Hello Bibliophiles,

I’m stopping by with a short story review.

This time around I picked Murphy’s Star by C. Gockel.

I learned of this work due to being involved in the Mind-Bending Scifi Promo being hosted by this author. In return for signing up for her newsletter, I grabbed a couple short stories of hers to check out. You can get it too, just click here to check out her and other talented indie authors’ works.

This is my first time reading anything by C. Gockel. Alright, on to the review!

Blurb

On a journey to a distant solar system a group of scientists discover they’ve picked up an unlikely passenger…and discover humans may not be as alone in the universe as they thought.

GoodReads

The Review

I give this short story three and a half stars.

In a nutshell, this story is about the crew aboard a spaceship searching for other life out in the universe. When they approach a planet teeming with life they are excited, but when they interact with a dangerous species, they struggle to survive and analyze the strange aliens.

I had fun reading this short story. I was part of a BookFunnel promotion hosted by this author and out of curiosity decided to try out some of this author’s works for free in return for signing up for their mailing list.

I will admit, I’m a little weird when it comes to second person POV. I’ve always been a bit leery of it, but I’m trying to broaden my horizons. This one was pretty good!

The main character is put into a terrible situation when she and her crew wake up from stasis to this new planet. I found it easy to relate to her dilemma, especially because it was no fault of her own and she did want the best thing for everyone. Her partner was supportive and protective of her, and overall the entire crew was the same way. It was nice to see that kind of teamwork on a space team.

The plot was fun, although I do have some quips. I found that the first half of the story kind of dragged for me, but the second half was really amazing and had plenty of action. The beginning felt more like an intro to everyone and that’s fine, it just lingered too much for me. Once the crew started interacting with this foreign life on the planet I couldn’t get enough. I will say that the ending did feel a bit abrupt, but it didn’t bug me too much since this is a short story and I was well aware of that possibility going in.

Ultimately, this is a fun scifi short that was pretty entertaining. Definitely worth a quick read if you love space exploration!

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this short story review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this story? Are there other short stories you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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