Book Review: 329 - A Science Fiction Short Story by Christopher Valle

Combine a new found interest in short stories with a bit of science and you've piqued my interest. The description of this book goes like this: "The atoms that compose your body were around long before you were born and will remain long after you're dead. Their brief sojourn with you is a tiny episode within their life in this universe. This short story traces the path of a single hydrogen atom from the Big Bang to the edge of the universe. If we could ask an atom to recount its adventures perhaps this is the story it would tell. "

I must admit I was a little unsure about where this story was going to go and how scientific it would get, but any concerns were misplaced. Narrated by an insignificant proton we find out its entire life story in a chatty conversational tone. It is a story of the beginning and the end of the world, and encompasses a love story, the object of the proton's desire being 329. Who knew that by the end I'd feel empathy with a proton.

I really enjoyed this story, it's such a great concept, not overwhelmed by science and providing a novel viewpoint. It think I took me less than an hour to read and I was almost sad to reach the end. It's probably something that might not have leapt off the virtual shelf for me, had I not been offered a review copy, but I came away from it thinking that it was a great, clever, quirky read.

Format: Kindle, review copy
My Rating: 5*