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djotaku's review against another edition
3.0
Another anthology. As usual, I've included my status updates with some spelling fixes. Overall it was a very uneven collection in terms of what I enjoyed. The stories all seemed to run hot or cold for me with nothing lukewarm.
Mono no Aware - a story about a generation ship, identity, and the world just before the end. I think I heard this on Clarkesworld Magazine's podcast. It was still moving to read because I had forgotten the details.
The sound of breaking up - this story takes a sharp right angle. WOW. Where will it end up....great ending to that time travel story
Chitai... - I have no idea what that ending meant
The indiference engine - a haunting tale of NGOs doing what they think is best regardless of the info on the ground. The SF aspects really bring the message home
Sea of trees -a scary ghost story that takes place in a suicide forest in Japan
Endoastronomy - boy do I hate that story. I have no idea what the eff was going on and it didn't even have an explanatory punchline.
In Plain Site - having tons of fun with this detective story - way more than the previous one. Didn't like the ending, but leading up to it was fun
Golden Bread - A pilot accidentally crash-lands onto an asteroid. Interesting that the author has switched the cultures of the people involved in the story relative to how it is now. Finally, all the incongruity makes sense with the final reveal
One breath, one stroke - a lovely, whimsical tale of a house on the boundary between the human and non-human world. Great prose.
Whale Meat - it's a touching story of an estranged father and daughter, but I'm not sure how it fits with the overall SF/fatasy theme of the book.
Mountain people, ocean people" - interesting twist to the story. Very ambiguous ending
Goddess of Mercy - this story seems horrifically more likely now than it did when written. the journalist had a strange was of speaking. But the story wound up pretty neat, even if it had the non-ending they many of the duties in this anthology do.
Autogenic Dreaming - a strange story that reminds me somewhat of that Jasper Fforde series. So it's about Google under a different name. Still not sure I 100% understand what's going on.
Mono no Aware - a story about a generation ship, identity, and the world just before the end. I think I heard this on Clarkesworld Magazine's podcast. It was still moving to read because I had forgotten the details.
The sound of breaking up - this story takes a sharp right angle. WOW. Where will it end up....great ending to that time travel story
Chitai... - I have no idea what that ending meant
The indiference engine - a haunting tale of NGOs doing what they think is best regardless of the info on the ground. The SF aspects really bring the message home
Sea of trees -a scary ghost story that takes place in a suicide forest in Japan
Endoastronomy - boy do I hate that story. I have no idea what the eff was going on and it didn't even have an explanatory punchline.
In Plain Site - having tons of fun with this detective story - way more than the previous one. Didn't like the ending, but leading up to it was fun
Golden Bread - A pilot accidentally crash-lands onto an asteroid. Interesting that the author has switched the cultures of the people involved in the story relative to how it is now. Finally, all the incongruity makes sense with the final reveal
One breath, one stroke - a lovely, whimsical tale of a house on the boundary between the human and non-human world. Great prose.
Whale Meat - it's a touching story of an estranged father and daughter, but I'm not sure how it fits with the overall SF/fatasy theme of the book.
Mountain people, ocean people" - interesting twist to the story. Very ambiguous ending
Goddess of Mercy - this story seems horrifically more likely now than it did when written. the journalist had a strange was of speaking. But the story wound up pretty neat, even if it had the non-ending they many of the duties in this anthology do.
Autogenic Dreaming - a strange story that reminds me somewhat of that Jasper Fforde series. So it's about Google under a different name. Still not sure I 100% understand what's going on.
_csharp's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
par3's review against another edition
3.0
3.25 Stars overall. The stories ranged from excellent to pretty bad. See below for mini reviews of each short story...
01. Mono no Aware: 5 Stars! So great and emotional and heroic! Just fantastic! Wish it was a full length novel.
02. The Sound of Breaking Up: 3.5 Stars. Good but probably didn’t grasp everything completely. Needed more elaboration.
03. Chitai Heiki Koronbīn: 4 Stars! Very good. Wanted the story to continue...
04. The Indifference Engine: 4.5 Stars! Fuuuuuuuuck! That was some crazy shit. Really makes you think.
05. The Sea of Trees: 2.5 Stars. It was alright. Not too bad. Not too great though either though. Also kind of weird.
06. Endoastronomy: 2 Stars. Not sure I really understood much of this one. It’s too deep for me.
07. In Plain Sight: 1 Star. I don’t even know what I just read. Didn’t understand the characters, the timeline, or the story. And I don’t believe there was any resolution.
