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claudiap's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
librarianmage's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Body horror
entazis's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
I was struggling how to rate this because while there where some truly great stories, there were also some weak ones. But there were some really interesting ideas and the stories that I liked were really strong, so I think it's fair to give it 4, rather then 3.
This is really an interesting anthology having everything from more grounded sci-fi close to us, to the full blown technological dystopias, space travel and hard sci-fi. So it gives us an awesome mix of different subgenres, and I think everyone will find something that they'll like here.
Also, it reminded me how relaxing it can be to read short stories. I was reading this slowly, while taking break from other stuff, really savoring it.
My personal favorite is definitely Agoli. The style of this story, which was a second person narration, resembled oral narration, and the rhythm of it made me read it in one breath, fully focused and amazed. It was so heartfelt and emotional, I really felt it and it's the story that really stayed engraved in my brain after reading it. I almost cried and I wanted to call my own grandma in that moment, but it was late in the night.
Yat Madid was also a great story, giving us interesting personal dilemma and a family drama. Also very emotional, very hard, and the sci-fi aspect, while having technology based on what we already have just more complex, was really interesting.
Another favorites were Behind our Irises and Fruit of the Calabash. First is a chilling dystopian story, almost a horror story. It really explores and expands on the idea of corporate slavery. Checking other reviews for this book, I see that most people didn't like Fruit of the Calabash but I thought it was very interesting and I liked it a lot. Also a dystopian future, where women are infertile, with a woman scientist who "grows" babies in lab as a protagonist. This is always an interesting topic, and I liked how the writer Rafeeat Aliyu explored it, mixing fantastical with scientifical. The only problem I had was that the way it was written opened too many interesting plots that would make story easily a novella, so the ending was sort of rushed.
Which is actually a problem that I feel other stories I didn't like a lot, also had. So many interesting ideas presented in short form. And it doesn't always work. Making the narration clunky in some parts. I really think some stories would be much better if they were longer, if they had more space to expand.
This book is available for free and I hope more people will give it a chance.
This is really an interesting anthology having everything from more grounded sci-fi close to us, to the full blown technological dystopias, space travel and hard sci-fi. So it gives us an awesome mix of different subgenres, and I think everyone will find something that they'll like here.
Also, it reminded me how relaxing it can be to read short stories. I was reading this slowly, while taking break from other stuff, really savoring it.
My personal favorite is definitely Agoli. The style of this story, which was a second person narration, resembled oral narration, and the rhythm of it made me read it in one breath, fully focused and amazed. It was so heartfelt and emotional, I really felt it and it's the story that really stayed engraved in my brain after reading it. I almost cried and I wanted to call my own grandma in that moment, but it was late in the night.
Yat Madid was also a great story, giving us interesting personal dilemma and a family drama. Also very emotional, very hard, and the sci-fi aspect, while having technology based on what we already have just more complex, was really interesting.
Another favorites were Behind our Irises and Fruit of the Calabash. First is a chilling dystopian story, almost a horror story. It really explores and expands on the idea of corporate slavery. Checking other reviews for this book, I see that most people didn't like Fruit of the Calabash but I thought it was very interesting and I liked it a lot. Also a dystopian future, where women are infertile, with a woman scientist who "grows" babies in lab as a protagonist. This is always an interesting topic, and I liked how the writer Rafeeat Aliyu explored it, mixing fantastical with scientifical. The only problem I had was that the way it was written opened too many interesting plots that would make story easily a novella, so the ending was sort of rushed.
Which is actually a problem that I feel other stories I didn't like a lot, also had. So many interesting ideas presented in short form. And it doesn't always work. Making the narration clunky in some parts. I really think some stories would be much better if they were longer, if they had more space to expand.
This book is available for free and I hope more people will give it a chance.
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