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Galatea
Brian and Audrey are chemistry lab partners that begin to fall for each other. As their relationship progresses, Brian learns that Audrey has always dreamed of becoming something... more. Inadvertently, using technology borrowed from his college professor, Brian makes her dreams come true. When Brian realizes what he’s done, will he tell her? When she finds out the catalyst for her body’s sudden development, will she accept her progressing superhumanity as a gift or view it as a betrayal of her trust?
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 17, 2020
6 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Hiker Angel
12 books7 followersI love to write stories and poetry across all genres. My published work focuses on female characters who become more beautiful and powerful, but I write everything from comedy to horror. I write on commission as well.
Keep up with my work at hikerangel.com, where I blog and have hundreds of freely available short stories and poems! My audio stories are available on super powered audio.com.
Please feel free to email me at hikerangel008@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you! :)
Keep up with my work at hikerangel.com, where I blog and have hundreds of freely available short stories and poems! My audio stories are available on super powered audio.com.
Please feel free to email me at hikerangel008@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you! :)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 14, 2020
Disclaimer: English ain’t my first language. Any typos and weirdly worded stuff is squarely my own fault.
Also, I’m a known fan of the author so my views and critique should be taken with a grain of salt.
Overview:
I will be covering the following
Story
Structure
Characters
Conclusion
Story:
‘Galatea’ is loosely based on the myth of the same name: A man sculpts his perfect woman out of stone and brings her to life through divine help. The connection to the original myth is there but this story has its own spin on the original premise.
The ‘make-the-perfect-woman’ thing is accomplished through science and is described a bit more thoroughly than might have been needed. The explanation sound plausible in how it works but I’m not the right person to judge its scientific merit.
Simply put; it sounds possibly and explains how it works and why it isn’t working faster. It gets the job done and then moves along to the more important parts of the story.
At times, I felt that the story lacked conflict in some way. Like there is a breakup between the main characters but would the story then only centers around that? I won’t spoil the rest but as the story progressed, I guessed most of the major future twists and conflicts.
You could argue it’s bad writing if you can figure out the plot but it could also just be clever foreshadowing, and hints in the right places, from the authors side. While I did guess the major twists, I did not anticipate how the story actually ended.
In a way, the story is a love story about trust and the loss of that trust, with some ‘super’-development sprinkled in.
Brian saw an opportunity to change Audrey for the better, a change she herself was longing for and hadn’t told anybody, until Brian found out through Audrey’s notebook. The reason why she then breaks-up with Brian is her perception of him lying and withholding information from her.
Not long ago, I saw someone say that if you wrote a ‘super’-story and then took the ‘super’ part away from it and it still works? Then you have a good story. I think ‘Galatea’ complies with this idea.
Structure:
There is no great surprises here and Hiker sticks to the style she has also used in her other published works.
We jump straight into Audrey and Brian in the lab and begins to get a sense for their personalities. Both are shy, and we get a good sense of how Audrey wish she were ‘better’, setting up what the story has in store for her.
The point of view shifts between the characters quite often, though it is done so seamlessly that you could be excused for missing it.
At times when it is appropriate the point of view changes to other characters, like Vanessa, so we get to see how other people react to Audrey’s changes and her breakup with Brian.
The story ends on an epilogue that build upon something mentioned in an earlier chapter, setting the scene for a possible follow-up.
In general, well done. Nothing to really complain about.
Characters
Most stories would be nothing without well written characters. Luckily, Hiker has a talent for writing well-rounded characters.
We have our two main characters; Brian and Audrey, with a smaller cast of minor characters of Audrey’s friend, Vanessa and Brian’s boss, Professor Giles (Kevin).
Brian and Audrey are well fleshed out, with the first chapters showing a lot of Audrey’s personality. Brian seems slightly more flat in comparison but his emotion is clearly on display the further you go into the story.
Speaking of Brian’s emotions, I’ll especially point to one special quote in the story that made me tear up after reading it:
This quote stock with me personally. It touches on one of my personal fears: Losing someone I deeply care about due to a mistake of mine.
This quote alone has spoken more deeply to me than most things I have been reading for some time. This really made me empathize with Brian as a person.
The cast of minor characters also get chances to shine: Both the professor and Vanessa get point-of-view sections to show their reactions and how they react to the events, with Vanessa having a clear conflict between her envy of Audrey’s changes and her support to Audrey.
Kevin, the professor, is cold or maybe rather not really in contact with his emotions. The only times we get clear signs of emotions is when he talks about his work and lamenting over his fiancée rejected him when offered the virus.
