Scan barcode
milos_dumbraci's review
3.0
A smart well mannered uprising of the dead – Ian McDonald – 1/5 uniteresting and I hated the disjointed narrative style
The incredible exploding man – Dave Hutchinson 3/5 well written and starts great but ends up underwhelming
Sweet spots – Paul di Filippo 1/5 seems written by a 14 yo boy, with 14 yo obsessions and sense of humour
The best science fiction of the year three – Ken MacLeod 5/5 nice alternate world with a smart twist; also, great to read in 2017 (it is about intellectuals having to flee US for Europe because of state censorship – did Macleod forsee Trump?)
The one that got away – Tricia Sullivan 2/5 too much, too weird, with a weak end
Rock day – Stephen Baxter 4/5, though rather unoriginal, a good old-school read still, with a not so surprising end twist, but satisfying
Eluna – Stephen Palmer 5/5 excellent alien-policier within a strange world
Shall I tell you the problem with time travel? - Adam Roberts 5/5 a good and original time travel story with 2 different surprising twists
The lives and deaths of Che Guevara - Lavie Tidhar 3/5 good writing, nice but not so original idea; rather repetitive though
Steel Lake – Jack Skillingstead 5/5 great clear fast moving writing, excellent touching (though not so scifi) story
Mooncakes – Mike Resnick and Laurie Tom 1/5 nothing much going on here, only the background is scifi-ish
At play in the fields – Steve Rasnic 4/5 well-written misterious postapocalyptic, but it turns away from the fascinating alien new world to not-so-fascinating memories
How we came back from Mars – Ian Watson 1/5 too much talk for too little (to none) idea; tries unsuccesfully to be funny
You never know – Pat Cadigan 1/5 also too many words for too little, I lost my interest really fast
Yestermorrow –Richard Salter 5/5 great time-jumping noir policier
Dreaming towers, Silent mansions – Jaine Fenn 3/5 good intriguing background, good build-up (a little slow), unexpected but rather lame and unconvincing explanation/ending
Eternity children - Keith Brooke and Eric Brown 5/5 wonderful old-school style story, with colonising a new world, slowly revealed, and strange natives, but also some lifestyle values
For the ages – Alastair Reynolds 2/5 less scifi story, more physics class, overlong and boring
Return of the mutant worms – Peter f Hamilton 1/5 where is the scifi? And it is supposed to be a funny story – but no laughter here
The incredible exploding man – Dave Hutchinson 3/5 well written and starts great but ends up underwhelming
Sweet spots – Paul di Filippo 1/5 seems written by a 14 yo boy, with 14 yo obsessions and sense of humour
The best science fiction of the year three – Ken MacLeod 5/5 nice alternate world with a smart twist; also, great to read in 2017 (it is about intellectuals having to flee US for Europe because of state censorship – did Macleod forsee Trump?)
The one that got away – Tricia Sullivan 2/5 too much, too weird, with a weak end
Rock day – Stephen Baxter 4/5, though rather unoriginal, a good old-school read still, with a not so surprising end twist, but satisfying
Eluna – Stephen Palmer 5/5 excellent alien-policier within a strange world
Shall I tell you the problem with time travel? - Adam Roberts 5/5 a good and original time travel story with 2 different surprising twists
The lives and deaths of Che Guevara - Lavie Tidhar 3/5 good writing, nice but not so original idea; rather repetitive though
Steel Lake – Jack Skillingstead 5/5 great clear fast moving writing, excellent touching (though not so scifi) story
Mooncakes – Mike Resnick and Laurie Tom 1/5 nothing much going on here, only the background is scifi-ish
At play in the fields – Steve Rasnic 4/5 well-written misterious postapocalyptic, but it turns away from the fascinating alien new world to not-so-fascinating memories
How we came back from Mars – Ian Watson 1/5 too much talk for too little (to none) idea; tries unsuccesfully to be funny
You never know – Pat Cadigan 1/5 also too many words for too little, I lost my interest really fast
Yestermorrow –Richard Salter 5/5 great time-jumping noir policier
Dreaming towers, Silent mansions – Jaine Fenn 3/5 good intriguing background, good build-up (a little slow), unexpected but rather lame and unconvincing explanation/ending
Eternity children - Keith Brooke and Eric Brown 5/5 wonderful old-school style story, with colonising a new world, slowly revealed, and strange natives, but also some lifestyle values
For the ages – Alastair Reynolds 2/5 less scifi story, more physics class, overlong and boring
Return of the mutant worms – Peter f Hamilton 1/5 where is the scifi? And it is supposed to be a funny story – but no laughter here
blkmymorris's review
3.0
Like it any anthology, it's hit and miss, but many of the ideas don't feel fully fleshed out, but the hits are delicious.
The first story by Paul Cornell reminded me that he wrote comics and why I don't usual read his stuff (except Young Avengers: Dark Reign). It was the usual Earth bound humans and their first (sexual) encounter with another species. it's a bit boring because it's pretty predictable and hetero-normative. The sex is described in an interesting way, but there's not much new or interesting in this story.
Next up is Nancy Kress with her usual dissect of how technology can be used to divide the haves and have-nots. This time it's personal, which makes it feel a bit thin and the end too vague and personal.
"Shall Inherit" is another cliche story about an ecological disaster leading to an Ark sent to space. The twist is that the Ark will be filled with autistic kids and it's from the perspective of the father of one of these kids. The best bit is the DJ/blogger/streamcast that serves as exposition. that was fun. The author handles voices of his characters very well.
