There was a time in my life during which I did not want to read new authors. I was very happy reading works by those writers whose work I was not only familiar with, but comfortable with. And why not? At that period of my life, when I was discovering science fiction, discovering who I was as a reader, there was plenty of material written by the authors I loved. I was just discovering them, and there were worlds to be explored. Of course, I grew older, my tastes expanded, and to be honest, those favorite authors of mine were either not writing books any more or were slowing down considerably. So I had to expand and adapt. And new writers become the lifeblood of the field. They become the authors that newer generations of readers cut their science fiction teeth on. The circle of life, I guess.

There are new authors, and then there are new authors to me. Mary G. Thompson is one of those new authors to me, and my understanding is that "One Level Down" is Thompson's debut novel for adults. She has primarily been a writer of science fiction and fantasy for children and young adults. "One Level Down" is a terrific novella, and a heck of a way to kick off her adult writing career, should she decide to continue to do so.

Ella is a 58 year old woman living in a 5 year old's body. She lives in a simulated world on a planet to which some of the inhabitants of Earth have traveled to in order to start a new life away from the decaying Earth they grew up on. I suppose I ought to back that up a bit. They came to this planet, but there was a plague of sorts killing the colonists. They came here originally to live a life on a planet where they could live out an ideal existence. Because of the plague, Ella's father Phil - known as Daddy to her - and the leader of the colony struck a deal with the company that makes pocket alternate universes to create a simulation of the town that he wanted every one to live in. Every 60 years a technician from that company comes to the town to make sure everything is working correctly and fix things that aren't.

Well, things aren't working okay. Sure, there are the usual things. Socks have gone missing (no mention of Tupperware(r) or any other household item familiar to us), birds have disappeared, things like that. The technician can easily fix those elements (the software folks reading this can and should interpret the word elements as you would expect - objects created by code that somehow got deleted). But there is something going wrong that is much more serious. Phil wants to keep the town the way he remembers things from the past. People who cross Phil get killed, deleted from the simulation. Phil is the only one in the town that has the power to do that, and he uses that power to keep people in line. The one other thing he wants to stay as it was in his memory is his daughter Ella. He wants her to be five years old because that's how he remembers her in his memory of perfection.

But as previously stated, Ella is 58 years old. She has the intellect of a 58 year old and the experiences of a 58 year old, but she always has to act 5 years old around Daddy. Ella is afraid of what Daddy will do not only to her but to her adult friends that are helping her, letting her read books to educate her, providing her with adult experiences. Phil has ultimate power, and she and everyone else is afraid of him.

The clue, of course, is that Ella is 58. A technician is due shortly to come and iron out the issues in the town. Ella knows that, and sees the technician as her way out of the nightmare Daddy has created for her. And the arrival of the technician is the place at which the story's true meaning and intent kick into high gear. "One Level Down" is not just a story of a despotic leader using fear to hold his subjects in line. It's a story that explores the possibilities of life in simulated universes - and whether the real world really is a "real world".

"One Level Down" is, as I said previously, a terrific novella, one which I would highly recommend to readers. It's well written, the characters are well developed, and it does make readers think about the nature of existence. I'm eagerly awaiting the next adult science fiction story from Thompson. I guess I might want to explore her YA work as well.

Lo mismo que hay tropos de la ciencia ficción que parecen pozos inagotables de tramas y novelas, hay otros que han pasado a un segundo plano bastante discreto, quizá por que sea difícil innovar con ellos o por que ya está todo dicho. Mary G. Thompson ha decidido basar su novela One Level Down en uno de ellos, el de las simulaciones de mundos virtuales, pero la verdad es que entre lo corta que es la obra y lo simplista de su aproximación, me parece que hubiera salido mejor parada escogiendo otro inicio.


Ella está atrapada en el cuerpo de una niña de cinco años a pesar de tener casi sesenta, todo por capricho de su padre, dueño y señor de la simulación a la que se reduce su vida y a de los demás ex colonos del planeta Bella Inizio. Los límites de su mundo son los que son y mientras su padre siga teniendo las claves para la programación de la realidad nunca podrá crecer ni cambiar. Este punto de partida, que puede parecer interesante, se queda en eso, un inicio prometedor que pronto se disuelve de la manera más desafortunada en una serie de casualidades que precipitarán los acontecimientos. Y ya está, el libro no tiene más. Me gustaría decir que se nota la inspiración de la autora en uno de los cuentos más célebres de Ursula K. Leguin cuando se supedita la felicidad de la comunidad y su bienestar al sufrimiento de un niño, pero es que ni eso está bien conseguido.

Lo que pretende ser un relato aleccionador sobre los riesgos de la tecnología cuando esta cae en malas manos, se convierte en una broma pesada. Las elipsis que separan diversas partes el relato son tan exageradas como innecesarias, como si se estuviera dejando para otras publicaciones parte de lo que aquí quería contar. Además de lo difícil que me resulta aceptar una simulación que sea manipulable hasta extremos increíbles “dentro de la propia simulación”.

Me temo que One Level Down tiene más agujeros de guion que un hotel de termitas y es por esto que no puedo recomendarlo.

Interesting concept that is very well executed in this novella. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a hell of a novella about terms and conditions and the absolutely fucking terrifying things people are capable of given power over things - like say denying birth applications and keeping the program of your daughter perpetually at 6 years old when you've been running the simulation the colonists were in for the last half century or so. Fucking nightmare. This centers on the girl who's been kept at a physical age of about 6 while her mental age is closer to, say, 52, and navigating all the layers of reality as she knows them with the help of the techs who come in to check on the simulation.

This was a great idea for a scifi novella, it had that element that I was looking for and thought the overall concept worked in the plot. It had that scifi element that I wanted with being trapped in a child’s body. The concept worked well and I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the danger of their situation. Mary Thompson wrote this well and left me wanting to read more in this world and from Mary Thompson.