★★★★☆ A great adventure in the dark.
(Space Opera Thriller; Lydia Duluth) Lydia’s visit to Innovation City on planet Grit is interrupted by an engineered virus that compels her to hide in the tunnels under the city. (17,343 words; Time: 57m)
Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)
This story is part of her Lydia Duluth series, but I had no trouble enjoying it without having read any of the other stories.
"Tunnels," by Eleanor Arnason [bio] (edited by Sheila Williams), appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction issue 05-06|20, published on April 23, 2020 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.252 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: It’s a fun adventure, good dialogue and narration, memorable characters, and a great protagonist. Lydia’s steady efforts to figure things out, coupled with the way she rolls with setbacks (e.g. losing access to her built-in AI) make her a lot of fun to root for. It’s also nice that her kindness and decency pay off for her, e.g. leaning the Goxhat’s name and treating it respectfully give her the key to escape.
It was also nice that even though BioIn is a rogue corporation, there’s a larger government that can hold them accountable.
Con: The idea of a rogue corporation that kills people who irritate it is pretty hard to believe. You’d have to have employees who were willing to kill people in exchange for a paycheck—and who wouldn’t rat the company out after they left it. Also, there’s no point in killing someone who managed to figure out there were problems in your financials; if one person could do it, someone else could do it too.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Eleanor Arnason Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: It’s a fun adventure, good dialogue and narration, memorable characters, and a great protagonist. Lydia’s steady efforts to figure things out, coupled with the way she rolls with setbacks (e.g. losing access to her built-in AI) make her a lot of fun to root for. It’s also nice that her kindness and decency pay off for her, e.g. leaning the Goxhat’s name and treating it respectfully give her the key to escape.
It was also nice that even though BioIn is a rogue corporation, there’s a larger government that can hold them accountable.
Con: The idea of a rogue corporation that kills people who irritate it is pretty hard to believe. You’d have to have employees who were willing to kill people in exchange for a paycheck—and who wouldn’t rat the company out after they left it. Also, there’s no point in killing someone who managed to figure out there were problems in your financials; if one person could do it, someone else could do it too.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Eleanor Arnason Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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