Square³ by Mira Grant Published by Subterranean Press on December 31, 2021
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 112
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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Amazon, Barnes & Noble
We think we understand the laws of physics. We think reality is an immutable monolith, consistent from one end of the universe to the next. We think the square/cube law has actual relevance.
We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong.
When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. How could they have been? Of all the things physicists had predicted, “the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through” had not made the list. But somehow, on a fine morning in May, that was precisely what happened.
For sisters Susan and Katharine Black, the day of the incursion was the day they lost everything. Their home, their parents, their sense of normalcy…and each other, because when the rift opened, Susan was on one side and Katharine was on the other, and each sister was stranded in a separate form of reality. For Susan, it was science and study and the struggle to solve the mystery of the altered physics inside the zones transformed by the incursion. For Katharine, it was monsters and mayhem and the fight to stay alive in a world unlike the world of her birth.
The world has changed. The laws of physics have changed. The girls have changed. And the one universal truth of all states of changed matter is that nothing can be completely restored to what it was originally, no matter how much you might wish it could be.
Nothing goes back.
Everytime I see something new from Mira Grant, I’m sure to snatch it up. I know she is gonna write something that will keep me on my toes. I also know I’m going to fall in love with the characters. The characters are the best part of her stories. The problem with that is she also tends to kill off characters I fall in love with.
Square³ is a short novella at 112 pages, but I still get enough time with characters to fall in love with them. There just aren’t as many of them. This story follows two sisters (fifteen and seventeen) who are the world to each other. Their parents are just there and really aren’t a huge part of their lives. They have to look out for each other. Then there’s a huge rift in reality, which leaves one on each side of the rift.
One moment, nature had laws and generally followed them, unenforced and unpoliced. One moment, everything was normal. The next, physics and mathematics were negotiable things, and the supposed laws that had always governed biology were shattered beyond all repair.
Susan is the younger and more adventurous of the two sisters. She’s the one left in original reality. She has no idea if her sister is still alive. No one has seen anyone since the rift swallowed everyone up. Susan goes into the field of science to study these rifts. She wants to get her sister back, if there is a way to do so.
This story also has some political aspects. Governments are looking to see how they can use the effects of these rifts as weapons or any benefit or profit. And like you would think, there are also conspiracies that pop up around them. Some question whether they even exist.
This is a fun science fiction story, even if it is short. It tells the complete story here, though there is room to expand on this if one wanted to make a larger series out of it. There’s so much to tell about these rifts and how they affect the people who are near them. As a Mira Grant fan, I’m game to try anything she throws at me.
About Mira Grant
Mira Grant was born and raised in Northern California, where she has made a lifelong study of horror movies, horrible viruses, and the inevitable threat of the living dead. In college, she was voted Most Likely to Summon Something Horrible in the Cornfield, and was a founding member of the Horror Movie Sleep-Away Survival Camp, where her record for time survived in the “Swamp Cannibals” scenario remains unchallenged.
Currently, Mira lives in a crumbling farmhouse with an assortment of cats, horror movies, comics, and books about horrible diseases. When not writing, she splits her time between travel, auditing college virology courses, and watching more horror movies than is strictly good for you. Favorite vacation spots include Seattle, London, and a large haunted corn maze just outside of Huntsville, Alabama.
In her guise as mild-mannered urban fantasy author Seanan McGuire, Mira was the recipient of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. You can find her works as both Mira and Seanan at her main bibliography page. Seanan’s website is the best place to find information on where both she and Mira will be appearing.
All three Newsflesh novels have been nominated for Hugo Awards, as has “Countdown,” the first novella in the Newsflesh universe, and Parasite, the first novel of the Parasitology series.
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I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.
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I’ve got this in my TBR pile. love Grant. Wonderful review!
This sounds good. I might have to check it out.
That title is so cool
Grant does tend to kill off favorite characters, doesn’t she? This novella sounds like fun.
The world of the story is creative. I can see why you anticipate her books.
I like books about sisters! This sounds great.
“The problem with that is she also tends to kill off characters I fall in love with.” – Yep. She’s a master at that.
I do want to read this author and have several of her books on my shelves just waiting for some attention. This sounds like a wonderful novella.
I have loved most of the books in her other pen name Seanan McGuire. I think I’ve only read on Mira Grant but it was really good too. I will have to try a few more as this looks really interesting.
I’ve been wanting to give Mira Grant a read, I even have Feed sitting on my TBR shelf. I ought to give a novella a try maybe. Great review, and thanks for bringing this one to my attention!