Author: ElgeonMB

Genre: Science Fiction

What I liked about this book:

This is one of the most clever things I've found on Wattpad.

There's a lot of extremely subtle internal humor, and it's told from the point of view from someone who can only understand sounds and text. She can't read. She can't hear or think. She's not even a human being, really. But through the barest of descriptions it's possible to see who she is and how she came to be.

The internet community described in this book is the one a lot of us had when we were younger. Some far-off bulletin board with people we never met, people who might not have even known our names or what we looked like, but they were friends and dear nonetheless. It's nondescript enough that it stands in for anywhere, and anyone who had that experience can remember it and feel like it was theirs.

All the users have distinct personalities, which is impressive given how little dialogue each has. It's all told through snippets of text or conversations in chatrooms or sounds Atai hears through her speakers. But they all feel real.

The ending of this got to me a little bit. I won't spoil it.

What I did NOT like about this book:

This was a short story rather than a novel and would be much better served at novel length. There was a lot of fleshing out to do that wasn't done, what with the supernatural creatures and so many people in this story being things other than human in every way but their personalities and nature. I wanted to know more about this world they inhabit.

The climax of the story didn't take long enough for a novel. This could be fixed by extending the book to a full-length novel instead of a short story.

Overall:

I really liked this.

Rating:

10/10 as a short story, go submit it to a sci fi journal. 7/10 as a novel, it's just not long enough or paced correctly for one.