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A review by steveatwaywords
The Creatures That Time Forgot by Ray Bradbury
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
A short parable on our life time, what we value and do not, what we choose to be meaningful, and what counts in the end.
The premise is fantastic enough: caught in a strange planet's atmosphere, planetary colonists have regressively shifted to living their entire lifetimes in little more than five days. In that time they grow, love, work, war, and die. But a lone spaceship, impossibly far away, offers a chance to extend that life.
With only a few days to live, what possible work might seem important enough to study and continue? What border or personal battles merit our passions? And what relationships might we ever hope to "sustain"? Indeed, Bradbury raises these and other questions, and along the way poses them to us, who live only a mere dozens of years.
What is a life lived satisfied? What risks are worth taking? What role does regret have?
The work is short, a mere novella, but the ever-lyrical Bradbury takes what might otherwise be a pulp fantasy and turns it to a challenge of philosophy.
The premise is fantastic enough: caught in a strange planet's atmosphere, planetary colonists have regressively shifted to living their entire lifetimes in little more than five days. In that time they grow, love, work, war, and die. But a lone spaceship, impossibly far away, offers a chance to extend that life.
With only a few days to live, what possible work might seem important enough to study and continue? What border or personal battles merit our passions? And what relationships might we ever hope to "sustain"? Indeed, Bradbury raises these and other questions, and along the way poses them to us, who live only a mere dozens of years.
What is a life lived satisfied? What risks are worth taking? What role does regret have?
The work is short, a mere novella, but the ever-lyrical Bradbury takes what might otherwise be a pulp fantasy and turns it to a challenge of philosophy.