CORDYCEPS: Too clever for their own good

by BenedictSC

Someone wakes up in a mysterious facility with no memory of how they got there. This turns out to be the ideal state of affairs, and is swiftly ruined.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction

142 pages, Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Obvious Pseudonym · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb writing, great characterization (especially of Arc), but the moral of the story seems to just be 'knowledge is bad and the internet will kill you'. Even knowing the context this was written in (as a 'response' to RationalFic like Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, which seeks to obsessively categorize and standardize every detail of a fictional world - here, as the user Makin' succinctly put it, that kills you), it just doesn't sit right.

[Aaron Gertler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts wonderfully, then sort of peters out when it's forced to rely on worldbuilding rather than amnesiac mystery. Still contains a lot of memorable images and will force you to think, if you're the sort of person who thinks through mysteries. I'm glad I read through to the end, even if the story's world was smaller than I had imagined.

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the cleverest and best spooky amnesia stories I've read. Very SCP Foundation-esque.

[RandallsAround · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best things I've ever read in my entire life. I loved the characters SO MUCH. Archive was so fucking fun to follow and everything they said was so fucking funny but also their actions are totally fair enough. The way they tank their death with so much honour and stuff was so awesome.

I'm just gonna talk about Arc's death scene :sob: it was just so good. The way they realised that Gavin could remember them only because Gavin didn't care about Arc as something personal to him was so fucking good and so earned and so tragic and everything about how that scene was written was so good and Arc having a crush on Gavin and being so important to the core of Arc :sob:

I was a little confused when they didn't really do anything to punish Dr Orchard after she ratted them out the first time but c'est la vie.

All the actual payoffs about where the virus comes from and all the lore was carried out so fucking well.

It was just so entertaining and also the package where arc was trying not to think about Pink Elephants was written so well and so entertainingly. I love the twist that the evil hospital was actually good, and also arc just splattering against Gavin :sob:

It was so entertaining and it's one of those things where you're like "i'll never read anything this good again"

[Quentin Didier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw a link to this story online and, having a few minutes, gave it a try. I was immediately caught and came back to my senses many chapters and too many minutes later. It's a really good story. And there is much to love beyond the initial catchyness of the very good set up.

[Clora · Rating 4 out of 5]

-annoying characters that are actually pretty logical and have distinct personalities and worldviews which affect their actions
-unreliable narrators of all time
-underlying mystery and horror aspects are TERRIFYING

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really throws the reader for a loop. Interesting for thinking about how super-virulent memetic hazards would really be handled.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNFed

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

god damn it arc. possibly the most hateable character in the universe

[Julie Cover · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine!! Good critique of rationalism but like that got in the way of the story

[Alfie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: [A]

Fun little read, I love stories like this.

[Andrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay plot ruined by cringey conservative-family-reddit-user writing

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best parts were when I didn't understand what was going on, and had kind of a comedy of errors feeling. Worldbuilding was pretty interesting and wish I could read some of the things we weren't shown directly. The characters grew on me for the most part, but one bit part in particular felt like they belonged in Dolores Claiborne and I felt compelled to skip a lot of their dialogue.