Saturday, June 9, 2018

A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Lighthouse of Quvenle the Seer, by Lina Rather

[Lightspeed]
★★★☆☆ Average

(Future Fantasy) You travel across the stars to get your future told. Even your guidebook makes predictions for you. (1,543 words; Time: 05m)


"A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Lighthouse of Quvenle the Seer," by (edited by John Joseph Adams), appeared in issue 97, published on .

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

Pro: The setup is kind of cool. It’s neat the way the guidebook also predicts your future on a small scale but very accurately.

Con: But the prophecy is a letdown. “Nothing interesting will happen to you for the rest of your life. Go home and be happy.” The whole thing seems like a metaphor for a hypochondriac’s visit to the doctor.

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2 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. "The whole thing seems like a metaphor for a hypochondriac’s visit to the doctor." That's really funny - partly because it's so apt from a certain angle.

    (There was a serious point, for me, to her "hypochondria," though. It's a kind of "survivor's guilt" sometimes, when someone you love dies and it seems wrong that life should just go on. So she basically needed help getting to the point of just going on. Still didn't rec the story because the second-person science fantasy structure just seemed misbegotten but I had less of a problem with the prophecy, itself.)

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    1. You know, we never even find out if the prophecy was right! :-)

      Seriously, I do understand about survivor's guilt, but I didn't see the connection.

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