Pell was lost, alone, and lonely―until Arc appeared. Fiery, enigmatic, and with a mesmerizing cybernetic eye, Arc was everything Pell needed, wanted, and most of all, desired.
The next time Pell saw Arc the eye wasn’t the only thing artificial about her new lover. And the time after that, and the time after that: each time the passionate and mysterious Arc drifted into her life, Pell saw more and more of her being replaced by refined and precise machinery…and with each departure of her natural body for the artificial, Pell grew more and more terrified.
One day, she knew, there’d be nothing left of her lover but the cold, the engineered…the bionic.
Pell knew what she had to do…but the end, when it came, was worse than she ever could have imagined.
Review:
This was a novella that had a strong feeling of allegory to it, which by the end had be wondering if it was a metaphor for the obvious or something deeper. It reminded me of Tanith Lee and the Secret Books of Paradys, which is a compliment.
At the start, it felt like the author was a little too in love with his own verbal artistry but it did fall into a rhythmic flow. The world building was fascinating, and somehow the points where there was a lack of world building just seemed to bolster the intrigue rather than hinder it.
In the end it was intriguing, although I don’t know if I could call it a romance. It balanced on the edge of erotic and grotesque, with sex scenes that were both interesting and discomfiting. I give it a 3.5 Fireballs.
At the start, it felt like the author was a little too in love with his own verbal artistry but it did fall into a rhythmic flow. The world building was fascinating, and somehow the points where there was a lack of world building just seemed to bolster the intrigue rather than hinder it.
In the end it was intriguing, although I don’t know if I could call it a romance. It balanced on the edge of erotic and grotesque, with sex scenes that were both interesting and discomfiting. I give it a 3.5 Fireballs.
