★☆☆☆☆
(SF Adventure) Captured for his crimes, Ivebek expects to be executed, but an AI is taking him to another planet to meet with an alien for some reason. But why? (8,486 words; Time: 28m)
"The Host," by Neal Asher [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 161, published on February 1, 2020.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.081 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: All the mysteries in the story are eventually cleared up. Ivebek isn’t even being punished, per se, although his experience is certainly pretty horrible. He’s actually doing some good for society.
Con: The biggest problem with this story is that it’s loaded with infodumps that are never useful. E.g. Ivebek learns that Mobius Clean can repair the drive core, even though most of humanity thinks it’s not possible. We get a detailed description of this, and then it never comes up again.
Beyond that, the whole point is that the alien civilization collapsed because although they could invent interstellar travel, they couldn’t invent in vitro fertilization.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Neal Asher Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: All the mysteries in the story are eventually cleared up. Ivebek isn’t even being punished, per se, although his experience is certainly pretty horrible. He’s actually doing some good for society.
Con: The biggest problem with this story is that it’s loaded with infodumps that are never useful. E.g. Ivebek learns that Mobius Clean can repair the drive core, even though most of humanity thinks it’s not possible. We get a detailed description of this, and then it never comes up again.
Beyond that, the whole point is that the alien civilization collapsed because although they could invent interstellar travel, they couldn’t invent in vitro fertilization.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Neal Asher Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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