Reactor, September 2025

“If a Digitized Tree Falls” by Ken Liu and Caroline M. Yoachim

“Laurie on the Radio” by Sam Davis

“Freediver” by Isabel J. Kim

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

“If a Digitized Tree Falls” by Ken Liu and Caroline M. Yoachim begins with a young girl receiving an object that offers a fully detailed, real-time simulation of an African forest she visited with her family. As an adult, the object serves as an early indication of a breakdown in artificial intelligence and information technology. Much later, in a vastly changed world, she exists in another form.

This is a greatly oversimplified synopsis of a complex story that takes place over a long period of time and deals with multiple issues. The speculative technology is plausible, and is extrapolated in a way that inspires awe. Multiple plotlines and narrative techniques are used in unexpected ways. The resulting work is an example of a collaboration that blends the talents of two writers into a fully satisfying whole.

“Laurie on the Radio” by Sam Davis deals with the daughter of one who worked himself up from poverty to success through his technical skills. She performs experimental music, leading to a surreal climax.

I have deliberately omitted the story’s main speculative premise, which is the fact that all the characters are anthropomorphic insects and arachnids. Spiders and mantises belong to the upper class, the father and daughter to the lower class. An allegory with discrimination in the real world seems intended; there is a reference to segregated schools, for example. In any case, the story’s conclusion is sufficiently speculative on its own, and could have worked just as well with human characters.

“Freediver” by Isabel J. Kim takes place in a version of the modern world in which the bottom of the ocean is connected with a region of space billions of light-years away. Communication cables pass through this region. A swarm of meteoroids destroys several of these cables. The main character has to risk his life diving into the region to make repairs.

This story is mostly notable for its bizarre premise, which is treated in a realistic, matter-of-fact manner. One has to wonder why cables have to pass through the region below the ocean, and not just through the water. (Apparently satellite technology does not exist.) Attempts to develop the characters of the only two people in the story seem like window dressing in what is otherwise a tale of problem solving and survival in a very strange setting.

Victoria Silverwolf is currently reading Star Rigger’s Way by Jeffrey A. Carver.