Reviewed by Kristin
Imagine if your body was disposable but your mind could live
on long beyond a typical lifespan. On the interstellar generational ship Fairweather, that is the new reality.
Well, not exactly new, since their journey began three centuries ago. Each
person has a memory book and a body, but memories can be uploaded into a new version
of their own body when the old one fails, due to aging or accident—or heaven
forbid—murder.
Dorothy Gentleman is Fairweather’s
detective. After the last time her body wore out, she decided to keep her mind
preserved in her book for a while, taking a break from a physical body. Dorothy
wakes up knowing instantly that something is wrong. It’s her own consciousness,
but it’s not her own body. Since she’s the detective, she sets out to discover
exactly what happened.
Dorothy is a delight. With so much lived experience, her
personality feels like a middle aged woman. (Note that this comment is meant in
an absolutely positive way!) Dorothy’s nephew Rutherford (Ruthie) worked to
create the technology needed to keep individuals’ memories and experiences
available. He developed memory liquors, meant to bring back sensations of
things long left behind on Earth. Think of a sunset or a baby’s laugh, or the
scent of ozone during a storm.
Another interesting character is the ship itself, which seems
to be a mix of a computer and a sentient being. Dorothy speaks to Ferry (short
for Fairweather) and begins to piece together what may have happened in the two
years her mind has been shelved without a body.
At only 100 pages, this is a more of a novella, but it was
very well written and I look forward to the next in the series, Nobody’s
Baby and in March 2027, The Double Dorothy.
No comments:
Post a Comment