Saturday, November 21, 2015

Red Legacy, by Eneasz Brodski

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 2015; ~10,100 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story  Recommended By:   SFRevu:4

In an alternate Cold War, Marya works on a secret genetics project for Stalin, but her goals aren't quite what the Russians think they are.

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

Pro: The story tracks Marya's descent into madness and oblivion. The only point of the reprise at the end seems to be to tie up a loose end. It's amusing to see a universe in which Lamarck was right and Darwin was wrong.

Con: Marya is a really unlikable character. The reprise makes that worse. The British and Americans attacking the center seems odd, since that would have led to a real war in real life.

1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. I’m liking this story more than expected, usually I’m not a fan of excessive drama but it’s put to good use here and the alternate universe world is also described well. Marya is certainly very unlikeable but that also makes this story one of the rarer one where we are experiencing the point of view of the villain.

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