Short Trips: Monsters - #2:

--- "From Eternity" by Jim Mortimore

Plot:
Interviewed by the Time Lord called "Doctor" for its crimes, an Entity that has existed since the dawn of time gives its view of the universe, and its melancholy musings of life as a whole.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

From Eternity was definitely interesting. Jim Mortimore is a writer famous for his unique and out there stories, personally the only other thing I've seen that he's written is the audio The Natural History of Fear and it was an incredibly unusual listen, much like this is a very unusual read. It's a series of excellently written monologues following the life of this Entity and how it has control over life and death. Mortimore's prose is beautiful; the descriptions of the birth of stars and the growth of civilizations are wonderfully written and the voice of the Entity is a well realised narrator.

My main issue though is that Mortimore goes too far into high concept, to the point of the story becoming boring. It's an interesting read, but not exactly enthralling, the dialogue begins to feel pretentious after a while and I wasn't particularly into the story being told. It was a good, well written read, but I wasn't all that invested.

8/10

Pros:
+ Beautifully written meditations on life
+ Great concept executed about as well as it could be

Cons:
- Story feels narratively bare
- Gets tired after five or so pages

Monsters | Ranked:
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2. From Eternity by Jim Mortimore - 8/10
1. Best Seller by Ian Mond and Danny Oz - 8/10

Overall - 8.0/10