Mad Maudlin by Marie Brennan
My rating: 3/5 cats
hmmm. this is another tor short that was just so-so shruggy. karly liked it a lot more than i did, and you can see her response here.
i really liked the beginning of this one—the slow-paced start, the building tension and unease—the growing questions of who is this unkempt and mumbling woman come from out of nowhere to the door of our psychologist-narrator, and is she in fact “mad,” or has she just become involved in a situation that is more fantastic/supernatural than psychological in nature??
that part was great.
but when the turn of the story came, i found that i was less into where the story was taking me. it’s fine writing, and i enjoyed all of the asides about the various psychological schools of thought and possible avenues of treatment—it is a field in which i am but a tourist, so it lit a dim reminder-light which might resonate more with someone with a stronger background than me, and i liked all the parts that were still grounded in pathology-allegory. but then it got a little too on the nose for my tastes, and it just kinda dissolved from there.
so—not my particular cup of tea, but i am not giving up on the free tor shorts project, because i looked recently and they had added even MORE, so i have to get a move on if i am ever to make a dent in their offerings.
an enjoyable read, in the medium-level of three stars cats, but ultimately not for me. maybe for you?
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/02/ma…
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