LogFAQs > #929632280

Chrysalis
Web Serial

"Ah.

English.

We had tried to talk to them. To negotiate our surrender. We had sent messages in every language, in every conceivable way. Entire committees devoted to the task.

But they had known English all along."

I love a good revenge story, and Chrysalis is one of the craziest I've ever seen. The hook is simple but effective - a sentient AI awakens to a ruined earth, where all of humanity has been eradicated by aliens. The AI is unsure of how it's alive, or even how it came to exist, but it knows one thing for sure: fuck that. After scouring the earth and finding absolutely no survivors, and spending just as much time giving the entire human population proper burials, it decides that the next-best use of its time would be to strip mine the earth, develop advanced spaceflight, and fuck up the motherfuckers that fucked the human race.

Chrysalis juggles a lot of different tones extremely effectively. It can be absurd, introspective, depressing, and hopeful, all depending on the chapter and scene. It delves deep into its themes regarding revenge, posing tough questions and then showing what happens when a being a wrath capable of exponential growth finds the answers to those questions...wanting. Chrysalis' placement on this list is held back by an ending I wasn't 100% happy with, but that first readthrough is so full of escalation and emotion that I love the story anyway.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.