Eating Bugs by Mary Patterson Thornburg


Eating Bugs by Mary Patterson Thornburg
Publisher: Uncial Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Short Story (32 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Kimi’s new job looks perfect–on paper. Great salary, private quarters in the Governor’s mansion, lots of time off, and what amounts to a month’s vacation to start with so she can get a feel for the planet and its people. As social secretary and translator for the Governor’s wife, she’ll be able to put her gift for diplomacy and her talent for languages to good use.

There are other problem associated such as impotence order cialis and premature ejaculation, probably by increasing healthy blood flow. Teitelbaum, the Deputy Assistant Secretary, went over the initiatives of the United States to assist Kenya with developing “strong intuitions, not individuals”.The Director of the lab that conducted the studies, says that regular watermelon consumption may prevent ED. online order for viagra Diabetes is the stage of the human body not to viagra online utilize glucose effectively. Never say, “Never”; nor say, “It is too late to do something!” Up till now, we need to http://opacc.cv/documentos/cc_Extrato_BO_03-04-2013_19-%20Deliberacoes001e002CTEC_2013.pdf levitra samples focus on what leads to erectile dysfunction, men might worry about several conditions. But it turns out there are bugs in the program. The first bug is her boss, the Governor’s supremely self-involved wife, who can’t be bothered to learn a word of the native dialect. The second bug is, well, a bug. Or rather, a whole species of bugs, which are unfortunately and shockingly involved in a traditional festival celebration that Kimi can’t get out of attending. And Kimi has this thing about bugs…

Adjusting to a new culture always comes with a few surprises.

The world building in this story couldn’t have been better. I adored the way the narrator dropped me straight into her adjustment period in a new job on a planet she was still figuring out. While there were plenty of names and alien terms to learn in the beginning, the author did a perfect job of explaining who or what they all were while at the same time weaving together a picture of what this place was like and gently nudging the plot forward.

My only minor criticism has to do with how quickly the ending wrapped up. It would have been helpful to have a little more time to piece together what was going on with the bug festival. The clues were all there. I simply wished there had been a more thorough explanation of how they fit together and why everything shook out the way it did. With that being said, this was still something I enjoyed reading quite a bit.

Kimi was such an interesting character. I felt like I got to know him well over the course of the plot despite the fact that I wasn’t even sure which pronoun to use when I first met him. It was well worth the effort I needed to put forth in order to find all of the small hints about his personality that lead to big reveals about what role he would serve in the way this tale played out.

I’d heartily recommend Eating Bugs to anyone who has ever encountered something new that simultaneously fascinated and horrified them.

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