Monday, October 19, 2015

Karma Among the Cloud Kings, by Brian Trent

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2015; ~7,700 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story

Preema is a Jain, sworn to kill no life, working on a gas giant planet extracting hydrogen for starships. The Jains have a menial job, collecting debris, but something about the debris bothers Preema.

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

Pro: Excellent the way the story builds up to the climax when the cloud kings resume their attack. Moving and horrifying all at once.

Con: Lots of problems appear on closer examination. Why did the new cloud kings trust the Jains? Why didn't the Jains alert the government? Didn't the Jains forsee that their actions would result in murder of many people, not just the guilty? And why didn't the cloud kings just make a trade deal? The quantity of hydrogen in a gas giant is immense.

1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. Another good complete story that I liked, but what irks me the most is the plot exposition device where it was just so easy to impersonate someone’s old friends and have him spill the whole story/secrets with just a few sentences 😏

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