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3.5 

Manuscript Tradition

By Harry Turtledove
Manuscript Tradition by Harry Turtledove digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

From the bestselling author Harry Turtledove comes a Tor.com Original short story, "Manuscript Tradtion."

Dr. Feyrouz Hanafusa is a curator at Yale in the 23rd century. Space exploration is still ongoing, and signs of life have been discovered on a planet near TRAPPIST-1. Signs, Dr. Hanafusa realizes, that suspiciously resemble drawings in the Voynich manuscript, which no one has been able to decipher in over eight hundred years.

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5 Reviews

3.5
“Actual rating: 1.5 stars A good idea does not a good short story make. I thought the concept of this one was hugely appealing - it's the 23rd century and a mysterious, 800-year-old manuscript somehow records details of life on a planet forty light years from Earth. Earth has only just begun to receive information about these life forms via a probe sent to the planet two hundred years before, so there's no way to explain how the author knew about any of it. Unfortunately, the story got bogged down in trying to set up for the big reveal, which in itself was wildly predictable. Despite the effort the author put into preparing us for the big revelation, the story somehow still lacked any real suspense or tension. It all felt too... even, too level. There were no highs or lows within the storytelling, no moments of shock or surprise. It just maintained this sense of monotony throughout. It seems quite an achievement to take a compelling concept and suck all the excitement out of it, but I doubt the author would be pleased with such an accolade. What's worse is that the ending omitted the key piece of information I needed from this story in order for it to be successful. I understand the author was leaving this particular part of the story open to interpretation - but, honestly, it just felt like they couldn't come up with a decent ending so they did what we all do when we don't know the answer and left it blank. The author also chose to introduce a new system for timekeeping, which apparently has become necessary by the 23rd century. But this system had absolutely no bearing on the story itself and seemed like a total waste of [newly incremented] time to me. I've given it 1.5 stars because I liked the idea and it wasn't as terrible as it could have been (though it came close). If anyone can recommend a book that has a similar plot line (but is actually worth the read) then hit me up in the comments because I know this idea has legs, and I need vindication, dammit.”

About Harry Turtledove

Harry Turtledove is an American fantasy and science fiction writer who Publishers Weekly has called the "Master of Alternate History." He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Hugo Award for Best Novella, the HOMer Award for Short story, and the John Esthen Cook Award for Southern Fiction. Turtledove’s works include the Crosstime Traffic, Worldwar, Darkness, and Opening of the World series; the standalone novels The House of Daniel, Fort Pillow, and Give Me Back My Legions!; and over a dozen short stories available on Tor.com.

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