Teacher's Pet by Robert Southern

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kailhofer
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Re: Teacher's Pet by Robert Southern

Post by kailhofer »

This was one of two that I had left before the new issue goes up. I've been just swamped.<br><br><br>I'll agree with Jaimie that Tabitha was pretty suspect early on, but I took Jefferson's scolding of Matt & Dell over her corpse to mean that perhaps they were behind it, not dim-witted Tabitha.<br><br>In a world that allowed insects, but no animal preditors--it was a wonder they weren't all hip-deep in locusts or something...<br><br><br>This story was written with professionalism, but since I read with a wide screen, I noticed that a nearly overwelming percentage of the paragaphs were only a two or three sentences long. This is not a horrible condemnation, just something that struck me, and I would recommend varying the paragraph style a bit more. If nothing else, the size of the paragraphs and the number of details therein can help the pacing of the story so that there is more of an ebb and flow instead of a more steady metronome. <br><br>On setting, there was excellent world building, and clearly a good deal of time was spent to develop the ARC and SOL backdrop. However, largely absent were the senses beyond sight & hearing (Is this the fault of all the TV we watch?). When Jefferson was holding the bear's jaw, I missed how it would have felt in his hand, and wondered if there was still a stench of death near the Aztec-like bone piles.<br><br>Jefferson is a complex character, and is a little hard to figure out. He's happy, sad, and angry all at once. He fulfills his conflict, finding something alive to give hope to others, but, in the course of his arc, chooses not to tell what he finds. I liked that a lot.<br><br>The other characters were more troublesome to analyze. They're not that well developed, so I couldn't figure out their arcs. Perhaps, as students, they aren't meant to be complete characters yet. Still, Taz clearly underwent some kind of change to learn respect for nature enough to lie to protect it. It was just difficult to tell exactly where he came from to arrive at his realization.<br><br>Jefferson's dialog was like that of a teacher, and the kids talked like high school kids do. My quibble here was that the kids all sounded the same. Each one didn't speak with their own voice and speech pattern.<br><br>In my gut, I bought this story, and that's the most important thing. <br><br>It rang true, inspite of some setting and character quibbles. The events unfolded in a logical manner, and the plot was compelling enough to keep me reading after a 12-hour day at work. That's not easy, let me tell you.<br><br><br>In summary, even with a little room for improvement, this was a pretty good story. Robert Southern is a name I'll have to remember to watch for in the future.<br><br>Nate
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