★★★☆☆
(SF Adventure) Shep’s an old hand at taking spaceships through quantum gates, but he knows something is wrong when they materialize and Jupiter isn’t there. (7,003 words; Time: 23m)
"Lost in Splendour," by John Meaney [bio] (edited by Jonathan Strahan), appeared in Mission Critical (RSR review), published on August 15, 2019 by Solaris.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.460 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: This is pretty much a survival story, with Shep and the GenG kids trying to survive long enough to escape from this planet and get home.
The best part of this story is Shep’s interactions with his young crew. Through everything that happens, it’s always clear that he loves them and they respect him.
Con: Too much of what happens seems pointless. Why does Shep land the ship on the planet in the first place? Wouldn’t it make more sense to survey it from orbit while looking for evidence of another gate? And why do they all leave the ship to explore once they’re on the ground?
In the end, they don’t rescue themselves; the spiders rescue just Shep but for no obvious reason. We never do understand what happened here nor why.
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John Meaney Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: This is pretty much a survival story, with Shep and the GenG kids trying to survive long enough to escape from this planet and get home.
The best part of this story is Shep’s interactions with his young crew. Through everything that happens, it’s always clear that he loves them and they respect him.
Con: Too much of what happens seems pointless. Why does Shep land the ship on the planet in the first place? Wouldn’t it make more sense to survey it from orbit while looking for evidence of another gate? And why do they all leave the ship to explore once they’re on the ground?
In the end, they don’t rescue themselves; the spiders rescue just Shep but for no obvious reason. We never do understand what happened here nor why.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
John Meaney Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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