on any of the characters nor was it part of the basic "what if." All it does is destroy suspension of disbelief at the ending.


1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. Now that this is a Nebula Award finalist, here are some other reviews (from the "Other Reviews" link): LTilton SFRevu Tangent

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