Reviews

What Doctor Gottlieb Saw by Ian Tregillis

badseedgirl's review

Go to review page

5.0

You can read for free at tor.com

Reading this story was a glorious creepy little tidbit of dark chocolate goodness. The reader was given just a hint of the complex story arc that apparently runs throughout this series, "Milkweed Triptych".

chmccann's review

Go to review page

4.0

Creepy and has great sense of place as well as character development for such a short story!

apocryphal_goose's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

keu482's review

Go to review page

4.0

Another Tor.com short story

First thought: yay Nazis /sarcasm.

Second thought: wow, I liked this a lot more then I thought I would. The details seem accurate and the psychological aspects seem valid. And the idea of Gretal is just too damn creepy!

thaxllssillyia's review

Go to review page

5.0

Fantastic bit of extra insight into the events of the Milkweed Tryptich as a whole, and Gretel's character in particular.

dearbhla's review

Go to review page

4.0

What Doctor Gottlieb saw is very much an introduction to Gretel. If you have read Bitter Seeds you’ll know that Gretel is probably the most dangerous of all the characters. Even before she was experimented on she wasn’t right, the farm merely gave her the talent to be very very good at being bad.

Dr. Gottlieb works on the farm, he is pretty much the farm’s shrink. Everyone needs a bit of help coping with what is going on there, but Gretel is really starting to come into her own her and Gottlieb is getting worried.

I was a bit concerned when I started this that I would remember enough from Bitter Seeds but as it all came back as I read the first paragraph. I don’t think you need to have read any of the Milkweed books to appreciate this, but it is probably better to read it after the first.

Tregillis has really created a monster in Gretel. At first you don’t really think that her talent, prescience is hugely dangerous, but think about it. If you know the consequences of all your actions and others actions then you can plan out how you would rather it go. And Gretel plans things to the minutest detail, no butterfly wings of chaos here, all is laid out and intricately devised. Really makes me wonder how far back her plans go with regards to the events of Bitter Seeds.

I really will have to read on in this series now.
More...