Megan L.'s Reviews > This World Is Not Yours

This would make a kick-ass short story, or potentially a devastating novel, but it struggles as a novella. The format is unusual: dozens of vignettes, each 1-4 pages long. It’s like a story told by strobe light. I found it made the plot hard to follow, and didn’t give the main characters space to do much, although a lot of work clearly went into their origins (poor, Vietnamese-influenced colony nearly abandoned by its corporate sponsors; an icy moon where children are sacrificed to keep population numbers at corporate-approved levels; and a vast, gender-fluid dynasty wielding an unimaginable amount of wealth and power).

I love everything about the idea of a self-cleansing planet, and how that might work. Scenes where the Gray is doing its thing are fascinating. Beyond that, there’s a pretty basic love triangle (quadrangle?) plot with some contrived problems. It’s unfortunate, because as richly imagined as the characters are, their interactions feel stilted.

In short: sci-fi elements, great; people stuff, eh. I want to read a novel-length version, just so the world-building and character development have an opportunity to catch up with the rad premise.