Author Topic: EP766: The Unrepentant  (Read 1631 times)

divs

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on: January 08, 2021, 07:59:15 PM
Escape Pod 766: The Unrepentant

Author: Derrick Boden
Narrator: Ibba Armancas
Host: Tina Connolly
Audio Producer: Summer Brooks

Escape Pod 766: The Unrepentant is an Escape Pod original.

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Content Warning:
This story has content notifications for language and violence.



First time I saw her, she was bleeding from her left nostril with a nightstick jammed under her chin. Officer Vang was twisting her arm all kinds of unnatural behind her gene-hacked body, pressing her face to the exterior window with four thousand miles of freefall and filth and societal decay on the flip side. The lights in the cramped hallway–alpha quadrant, fourteenth floor of this godforsaken space elevator–painted her face a rusty orange. She was just another dirtside ghoul from the Rot, weaponized by another shadow corporation that had repurposed Earth’s battlegrounds into one big biotech testbed. Officer Vang–an over-muscled knot of a woman that never missed a chance to make example of one of us refugees–had the ghoul jammed against the hull so hard her boots were dangling like the guerrilla corpses in the town squares back home. She should’ve been howling in pain.

She was laughing.




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Álex Souza

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Reply #1 on: January 09, 2021, 03:28:31 AM
I just loved this. Great story. Cyberpunk with lots of violence, just the way I like it. Reminded me of Akudama Drive and Psycho-Pass.

The first chapter is just perfect. It sets tone, introduces all major characters, prepares us for what's to come. Pro work right there.

Jenna's and Vance's characters felt a little bland. The former is pretty much Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted, and Vance is every movie security guard or sargeant ever.

The fact that they are undead is terrifying. They are being used for work and kept alive with some "gene-hacking" stuff (that is not explained, but it didn't need to). This is pretty much Horror.

There is not much infodump--pretty much just a little at the beginning of the second chapter and some "as you know, Bob" dialogues here and there--, and I didn't feel overwhelmed with information.

The author foreshadowed that the priest would have a major part in this story. I realized that a priest is always lurking somewhere. The first one appears with his eyes "glittering with greed". It was a good setup.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is a 9,5/10.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2021, 03:34:00 AM by Álex Souza »

I just wanna go pro before AI takes over and the bot dogs from Boston Dynamics kill us all.


Languorous Lass

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Reply #2 on: January 10, 2021, 03:58:28 PM
Huh.  I thought the story was excellent as well, but I didn’t think of the characters as literally undead—I thought the terms “ghouls” and “scraps” were just the nasty names people from opposite sides of the war had for each other (at least up until the ending).  I’ll have to reconsider the story from the perspective that you’ve suggested, Alex.  Thanks.

P.S.  This is a great review!



Álex Souza

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Reply #3 on: January 11, 2021, 11:56:09 PM
Now that you mentioned, I'm not so sure about them being undead anymore  :P :P

I took that as a fact since paragraph 1, because I thought that that amount of pounding would kill a person, and nothing happened to Jenna.

I just wanna go pro before AI takes over and the bot dogs from Boston Dynamics kill us all.


Wouter Bjerg

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Reply #4 on: March 14, 2021, 03:39:19 AM
Are there no new posts for the most recent episodes?

I want to talk about ep 775: Spaceship October. It's so good!



unicornpeople77

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Reply #5 on: April 27, 2021, 03:23:16 PM
<3!!!!!!!!