Sunday, January 17, 2016

The Coward's Option, by Adam-Troy Castro

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(SF; Andrea Cort) On Caithiriin, murderers get a choice between execution or anti-violence treatment. No human has had to make that choice before, but it's suspicious that the natives almost always prefer death. (20,792 words; Time: 1h:09m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Recommended
Recommended By: SFRevu:5 Readers

"," by (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in issue 03|16, published on by .

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

Pro: The attack by the ambassador comes as a complete surprise. The setup is excellent. Kearn knows enough about Andrea to recognize that something is seriously wrong, and yet the deviation is small enough that Andrea can squeeze it through the system.

Con: Andrea isn't very likable, nor are the other characters, so there's no big emotional release in the story. It's hard to believe a technology designed for aliens would work on human beings.

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1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. This is a 5-star for me.

    Andrea Cort is someone you'd respect professionally, even if you didn't like her.

    Agree - the plot twist coming from the ambassador was quite a shocker.

    I've never read any other Andrea Cort story before but this read just fine on its own. The author has made this story freely available via Drop Box, which was where I got my reading copy.

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