Title: Marginal Worlds
Author: Alfred Bekker
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: May 28, 2025
Genres: Science Fiction
Length: 46 pages.
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb:
After a long period of tension and enmity between the Inner Planets and the Rim Worlds, a terraforming specialist travels to the end of the settled universe – and experiences wonders and horrors on a distant world populated by human colonists. Their world is to be made habitable – but strangely enough, the colonists have no interest in doing so.
Content Warning: Brief references to rape, murder, and violence. None of these topics were described in detail.
Review:
An open mind is essential for journeys such as these. .
This was an immersive tale that did an excellent job of drawing me into an unfamiliar world and showing me both the beautiful and the ugly sides of it. There were times when I genuinely felt as though I was learning about an alien planet. This isn’t something that’s easy to accomplish, especially with only a few dozen pages to work with, so kudos to Mr. Bekker for putting so much effort into it. He’s someone I will keep an eye out for as he hopefully releases more stories in the future.
While I liked reading the beginning and middle, the ending felt abrupt to me. There seemed to be themes that were never fully explored and some plot lines involving the protagonist that were left dangling. For example, I struggled to understand why N’Gaba’s behaviour was shifting so rapidly when he had previously been a character I would have described as steadfast. The explanation given for this certainly helped, but I wished it would have been given more time to develop so that I as a reader could understand him better.
I liked the plot twist that gave some reasons why the people who lived on Rand were so hesitant to allow outsiders into their culture and traditions. While I didn’t at all agree with their reasoning, this was an interesting way to explore how differently certain customs are experienced by people who grew up with them when compared to how someone who was first exposed to that tradition well into adulthood would think of it. There is something to be said for thinking critically about such things and accepting that there are multiple ways to interpret them.
Marginal Worlds was thought provoking.