Review of The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann LeBlanc
The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann LeBlanc (Neon Hemlock Press, 2024) is a sci-fi novella featuring duplicated consciousnesses and a cheese heist with wonderful character development and worldbuilding bundled within its pages.
Millions Wayland has focused all of her attention on making cheese, after an incident when some of her duplicated consciousnesses rebelled against her, resulting in a catastrophic loss of life. However, she’s interrupted in her reclusive cheese cave when she learns it’s on a collision course with a sun. So she splits her consciousness to get to the bottom of the cause and winds up on a much longer excursion than she’d planned, involving other members of the Millions line.
While the story revolves primarily around Wayland, it also features two other primary points of view, Hattie and Miller, and a less frequent point of view from 55-Hay, one of the more alien members of the Millions line. The interplay between these assorted duplicated consciousnesses, each of which is a distinct individual while having some characteristics in common, drives the story along in this inventive sci-fi setting where Wayland’s cheesemaking is just as significant as the opposition to duplicated consciousnesses in their many forms. It’s a dichotomy that works surprisingly well to combine the personal and the collective into a cohesive narrative.
If you enjoy stories of transhumanism and transgender characters, along with a fair smattering of cheese-related puns and other humor, check out The Transitive Properties of Cheese!
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