(Far-Future SF) Kamala discovered an alien artifact inside the sun, and she spent her life finding a way to reach it. (4,314 words; Time: 14m)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended
Recommended By: GDozois:5Read an interview with the author about this story.
"Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee," by Alastair Reynolds [bio] (edited by Jonathan Strahan), appeared in Bridging Infinity (RSR review), published on October 20, 2016 by Solaris.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The technical challenges of building something on the surface of the sun are well-described. The time-frame of multiple centuries is reasonable.
Con: There's almost no story here, no characterization, and almost no dialogue. This is sixteen infodumps, and it makes for a very tedious read. The structure of interleaving questions from a dissertation defense with her accounts of the project doesn't really work very well and often seems entirely irrelevant.
The ending seems to be that once we reached it, the artifact decided to start terminating humanity across the multiverse, and there's nothing we can do about it. I found that very unsatisfying.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Alastair Reynolds Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB
Con: There's almost no story here, no characterization, and almost no dialogue. This is sixteen infodumps, and it makes for a very tedious read. The structure of interleaving questions from a dissertation defense with her accounts of the project doesn't really work very well and often seems entirely irrelevant.
The ending seems to be that once we reached it, the artifact decided to start terminating humanity across the multiverse, and there's nothing we can do about it. I found that very unsatisfying.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Alastair Reynolds Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB
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