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theultmtfangirl's review
3.0
Rating is the average of all the stories combined.
I genuinely enjoyed most of the stories in this, but the others were a bit of a drag. (Hence, the long time frame it took me to finish this book.
The stories I enjoyed the most, wanted more, and highly recommend are:
- A Field Guide to Roads of Manila
- Godfathers
- Notes on an Ascent
- City Crossing
I do have to say that while I took the time to ingest Dean Francis Alfar's writing style, the speculative fiction he wrote is delightful, morbid, and genuinely interesting.
TWs (trigger warning): rape, abuse, death (for different stories)
I genuinely enjoyed most of the stories in this, but the others were a bit of a drag. (Hence, the long time frame it took me to finish this book.
The stories I enjoyed the most, wanted more, and highly recommend are:
- A Field Guide to Roads of Manila
- Godfathers
- Notes on an Ascent
- City Crossing
I do have to say that while I took the time to ingest Dean Francis Alfar's writing style, the speculative fiction he wrote is delightful, morbid, and genuinely interesting.
TWs (trigger warning): rape, abuse, death (for different stories)
dee2799d's review
4.0
I always love reading Dean Alfar's short stories. I NEVER know what I'm gonna feel at the end of them (always satisfied, but whether I'd be sad or happy remains to be seen). So when I saw copies of this in the Book Fair, I knew I had to buy one. Even though I promised myself no new books until I've cleared my to-read pile.
Kinda nitpicky comment, but I do wish 'Goggles and Gloves' wasn't one of the stories near the end of the collection, though. Like, I have nothing against steampunk set in countries other than the British Empire (I used to be doubtful, but [a: Cherie Priest|221253|Cherie Priest|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1405811775p2/221253.jpg] crushed all those doubts to bits). Anyway, my problem with 'Googles and Gloves' isn't that it's steampunk (Christ, I'm excited to read a Filipino steampunk story), but because I felt it would work better as a novella or even a novel.
We get the island of Maharlika, a thriving place with booming trade, putting up a Shield when war broke out in order to repel the invaders. Men were needed to keep this Shield working, and so those who lost their jobs when Maharlika closed off its ports were forced to work underground as miners. So far, so good.
Why did I think it was weak (as a short story) then, and should probably be put in the middle of the book? Well, I was expecting someone from the story to wonder what the fuck the nobles (or whatever governing body Maharlika has) are doing overground, someone to express some doubt about the backbreaking dangerous job (and people DID indeed die), someone to question the status quo. But because there was a foreign invader, we forget the bad governing system and bad political decisions and choose to fight only to survive. It's a story of survival, but only that. I'd be happy to see more stories in this world.
In other news, 'Steps' is beautiful, unexpected, haunting, and made me cry. Easily my favourite in this collection.
Kinda nitpicky comment, but I do wish 'Goggles and Gloves' wasn't one of the stories near the end of the collection, though. Like, I have nothing against steampunk set in countries other than the British Empire (I used to be doubtful, but [a: Cherie Priest|221253|Cherie Priest|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1405811775p2/221253.jpg] crushed all those doubts to bits). Anyway, my problem with 'Googles and Gloves' isn't that it's steampunk (Christ, I'm excited to read a Filipino steampunk story), but because I felt it would work better as a novella or even a novel.
We get the island of Maharlika, a thriving place with booming trade, putting up a Shield when war broke out in order to repel the invaders. Men were needed to keep this Shield working, and so those who lost their jobs when Maharlika closed off its ports were forced to work underground as miners. So far, so good.
Why did I think it was weak (as a short story) then, and should probably be put in the middle of the book? Well, I was expecting someone from the story to wonder what the fuck the nobles (or whatever governing body Maharlika has) are doing overground, someone to express some doubt about the backbreaking dangerous job (and people DID indeed die), someone to question the status quo. But because there was a foreign invader, we forget the bad governing system and bad political decisions and choose to fight only to survive. It's a story of survival, but only that. I'd be happy to see more stories in this world.
In other news, 'Steps' is beautiful, unexpected, haunting, and made me cry. Easily my favourite in this collection.
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