WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE is a great reading experience
Another pair of reviews for Daryl Gregory’s Nebula, Locus, Shirley Jackson, and Sturgeon awards nominee WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE.
From HAPPINESS IS FREE SF:
We Are All Completely Fine is the first story I’ve read from Daryl Gregory, but I hope not the last. This novella definitely fits in the horror genre (he even shouts out the Last Girl plotline), but Gregory doesn’t go for the easy gore. He tells the story in a fairly difficult way and gets great results.
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The progression of the story is just about perfect, you can’t see what’s coming but feel like you’re learning things along the way. I enjoyed every page–Gregory’s writing here is tight, there’s nothing unnecessary. I give it a strong four stars, and recommend it highly.
So that covers all the novellas for this year’s Nebula. Which one do I like? While Yesterday’s Kin and The Regular are contenders, I’ll pick We Are All Completely Fine as my winner. We shall see.
This book is not a “fun” read by any stretch of the imagination. It dark, disturbing and is full of troubled people trying to appear normal when they feel anything but. They are survivors that no one can possibly relate to, no one can imagine the horrors they have faced. Except perhaps the other members of this group that Dr. Sayer has put together. As we explore their past and they get to know each other, we see the group come together. And while it is not “fun”, it is suspenseful, creepy and thrilling. It is still a great reading experience, just not a light, happy, feel good type of read.
After reading this, I am quite a bit more interested in Harrison Squared than I was before (Harrison is one of the characters in support group).I definitely recommend the book, it is very interesting, and a great read. I really enjoyed seeing how it all came together.
For information on WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover design by Elizabeth Story.