★★★☆☆ Average
(SF Exploration) A young man living with his family on an interstellar survey ship goes through a lot of changes when there’s a crew exchange with another ship. (12,264 words; Time: 40m)
"Grace's Family," by James Patrick Kelly [bio] (edited by Jonathan Strahan), published on May 16, 2018 by Tor.com.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: This is essentially a coming-of-age story, in which Jojin gets a better idea of his place in the universe and takes charge of (or responsibility for) the direction of his life from this point on.
For the most part, the science is pretty good.
Con: I found the argument for why the ships needed humans unconvincing. If the ship AIs “go insane” without people watching what they do, then those AIs are poorly designed.
The sexual interaction between the 19-year-old narrator and a 60-something woman didn't work for me.
There are a few minor scientific problems, but you have to be looking hard to find them. (e.g. from the orbital data given, we can find the mass and brightness of the star and hence determine that the planet should be a lot colder than the Earth, but the story has the planet being super hot.)
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 05/16/18)
James Patrick Kelly Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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For the most part, the science is pretty good.
Con: I found the argument for why the ships needed humans unconvincing. If the ship AIs “go insane” without people watching what they do, then those AIs are poorly designed.
The sexual interaction between the 19-year-old narrator and a 60-something woman didn't work for me.
There are a few minor scientific problems, but you have to be looking hard to find them. (e.g. from the orbital data given, we can find the mass and brightness of the star and hence determine that the planet should be a lot colder than the Earth, but the story has the planet being super hot.)
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 05/16/18)
James Patrick Kelly Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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