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The Outside by Ada Hoffmann
Nov. 1st, 2019 04:38 pmThe Outside
3/5. Scifi about a queer autistic scientist who invents a power source that violates physics, and so the AI gods kidnap her and turn her to their own ends in a battle against creatures from another dimension.
I liked this more in concept than in execution. Own voices story featuring a disabled protagonist, whose disability pervades her life, the way it would, but isn't in charge of the plot? Check. Queer relationship? Check. Weird science fantasy blend with interesting worldbuilding? Check. And yet there was something slack and unsatisfying about this. And as usual with scifi that tries to portray changes in reality achieved through altered consciousness, it just . . . doesn't work. It's just words for big concepts that do not translate. Not quite as annoying as listening to someone explain what it's like to be on shrooms, but pretty close.
3/5. Scifi about a queer autistic scientist who invents a power source that violates physics, and so the AI gods kidnap her and turn her to their own ends in a battle against creatures from another dimension.
I liked this more in concept than in execution. Own voices story featuring a disabled protagonist, whose disability pervades her life, the way it would, but isn't in charge of the plot? Check. Queer relationship? Check. Weird science fantasy blend with interesting worldbuilding? Check. And yet there was something slack and unsatisfying about this. And as usual with scifi that tries to portray changes in reality achieved through altered consciousness, it just . . . doesn't work. It's just words for big concepts that do not translate. Not quite as annoying as listening to someone explain what it's like to be on shrooms, but pretty close.