Post your reviews of The Personifid Project by R.E. Bartlett for Best Intro SF

It might be best not to read these before reviewing so your rating isn't affected by mine.


Prose: -2
The overuse of adverbs and said vocalisms made the dialogue unpleasant. Most of the action took place off screen and the constant changing of POV left me constantly unsettled. She was trying to make it fast paced, but the lack of character depth and showing of action left me uncaring.

Theme: 1
The most attractive aspect of this story is the theme of humanity’s battle against death and the way transferring souls to machines can lead to the destruction of free will and dependence on God for eternal life.

Plot: -1
The only reason this doesn’t get a -2 is because there is a beginning and an end that are connected by conflict. That being said, most scenes just seemed like points on an outline, without really showing or going into enough depth that I cared. There were also a lot of scenes that could have been cut or shortened.

Content: 1
There wasn’t anything offensive, but I did feel the preaching was a bit heavy without being necessary to the scene or story. For this reason, it didn’t flow naturally and therefore got a 1 instead of a 2.

Setting: -2
R E Bartlett obviously prefers dialogue over setting and action. While it is difficult to describe futuristic technology, and at times she did an adequate job, I was often lost. Her constant jumping POVs without clearly identifying where they were left me feeling like I was listening to a radio show without narration.

Character: -1
I want to give this a -2 because of how little I knew about many of the characters and that I really found Antha annoying. I also felt like I was reading a YA based on the maturity of Alpha and Antha, and just an overall sense of youthful drama bordering on comedy when they should have been serious and focused on the conflict. Also, her main character does little else than go along for the ride, with major actions done by minor characters. That being said, her characters did display some unique qualities and her main character did learn through this ordeal the benefits of seeking God over the artificial pleasures of technology.

Total: -4

This thread has been archived.