The Horticulturalist by Pedro Blas González

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Lester Curtis
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Re: The Horticulturalist by Pedro Blas González

Post by Lester Curtis »

I wasn't impressed by this story. It started out with a description of an evil and threatening situation, then veered off into a long discussion of religion and philosophy that didn't do much of anything to advance the plot. Then it reintroduced the threat, and ended with a turn that didn't seem to have a logical place in the story.

It seems to me that the author has fallen in love with his studies of plants and philosophy and just built a story around them, not giving adequate attention to plot. Kind of like he was giving a lecture and using the story to illustrate what might happen to a person if these particular religious philosophies were manifested in reality. There is no clear conflict or resolution.

The style is very simplistic. That's not a criticism in itself; a simple style can be used quite effectively, but in this case, it came across as monotonous. The characterization isn't too bad, but the characters feel removed; I don't feel what they're feeling. The events are described in very careful detail; the character's reactions to them are not. It's like some sort of accident report: there's no emotional tone to speak of; it's flat.
I was raised by humans. What's your excuse?
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Lester Curtis
Long Fiction Editor
Posts: 2736
Joined: January 11, 2010, 12:03:56 AM
Location: by the time you read this, I'll be somewhere else

Re: The Horticulturalist by Pedro Blas González

Post by Lester Curtis »

Wow, this was some depth of literary insight. How did you do that? :wink:
Practice, practice, practice . . .
I was raised by humans. What's your excuse?
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