(SF Android) You adopt an android baby. You name him Ben. He grows amazingly fast. (2,561 words; Time: 08m)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Recommended
Recommended By: SFRevu:4 RHorton:4"Of Sight, of Mind, of Heart," by Samantha Murray [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 122, published on November 1, 2016.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: Great "ah ha!" moment when we realize the point in raising the android is that he's going to become a soldier. The war isn't going all that well, and we need more troops fast. But mothers who raise them suffer all the loss of parents of real children, just faster.
The mom's determination to make sure that Ben gets at least a sample of normal human life is touching and tragic.
Con: The ending is anticlimactic. We're not sure if she never had a third child because she couldn't take it or if it's because the aliens destroyed the Earth.
We never understand why they gave her an injection in the spine in order to let her adopt the android.
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Samantha Murray Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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The mom's determination to make sure that Ben gets at least a sample of normal human life is touching and tragic.
Con: The ending is anticlimactic. We're not sure if she never had a third child because she couldn't take it or if it's because the aliens destroyed the Earth.
We never understand why they gave her an injection in the spine in order to let her adopt the android.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 122)
Samantha Murray Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
I rate it ★★★, one less than RSR. I didn't get the sense that Ben was an android. I thought he was a genetically modified person with an accelerated growth rate, kind of like Bean in Ender's Game. The POV was odd, and I wonder if the story would work if Ben was raised by a man.
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