Sami Sundell reviewed Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds
Review of 'Slow Bullets' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Scur has a clash with a war criminal, ends up making an autosurgery and gets evacuated because of a cease-fire. Some time later, she wakes up in a transport ship and realizes something's wrong.
The story has an post-apocalyptic feeling to it, and it's easy to find stories that have similar plot devices. Lord of the Flies for building a society, Planet of the Apes for the post-apocalyptic rediscovery of an old world, Seveneves for the whole "small number of humans thousands of years later" thing. I'm, of course, talking about similarity in wide sense. The main character, Scur, seems to be a natural leader, who has the tendency to find the right words, do the right thing and put her own needs and emotions aside when the greater good demands it.
The writing is occasionally a bit clunky: there's a lot of dialogue, and sometimes characters end up explaining …
Scur has a clash with a war criminal, ends up making an autosurgery and gets evacuated because of a cease-fire. Some time later, she wakes up in a transport ship and realizes something's wrong.
The story has an post-apocalyptic feeling to it, and it's easy to find stories that have similar plot devices. Lord of the Flies for building a society, Planet of the Apes for the post-apocalyptic rediscovery of an old world, Seveneves for the whole "small number of humans thousands of years later" thing. I'm, of course, talking about similarity in wide sense. The main character, Scur, seems to be a natural leader, who has the tendency to find the right words, do the right thing and put her own needs and emotions aside when the greater good demands it.
The writing is occasionally a bit clunky: there's a lot of dialogue, and sometimes characters end up explaining things awful lot. It's something you start to notice as the story progresses, but it does not quite become annoying.
And even if it did, the story itself is strong. As I mentioned, there are similar plot devices used in various novels, but there's some originality to this, and the focus of the story is just tight enough for the length. There's even enough slow bullets to justify the name ;)
The only complaint regarding the focus is the ending. What was the need for reopening Scur's past, and then leave it hanging? It just annoys the reader and adds nothing to the story.