Review of The Mission

[Alexandria Jurski]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Mission" by Tara Basi.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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The Mission by Tara Basi is a collection of science fiction/fantasy short stories along with a couple ‘long’ short stories. The stories are not related to one another, per se, as they all have different characters and storylines. There are, however, common themes that can be picked out among them. For instance, for the most part they all feel futuristic, some more than others, and they all have recurring topics of mental health issues, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and government oversight. The book would be most appropriate for an adult age group. There are not sexual scenes specifically written out, but there are descriptions and references to sexual acts. There is also some profanity used, but not so much that it feels excessive.

It is difficult for me to provide a synopsis of the whole book as there is not a single storyline from beginning to end. The author does a good job describing a highly futuristic idea of humans using technology to further their own life-spans, sometimes by becoming machines themselves, as well as several taboo topics. For example, a couple of the stories have lead characters that suffer from mental illnesses or trauma, so the story is in the point of view of the individual struggling with that.

One thing the author did exceptionally well was depicting different characters’ diction, tones, and personalities, even. While there may appear to be several mistakes throughout the whole book, a lot of it was due to style choice or a particular character’s way of speaking and thinking. Though there were still a few grammatical errors here and there, there were not so many that it took away from the reading experience.

While I enjoyed the book overall, it was difficult to get into most of the stories. They were slow reads; the author appears to favor a gradual building of the plots, especially in the longer stories. There were terms and events that are mentioned, or even central to a plot, that were not explained or defined until the end of that particular story, making it difficult to follow what was going on and make sense of how things connected.

That all being said, the book felt very average to me. It did not immediately grab my attention and reel me in. The author’s way of not explaining things and leaving the reader guessing at abstract ideas made it hard to find a real interest in the book. For that reason I am giving The Mission a rating of 3 out of 5.

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The Mission
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