08. Golden Bread: 4 Stars! Finally another really good story after a string of weak ones. While not epic, it was certainly enjoyable.
09. One Breath, One Stroke: 2.25 Stars. What the fuck was that? I don’t know. It was weird and hard to follow. But also surprisingly not as bad as some of the other stories.
10. Whale Meat: 3.75 Stars! It was good and probably would’ve been great if it were longer.
11. Mountain People, Ocean People: 4.5 Stars! I really loved this one. Very heartfelt and imaginative.
12. Goddess of Mercy: 3.5 Stars. It was very good and building up a lot of tension. And then it just kind of ended with no resolution.
13. Autogenic Dreaming: Interview with the Columns of Clouds: 1.5 Stars. Didn’t understand it at all. Went right over my head.
01. Mono no Aware: 5 Stars! So great and emotional and heroic! Just fantastic! Wish it was a full length novel.
02. The Sound of Breaking Up: 3.5 Stars. Good but probably didn’t grasp everything completely. Needed more elaboration.
03. Chitai Heiki Koronbīn: 4 Stars! Very good. Wanted the story to continue...
04. The Indifference Engine: 4.5 Stars! Fuuuuuuuuck! That was some crazy shit. Really makes you think.
05. The Sea of Trees: 2.5 Stars. It was alright. Not too bad. Not too great though either though. Also kind of weird.
06. Endoastronomy: 2 Stars. Not sure I really understood much of this one. It’s too deep for me.
07. In Plain Sight: 1 Star. I don’t even know what I just read. Didn’t understand the characters, the timeline, or the story. And I don’t believe there was any resolution.
08. Golden Bread: 4 Stars! Finally another really good story after a string of weak ones. While not epic, it was certainly enjoyable.
09. One Breath, One Stroke: 2.25 Stars. What the fuck was that? I don’t know. It was weird and hard to follow. But also surprisingly not as bad as some of the other stories.
10. Whale Meat: 3.75 Stars! It was good and probably would’ve been great if it were longer.
11. Mountain People, Ocean People: 4.5 Stars! I really loved this one. Very heartfelt and imaginative.
12. Goddess of Mercy: 3.5 Stars. It was very good and building up a lot of tension. And then it just kind of ended with no resolution.
13. Autogenic Dreaming: Interview with the Columns of Clouds: 1.5 Stars. Didn’t understand it at all. Went right over my head.
hcube3's review against another edition
3.0
favourites were Mono no Aware, Golden Bread and One Breath, One Stroke. Especially Golden Bread. I felt like most of the other ones were so-so, but maybe just because I read them too fast and I missed out on the deep stuff.
parnassusreads's review against another edition
4.0
This would be more of a 3.5 star book because it's fairly uneven. Some of the stories are excellent, others not so much. Full review later, but I'd like to mention that Catherynne Valente's contribution, One Breath, One Stroke, was very, very good.
jokoloyo's review against another edition
4.0
I thank Althea Ann for her review that introduce me to this work.
The plot is about sacrifice and prioritize the welfare of many/society above the welfare of an individual. The beautiful part is the flashback, and some Japanese/Chinese philosophy for literary storytelling.
PS: I read this story on the same day as [b:If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love|23522129|If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love|Rachel Swirsky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1415588875s/23522129.jpg|43125228] and can't help comparing these two stories. At the first read, the plot, emotion, and idea of Mono no Aware is superior. But when I read the "If You..." the second time, I see "If You..." has better re-read value than "Mono no Aware".
The plot is about sacrifice and prioritize the welfare of many/society above the welfare of an individual. The beautiful part is the flashback
Spoiler
to justify why the protagonist choose to self sacrificePS: I read this story on the same day as [b:If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love|23522129|If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love|Rachel Swirsky|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1415588875s/23522129.jpg|43125228] and can't help comparing these two stories. At the first read, the plot, emotion, and idea of Mono no Aware is superior. But when I read the "If You..." the second time, I see "If You..." has better re-read value than "Mono no Aware".
mandarinmarie's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not crazy about sets of short stories so I didn't finish this book, but the very first story is AMAZING and the rest were pretty solid.