Review - Clockwork Fairies

Clockwork Fairies
by Cat Rambo
Date: 2011
Publisher: Tor.com
Reading level: A
Book type: short story
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: Tor.com

Desiree feels the most at home with her clockwork creations, but Claude worries about all this science and Darwinist nonsense—after all, where do clockwork fairies fall in the Great Chain of Being?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

WARNING: Major Spoilers! To read this review with the spoilers hidden, check it out on Goodreads.

This could've been better. Unfortunately, the narrator, a "blasted pedantic popinjay" (according to his fiancee's father), was insufferable. He was sexist, racist, possessive, and greedy. Which all would've been fine if he'd been dealt a satisfactory ending. With all of Desiree's mechanical creations--such as winged fairies and cats--I was expecting some sort of revenge by automaton. While Claude did get screwed in the end, it wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped. He'd learned nothing, and we were left watching him cry self-pitying tears. I didn't care. I would've rather seen his face scratched off by the mechanical cat.

The story had an interesting setting, and it was fairly well written, but the choice of narrator and his character arc left a lot to be desired. I wasn't that impressed with this one.

Quotable moment:

Sitting in my refuge, I was about to put it down when I came to a sentence that made me realize that even the falsest text might hold some grain of truth. The sentence read, "To understand one woman is not necessarily to understand any other woman."

I put the book aside but took that sentence with me, considering whether or not it was true. Certainly, every woman's personality was different, but there were commonalities at the heart of them all: a love of gossip, for instance. Concern with trivialities. An attraction to beauty.

Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 3/5
Writing & Editing: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2.57 out of 5 ladybugs