Overall comment: This is a wonderful story! Like any good storyteller, SMAC Fanatic drew me into his world and I enjoyed his vision for a little while. It was a great, but all too short, vacation.
Creativity - I liked the way SMAC Fanatic stayed away from the overused cliché for the Consciousness of …Discontinuity, HOP-HOP… (etc). Instead, he described how it felt to the person in the Consciousness and what a person in the Consciousness looked and sounded like to an outsider. This was a way to get a flavor of this faction from two points of view, which helped flesh it out and make it more 'real' and objective. I also loved the poem in the beginning and how it was used throughout the story. It gave Voices a central theme, and it wasn't bad SMAC poetry by itself. Rating: 9
Originality - There was one item in particular that jumped out at me in Voices - Deirdre's use of empaths to confuse and befuddle Yang as the conflict reached a head. While using empaths in SMAC and SMAC fiction is hardly new, using them in this way as remote probes to affect the mental well being of an enemy faction leader most certainly was. As I was reading I thought - Wow! So that's how a probe team causes civil disturbance problems in an enemy city! By sapping the will of its leaders it weakens the ability of the city/society to resist. Good show! Rating: 8
SMAC-ness - As I read this story I felt like I was there, and I could see it happening in a game I might have played. I detected few if any 'liberties' in plot or characterization that exceeded the bounds set by how SMAC is played. One item I appreciated was the gifting of a base to the Gaians to 'preserve their culture'. I have done this many times and liked its addition to the story. So, the story rang true, and while it played with ideas and told a great story, it stayed 'within the lines'. Rating: 9
Leader's Representation - Voices shows the faction leaders at their best and worst. Alki is largely dispassionate, as is befitting the leader of the Consciousness, but her human portion does come out in occasional fits of emotion. I never thought of Alki as a humorless Vulcan-like character, but more like someone who has dampened her emotional swings and tries, with the help of the Consciousness algorithm, to view the world in a logical fashion. In the story her imperfect attempts at logic and inability to completely control her emotions makes her more flawed and easier to relate to. Deirdre is one of my favorites, and in this story she comes off as being as a desperate woman whose world has crumbled, largely as a result of her pacifistic nature and inability to prepare adequately against Yang's onslaught. In the end she is not afraid to get down and dirty and will do what she must, and uses the resources she can to weaken her enemy, Yang. Philosophically I see her as in pretty close alignment with the Consciousness so her alliance with them fits the Gaian temperament. Lastly there is Yang. Here I have a small beef with SMAC Fanatic on how he portrayed Yang. Yang is my second favorite faction leader since, in my opinion, he is potentially so complex and his faction philosophy so different - in fact, almost diametrically opposed to the Gaian way of life. It is hard to get into Yang's mind but, when you get there, you can savor its almost alien and austere beauty. In Voices Yang seemed to be little more than a despot who, heedless of the consequences, was bent on destroying the Gaians. I always thought Yang was more calculating than this. What might have helped is a little background to understand why Yang was bent on destroying the Gaians. Was it pure military expansion? Had Dee foiled him in the past? Was destroying her vital to his plans of a Worker's Utopia, and, if so, how? Overall, though, Voices does a great job in portraying the faction leaders. Rating: 8
Plot - Plot is based on situation, characterization, action, and resolution, and Voices does each of these well. The situation is believable and the stage was set early with the brutal destruction of Last Rose of Summer by the Hive forces. Most of the action focuses on the faction leaders, but the couple of Gaian, Consciousness, and Hive minor characters that are highlighted are well done and help the storyline along nicely. The plot itself is based on war, as so many are. The first scenes at Last Rose of Summer set the stage, but later military conflicts are more staccato and (I think) deliberately vague until the climax at The Hive. While the details and action are great the overall plotline and its resolution is a tad predictable. Having a somewhat predictable plot is by no means a bad thing, and I think the reader would have been sorely disappointed with any other outcome than the perseverance of the Consciousness, Dee's survival and the Hive's defeat. Rating: 8
Overall rating of Voices: 42/50