Book Review: Imprint
By Elizabeth Suggs
Imprint by Nicholas Adams is a sci-fi novella about a husband, Malcom, and a wife, Cynthiana, seeking a way to bring mobility back to Cynthiana’s body.
Cynthiana suffered a terrible paralysis from “The Scald.” There were no hopes of her ever walking again—that is until Malcom found a way. Using both dedication to help his wife and his knowledge of science, he created a synthetic human, which Cynthiana could use as a means to move around.
I really liked the symbolism that played within this story. For instance, the synthetic version of Cynthiana is first tethered to a machine, similar to an umbilical cord. As Cynthiana becomes more comfortable with movement and desires to move more than what the umbilical cord has to offer, they disconnect it. She becomes confident and learns to live within this new entity, but it comes at a price.
There are a lot of elements to this story and Adams is a very talented writer. My biggest critique is how fast-paced it feels. There’s so much to unpack regarding “The Scald,” and we seem to speed over that to get to Malcolm and Cynthiana, which I get, but I would have loved to understand more. But man oh man, that ending was intense!
Here are my favorite quotes:
The hand folded as if caressing an invisible piece of silk.
Like a toddler in a crib, the limited area fast became a jail cell.
This is a great, quick read, and well worth your time!
Elizabeth Suggs is the owner and founder of Editing Mee and co-owner of Collective Tales Publishing. When she’s not writing or editing, she loves to dive deep into books (the weirder, the better!), and she loves to take random long walks to unplanned destinations. Check out her recently released book Collective Darkness with eleven other authors. Buy your copy here: www.CollectiveDarkness.com