"The Five Days of Justice Merriwell," by Stephanie Burgis

[Scott H. Andrews]

This thread is to discuss "The Five Days of Justice Merriwell," by Stephanie Burgis, which appears in BCS Issue #13 (http://beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/forums/../toc.php?s=13) from Mar. 26, 2009.

Feel free to post a comment even if you haven't yet registered on the BCS Forums--you can reply to the thread as an unregistered Guest.

[adunsby]

Honestly, I'm so-so on this one. I like the main character and I like that the story is divided into days--it gives it a sense of immediacy. The general story line is good, especially the part in which she appears to be pondering suicide. There were, however, a few things that perhaps could have been handled differently, in my view. The ending struck me as a bit too easy. How does she feel to be giving up her rule--we don't know. "Thy" and "Thou" are used early in the story but drop from the vocabulary (even the old advisor does not use them). But the biggest problem I had is why didn't the father just tell her what he wanted her to do? He could have done it in secret. Why make a big mystery and risk everyone getting killed?

Sorry if this seems overly negative, I read it only once, perhaps others will point out errors in my reasoning or mistakes I've made.

[Erica Hildebrand]

Surfacing from lurkdom to say that I found this story particularly evocative. Even before I got to the ending (and I was honestly expecting something else), somewhere around Day Three I was pretty much completely sucked into this. The structure and prose style worked well, but I think it was Justice's reactions to the soldiers and advisors as she wandered the halls of her fortress that resonated most strongly with me.

Woot! Hell of a story.

[Matthew Wuertz]

I popped in to check the story out and was hooked. The ending surprised me. Great read.