Hi Sara
This is great - looks like you've really got something here. It reads almost as good as published material. Here are a few thoughts:
I think "A Cure for Immortality" is a much more engaging title than "Millennium Potion" - I presume the latter is a working title?
I think the opening block of exposition is too long, and you're trying to get too much information across. I can see that you're building Athenais's character, building atmosphere in the bar, and providing historical context - but it goes on for 1250 words, which is just too much of a stretch for the reader at the beginning. Better maybe to leave some of this information till later where we can learn it through action and dialogue. One thing that might strengthen the opening is if the three colonists came in much earlier (after, say 400 words, rather than 1200) and maybe even sat with Athenais earlier, so some of the info could be brought out during the conversation. The fact is that we'll learn all about this stuff as the book develops (that's part of the fun of SF, right) so once we, as readers, get a really engaging opening, we'll follow you to the rest. So Athenais's rebellious nature doesn't have to be deeply explored in the first 1200, and the historical context only alluded to. Just a thought.
I felt there was something just a little "off" during parts of the conversation. I wasn't always able to easily follow who was speaking among the colonists. Both Paul and Athenais seemed, at times, to be displaying incongruent emotions from one paragraph to the next. For example, a couple of lines after calling her "human scum", the shifter gives Athenais a "sly grin" - that seems incongruous to me. A few lines later, Paul is bristling. A little later he's calling her "a woman so lovely" then lowering his eyes at her glare. I assume Paul has two majorly conflicting emotions going on throughout this - hatred of the humans who exterminated his race balanced against need to get Athenais to join him in his plan. Since we're viewing all this from Athenais's perspective, we only see the behavioural (words, tone of voice, gestures) results of this conflict. However, I'd like to see more consistency in Paul's reactions - at the moment, the internal conflict (if indeed I've picked it up correctly) isn't captured as strongly as it might be. (Athenais bounces around a bit too, but I get the impression this may be deliberate, as if she's slightly insane?)
Last point is really minor: character names. Paul, Morgan, and Stuart? Seems a bit pedestrian for the far future, no?
Overall, I really like what you've set up here. The main character is quirky / crazy and interesting, the implied history is solid SF stuff, and the setup could lead to lots of interesting places. Can I suggest in the rewrite that you tighten the opening, cut way back on the exposition, and rework the action / gestures etc. around the dialogue a little to more clearly bring out what might be going on with Paul.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review. |
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