Conclusion:
The book as a whole has little to no major problems. The writing is rock solid as always, the plot is fine and has a nice flow to it. The characters might just be the real selling point of this story: That it made me sympathize with the male lead to the extent that it did is something I have to applaud.
“Galatea” might just be Hikerangel’s best published work to date.
Also, I’m a known fan of the author so my views and critique should be taken with a grain of salt.
Overview:
I will be covering the following
Story
Structure
Characters
Conclusion
Story:
‘Galatea’ is loosely based on the myth of the same name: A man sculpts his perfect woman out of stone and brings her to life through divine help. The connection to the original myth is there but this story has its own spin on the original premise.
The ‘make-the-perfect-woman’ thing is accomplished through science and is described a bit more thoroughly than might have been needed. The explanation sound plausible in how it works but I’m not the right person to judge its scientific merit.
Simply put; it sounds possibly and explains how it works and why it isn’t working faster. It gets the job done and then moves along to the more important parts of the story.
At times, I felt that the story lacked conflict in some way. Like there is a breakup between the main characters but would the story then only centers around that? I won’t spoil the rest but as the story progressed, I guessed most of the major future twists and conflicts.
You could argue it’s bad writing if you can figure out the plot but it could also just be clever foreshadowing, and hints in the right places, from the authors side. While I did guess the major twists, I did not anticipate how the story actually ended.
In a way, the story is a love story about trust and the loss of that trust, with some ‘super’-development sprinkled in.
Brian saw an opportunity to change Audrey for the better, a change she herself was longing for and hadn’t told anybody, until Brian found out through Audrey’s notebook. The reason why she then breaks-up with Brian is her perception of him lying and withholding information from her.
Not long ago, I saw someone say that if you wrote a ‘super’-story and then took the ‘super’ part away from it and it still works? Then you have a good story. I think ‘Galatea’ complies with this idea.
Structure:
There is no great surprises here and Hiker sticks to the style she has also used in her other published works.
We jump straight into Audrey and Brian in the lab and begins to get a sense for their personalities. Both are shy, and we get a good sense of how Audrey wish she were ‘better’, setting up what the story has in store for her.
The point of view shifts between the characters quite often, though it is done so seamlessly that you could be excused for missing it.
At times when it is appropriate the point of view changes to other characters, like Vanessa, so we get to see how other people react to Audrey’s changes and her breakup with Brian.
The story ends on an epilogue that build upon something mentioned in an earlier chapter, setting the scene for a possible follow-up.
In general, well done. Nothing to really complain about.
Characters
Most stories would be nothing without well written characters. Luckily, Hiker has a talent for writing well-rounded characters.
We have our two main characters; Brian and Audrey, with a smaller cast of minor characters of Audrey’s friend, Vanessa and Brian’s boss, Professor Giles (Kevin).
Brian and Audrey are well fleshed out, with the first chapters showing a lot of Audrey’s personality. Brian seems slightly more flat in comparison but his emotion is clearly on display the further you go into the story.
Speaking of Brian’s emotions, I’ll especially point to one special quote in the story that made me tear up after reading it:
“His stomach dropped through the floor. [...]. He was certain now. Despair washed through his troubled heart like a tidal wave. His relationship with Audrey was doomed. His eyes welled. Tears began to roll down his cheeks.”
This quote stock with me personally. It touches on one of my personal fears: Losing someone I deeply care about due to a mistake of mine.
This quote alone has spoken more deeply to me than most things I have been reading for some time. This really made me empathize with Brian as a person.
The cast of minor characters also get chances to shine: Both the professor and Vanessa get point-of-view sections to show their reactions and how they react to the events, with Vanessa having a clear conflict between her envy of Audrey’s changes and her support to Audrey.
Kevin, the professor, is cold or maybe rather not really in contact with his emotions. The only times we get clear signs of emotions is when he talks about his work and lamenting over his fiancée rejected him when offered the virus.
Conclusion:
The book as a whole has little to no major problems. The writing is rock solid as always, the plot is fine and has a nice flow to it. The characters might just be the real selling point of this story: That it made me sympathize with the male lead to the extent that it did is something I have to applaud.
“Galatea” might just be Hikerangel’s best published work to date.
November 19, 2021
Relatively clean update of the story
For those who like more thoughtful female growth stories mixed with a bit of soap opera,this should fit the bill.
For those who like more thoughtful female growth stories mixed with a bit of soap opera,this should fit the bill.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews