Reviews

A Science Fiction Omnibus by Brian W. Aldiss

tedva's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Except for the final story, this was a fantastic and inspiring read

jonathanpalfrey's review

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3.0

This is a revised version of [b:The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus|43816103|The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus|Brian W. Aldiss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549138322l/43816103._SY75_.jpg|68181890]. For this edition, Brian Aldiss chose to delete 15 old stories and add 10 new ones—and I suppose I might have done much the same, given the opportunity, but I'd have made very different choices!

There are now 31 stories in this revised collection, including 5 of my old favourites while deleting 4 of them. Some of the old ones that he chose to keep are ones that I don't particularly value; and I don't enjoy reading any of the new ones as stories, although a few of them are conceptually interesting.

So, this collection subtracts value from the old collection, and adds very little. I bought the Kindle version because I wanted it on Kindle, but now I have to hang on to my battered 1974 copy of the old collection. To add insult to injury, the Kindle version is missing two pages of text from A. E. van Vogt's story "Fulfilment".

However, if you don't have the old collection and can't find a copy of it anywhere, this revised version still contains a handful of decent stories; and maybe you'll like the new ones better than I do. Taste in fiction is very personal.

nipqueen's review

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reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.25

chaoticbibliophile's review

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There are some real hits here, but also waaaay too many misses. After "Story of your Life" (which was a reread, and I still believe it's great), I thought it was best to quit while ahead.

lordofthemoon's review

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4.0

This volume collects two earlier Penguin SF collections from the 50s and 60s and is a pretty mammoth affair, coming to over 600 pages and containing 36 stories. Given the time period that the stories were written in (mostly the 1950s, with some outliers in the decade either side), some inevitable themes arise. These are primarily concerned with nuclear apocalypse and 'Reds under the bed' type allegories.

There are some great stories here and very few misses. [a:Isaac Asimov|16667|Isaac Asimov|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1341965730p2/16667.jpg]'s Nightfall is welcome at any time and William Tell's Eastward Ho! is a nice reversal of the conquest of America. I'm not necessarily a fan of John Steinbeck, but his The Short-Short Story of Mankind is excellent while Howard Fast's The First Men is a nice übermensch story in the vein of [a:Olaf Stapledon|64177|Olaf Stapledon|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1277189498p2/64177.jpg].

That's just a brief skim through the selection. As I say, there are very few misses, so this is worth a read if you're a fan of Golden and Silver Age SF, or even if you're just curious about the history of the genre.
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