Review: The Imperfect Deception by Ronald Morrison

Do we live in a simulation? It's a question that's more philosophical than scientific. Some people like the idea.

Morrison's work nests our world in one that is similar but different, and casts our world as an escapist video game. The real world is even worse. And most of our problems are caused by players who don't know the SAPs...the NPCs...are conscious entities. I'm not a fan of this because it feels like a conspiracy theory copout. Players, aliens, whatever, are the root of all of our problems - it feels to me like surrendering agency.

That said, this is a well written book, although the possible twist at the ending is pretty predictable. Magic being the exploitation of software bugs in the simulation is amusing.

I did find it something of a downer, though. Morrison doesn't spend enough energy on exploring consciousness or even quite enough on identity, for what could be a nice work of cyberpunk. He's more interested in the idea of the simulation itself, and the possibility that things like sleep are actually coded in to save resources.

The characters are mostly interesting, although I really didn't like the way the MC treated women. To Morrison's credit, he gets what he deserves on that front.

This is a solid work, but I couldn't quite bring myself to like it, mostly because of the "blame the players for everything" part.

Review: Miss Bennet's Dragon by M Verant

Here's where I confess. I have Jane Austen trauma. My high school English teacher constantly demanded I give up reading science fiction (asking my parents to throw out all of my books) and read Jane Austen instead. My parents compromised with a beautiful deluxe edition of three Austen novels. I don't even remember which ones. I never cracked the spine of it and have no idea what happened to it.

So I approached this trilogy with some wariness. It's not Austen's fault, of course. But Verant has actually produced something quite interesting. I could do without the gender-based magic, but for this? For this it makes sense.

In her alternate regency, the Celtic religion has survived and women can, on their wedding night, bind draca...small dragons of various types. This is considered a privilege of the gentry. And it is, yes, sex magic, although that fact is described with the kind of delicacy one would expect. But it's not just gentry. You do have to have gold coins that have not been spent or gold jewelry that has not been worn (virgin gold) to attract a draca. But the old Britons are doing it too, if they want to.

Elizabeth Bennet needs to marry and bind a draca...or at least one of the sisters does...or they lose the estate.

But Lizzy has a remarkable talent with draca...a gift which may be genetic (the gentry have been accidentally breeding for it)...that might just change the world.

I can't judge this as an Austen retelling. The fact that I liked it might not be a point in its favor. Or it might mean that Verant did it so deftly I stopped caring.

I also want a draca. Although maybe not the one Lizzy ends up with.

I received copies of these books for review and award consideration purposes.