Review: Very good "thinking" SciFi
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 26, 2010
The first half of this story reads like an early Greg Egan, posing questions on topic ranging from the nature of our experiences, ethics of euthanasia to politics of drug control. Despite some part of exposition being somewhat flat, mostly delivered through monologues, the reader does get drawn into considering those problems*. The end, sadly, devolves into a plain vanilla cloak and dagger story of megalomania and corporate greed, but does leave the protagonist, and the reader with him, with a tough if a touch contrived dilemma at the end.Unlike some other reviewers, I did not have problems with pacing of the narrative. The plot does hinge too much on coincidences, but the characters are believable, reasonably well developed within the confines of the short form, and mostly free from stereotypes.I certainly hope Ms. Stein will provide us with a full length collection of works in this vein soon.*) As Edwin Schlossberg said, "The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think."