Review: Destroying worlds by destroying words.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 3, 2014
This book contains two short stories. They were both well-written and center around the themes of having our freedom to view the world around us how we want to view it, stolen. I do think that the second story, Word Thieves, could stand on its own, and I actually would have preferred for that story to be presented first, as the main story. It was a little jarring going from the first story, The Fields, to the second story as my brain tried to connect the two beyond theme.There were a few places in which the prose was a bit drawn out, or lost, as it became unclear who was speaking or thinking, but these points were few and didn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the story, or its message. Both stories deal with repression and mental reeducation. The Fields focuses mainly on sexual repression, while Word Thieves focuses on the repression of thought on a broader scale through the subversive removal of certain themes in language and literature."Destroying worlds by destroying words."You can tell the author is well-read and versed in literature. I did struggle a bit with the overall scope of what was taking place on Io, and what the leaders were attempting to achieve. In a future where books are all digital, how could they possibly hope to police every digital copy ever created or saved? That little brain-tickle aside, the story is excellent, beautifully written and recommended.