Review: GR3T3L-1
GR3T3L-1 by V.M. Sawh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Imaginative and well written.
V. M. Sawh takes a childhood tale of a boy and girl, Hansel and Gretel, abandoned in a forest by parents who couldn’t care for them – the children find their way back home following bread crumbs – and retells it with contemporary and futuristic variations that lend excitement, anticipation, and adventure. He transforms a rather frightening fairy tale into interesting science fiction.
The storytelling within is seamless despite numerous flashbacks. Robots are the protagonists, and they fit gender-identifiable roles. The plot is reminiscent of the age-old balance between creation and destruction, communication and conflict, though it isn’t a balance as much as a death struggle in GR3T3L-1. The author is adept in his explorations of consciousness and sentience.
Nevertheless, I thought the work somewhat ambitious in the number of aspects it captured…for instance, robotic sentience explored within included emotions and desires of motherhood. Alien consciousness reflected very human quests. A credible synthesis of such aspects is missing. But that takes little away from a reader’s enjoyment of the story.
I sought an emotional connection as I read the story. The author makes commendable efforts toward such resonance, but I thought it fell a bit short of such an experience.
All in all, an excellent work of science fiction recommended to all who enjoy the genre.
