★★★☆☆ Mixed
(Dystopia) A poor young man sets out to sell his heart for money. Literally. (1,891 words; Time: 06m)
"Replacement," by Isa Prospero [bio] (edited by Vanessa Rose Phin), appeared in Strange Horizons issue 09/30/19, published on September 30, 2019.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.567 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The dystopia in the story gets worse and worse the more we read about it. This is a society that treats people like things, and imposes draconian punishments for minor crimes.
It’s pitiful that Jô traded his heart for the price a single flower for the purpose of putting it on Marcos’s grave. (And the symbolism is both obvious and powerful.)
Con: This dystopia lays it on too thick. Also, it’s impossible to believe it could ever be cost-effective to replace a body part with a mechanical one and make it up by selling the original part.
The tech is so great that any body part can be replaced almost painlessly in minutes with something that works almost as well. And all the problems with organ transplants have been solved, so people can choose to use real parts instead of mechanical ones purely on the basis of esthetics. And yet despite those huge advances, almost everyone is worse off.
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Isa Prospero Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The dystopia in the story gets worse and worse the more we read about it. This is a society that treats people like things, and imposes draconian punishments for minor crimes.
It’s pitiful that Jô traded his heart for the price a single flower for the purpose of putting it on Marcos’s grave. (And the symbolism is both obvious and powerful.)
Con: This dystopia lays it on too thick. Also, it’s impossible to believe it could ever be cost-effective to replace a body part with a mechanical one and make it up by selling the original part.
The tech is so great that any body part can be replaced almost painlessly in minutes with something that works almost as well. And all the problems with organ transplants have been solved, so people can choose to use real parts instead of mechanical ones purely on the basis of esthetics. And yet despite those huge advances, almost everyone is worse off.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Isa Prospero Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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