Tin Man by Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau

The poor and outcast may life from day to day but they no longer have to be afraid of the law.

3 Stars for this dystopian short story full of violence, ferocity and lies

I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

First of all the cover is absolutely gorgeous and as soon as my eyes fell upon it I had to take a closer look at what had captured my attention instantly. You don't see such beautiful covers often, much less on a short story of a genre that is not mainstream.

We start the story from Ashoka's POV, an outcast who had left his family in order to lighten their financial burden. Ashoka saves one of the view people one could consider a friend from an ATU, a soldier from Tophet's Anti-Terror Unit, very well aware that this may be his last action.
Instead of not living to see another day things develop in a direction neither of them had anticipated and now they're both in danger for completely different reasons.
In the slums no one cares what laws you violate but if you are still part of society breaking the law and disobedience or a short hesitation to follow orders is all it takes. One misstep and you'll lose everything.

This dystopian short story was interesting and I'd have liked to have more of it. How awesome it would've been if it was a full lenght novel. There is so much intriguing going on that you only get glimpses of. Or it would have been nice if it at least didn't end so open.

I want to know what happens to them damnit!

Their relationship had just gone over the edge and morphed into something else entirely and it is a shame that we don't get to see what will become of it.

It was nice to get Ashoka's as well as Soren's POV, especially since they live in two different worlds.

This story plays in the same universe as "Bliss" and I'll probably read it as soon as I decide that I can stomach all the cruelty and horror it will smash in my face. This story is very mild in those terms if I can believe the warnings "Bliss" has.
Short info: The full length novel plays in a different city where everything seems to be good and blissful but sometimes things are just gilded to hide the ugliness beneath.

Recommended if you read "Bliss" and if you have a thing for horrible dystopian worlds made scarier by the fact that humans would actually be capable of the presented level of cruelty.