Published By: Tachyon
Pages: 196
Released On: 01/04/2025
Ella is the oldest five-year-old in the universe. For fifty-eight years, the founder of a simulated colony-planet has forced her to pretend to be his daughter. Her “Daddy” has absolute power over all elements of reality, which keeps the colonists in line even when their needs are not met. But his failing experiments and despotic need for absolute control are increasingly dangerous.
Ella’s very life depends on her performance as a child. She has watched Daddy delete her stepmother and the loved ones of anyone who helps her.
But every sixty years, a Technician comes from the world above. Ella has been watching and working and biding her time. Because if she cannot make the technician help her, the only solution is a desperate measure that could lead to consequences for the entire universe.
*****
Thanks you to NetGalley and Tachyon for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is a nice short book which makes it quick to read, perfect to fit into a short time gap in your busy life.
I believe this is Mary’s debut adult novella – it would be interesting to see how it stacks up against her works for younger readers
It is such a bizarre but powerful short story. It is hauntingly real. I mean, I know we don’t live in a simulated world, but this idea that humanity is getting closer and closer to destroying the Earth, it’s not really out of the realm of possibilities, and that’s what makes it unnerving.
Ella’s “daddy” is terrifying. I’m not saying he’s outwardly a monster or scary, but it’s what he thinks, what he does, what he has done, and how he treats his “daughter” that makes him a villain in my mind.
It is an odd point of view, because Ella is actually 58 years old, but in this world she has to act like a 5 year old, and so her POV straddles the young and old which was interesting.
I can’t say I really understood what was going on. I think if it had been longer it might have been better, because it would have given more time for explanation. I know with a novella you have to get right into the action, which is usually fine, but I think if it’s a sci-fi or fantasy book, you need that extra space to explain where we are and what’s going on, you can’t assume a reader will understand it instantly.
I’m all for a bit of a weird story if it has purpose, but there were just a few too many oddities in this for me to fully lose myself in. But it’s an unique short story that I think sci-fi lovers will enjoy.
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