Book Review
Title: The Last Conversation (Part 5 in the Forward Collection)
Author: Paul Trembley
Genre: YA/Sci-Fi/Short Story
Rating: ***
Review: The Last Conversation is the last but one short story in the Forward Collection and while it was interesting, I didn’t enjoy it as much as have with other stories in this collection. It follows a nameless protagonist as awake with no memory of who they were before awakening in a lot of pain. There is a disembodied voice of Dr. Kuhn or Anne as the protagonist comes to know her. Anne explains that it is her job to help the protagonist get back into shape as they have been asleep for a long time and help them recover their memories.
As time passes, the protagonist has more and more questions about the outside world that Anne refuses to answer for a while but as the protagonist begins to feel more and more like a prisoner, she explains that there is a pandemic going on outside which is why they are in the facility. The passage of time is almost impossible to follow, but eventually Anne gives in and takes the protagonist their house as a surprise and to prove that they aren’t a prisoner.
Inside the house, the protagonist is getting more and more sick and finds some strange things happening like their reflection doesn’t match the pictures and videos Anne showed them and they are sure they saw Anne dragging a body away but she dismisses these questions when the protagonist asks about them. In the final pages of the story we see that the protagonist is dying, and Anne wants to try again with another “blank” to bring the protagonist back. The protagonist realises that they are a clone of the person that Anne loved, and we can assume they died. The protagonist refuses the let Anne try again and she seemingly accepts this as the protagonist dies but the story ends with the protagonist waking up again with no memory of who they are telling us that Anne has started the process again.
While the story is interesting I felt I would of liked it more as a full novel or even a novella where the themes and characters can be developed a lot more and really get us invested in them but it was still a good part of the collection.
Buy it here:
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Also see: Ark by Veronica Roth
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