"Feast and Famine" is the first piece of hard sci-fi and I enjoyed it greatly. a space crew examines another downed craft and see if it contacted life. It's suspenseful and nicely plotted. I felt the protagonists anxiety.
"Whatever Skin you Wear" was a sweet virtual reality type story involving a couple. It's actually one of the better stories on handling gender and identity.
"Pearl in the Shell" takes a look at music and copyright in the future. It's not my sort of thing, but it plays well with some neat ideas. It felt like a fully realized world, but I just wasn't invested in the characters or the world like I was with the story that preceded it.
"The Time Gun" is a fun time travel story. The end was a nice twist. It reminded me of Vonnegurt with the plot and the humor.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch is one of my favorite authors and this story just reminded me. It time travel as viewed by an academic who cares more about her research that the possible effects of viewing the past would have on history itself. the quotes and the last scenes are just wonderful. I can't say more without feeling like I would take away from the humor or the relationships and how they affect the outcome. I might be blathering.
"Bonds" might be the worst story in the book. It's more like a giant outline of book. There's only a few scenes. It's more about the idea of the story than actually events and how it affects people and their lives. It went beyond being predictable and was more like reading the author work out a rant with vague characters.
"Ticking" was predictable, too, but the characters were fun. The voice of the characters weren't as clear, but it was your usual story of technology turning on humanity and a small band of survivors with a few that have useful skills.
"Before Hope" was another story that threw you into a dystopian future in space amidst a workers rebelling against the upper class. It was a fully realized world that I wouldn't mind visiting in a full novel.
Kay Kenyon does sort of the same thing in "The Spires of Greme" without the class conflict. It's a dystoopian America and the rebellion is barely that. By the time the story ended I wanted more of the last characters standing. The description of the land and events were evocative and beautiful.
"Manmade" by Mercurio D. Rivera was beautiful for the exploration of humanity and what it means even at its worst. There were a lot of directions that story could have gone in and I was delightful surprised in how he structured this relatable world and the plot.
Martin Sketchley's "Circle of Least Confusion" was one of the collection's hopeful stories. It takes a simple and familiar sci-fi idea of an alien artifact and how it affect as couple who finds it and makes a sweet little story.
"Far Distant Suns" is a hard sci-fi story of witnessing a sun rise on an alien planet. A solid story despite barely having no characters and no dialogue.
"The Lighthouse" feels like it was cobbled together from parts of other stories. It's complete but It left me cold. I'm not sure why. Mayeb because I found the ending cliche despite the story''s lovely language.
Martin McGrath's "The Last Dance" is the other hopeful story. It has a tinge of dystopia, but it's focus is on relationships and it's a small beautiful story.
"Still Life with a Skull" was an interesting concept and I love the images presenting in the story, but I'm not sure what happened. I loved the frequent use of gender neutral pronouns, like hir and se.
Vandana Singh's "With Fate Conspire" was an interesting a beautiful story. I want to read more by her. I could go on and on about the themes and the language and the characters, but
The first story by Paul Cornell reminded me that he wrote comics and why I don't usual read his stuff (except Young Avengers: Dark Reign). It was the usual Earth bound humans and their first (sexual) encounter with another species. it's a bit boring because it's pretty predictable and hetero-normative. The sex is described in an interesting way, but there's not much new or interesting in this story.
Next up is Nancy Kress with her usual dissect of how technology can be used to divide the haves and have-nots. This time it's personal, which makes it feel a bit thin and the end too vague and personal.
"Shall Inherit" is another cliche story about an ecological disaster leading to an Ark sent to space. The twist is that the Ark will be filled with autistic kids and it's from the perspective of the father of one of these kids. The best bit is the DJ/blogger/streamcast that serves as exposition. that was fun. The author handles voices of his characters very well.
"Feast and Famine" is the first piece of hard sci-fi and I enjoyed it greatly. a space crew examines another downed craft and see if it contacted life. It's suspenseful and nicely plotted. I felt the protagonists anxiety.
"Whatever Skin you Wear" was a sweet virtual reality type story involving a couple. It's actually one of the better stories on handling gender and identity.
"Pearl in the Shell" takes a look at music and copyright in the future. It's not my sort of thing, but it plays well with some neat ideas. It felt like a fully realized world, but I just wasn't invested in the characters or the world like I was with the story that preceded it.
"The Time Gun" is a fun time travel story. The end was a nice twist. It reminded me of Vonnegurt with the plot and the humor.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch is one of my favorite authors and this story just reminded me. It time travel as viewed by an academic who cares more about her research that the possible effects of viewing the past would have on history itself. the quotes and the last scenes are just wonderful. I can't say more without feeling like I would take away from the humor or the relationships and how they affect the outcome. I might be blathering.
"Bonds" might be the worst story in the book. It's more like a giant outline of book. There's only a few scenes. It's more about the idea of the story than actually events and how it affects people and their lives. It went beyond being predictable and was more like reading the author work out a rant with vague characters.
"Ticking" was predictable, too, but the characters were fun. The voice of the characters weren't as clear, but it was your usual story of technology turning on humanity and a small band of survivors with a few that have useful skills.
"Before Hope" was another story that threw you into a dystopian future in space amidst a workers rebelling against the upper class. It was a fully realized world that I wouldn't mind visiting in a full novel.
Kay Kenyon does sort of the same thing in "The Spires of Greme" without the class conflict. It's a dystoopian America and the rebellion is barely that. By the time the story ended I wanted more of the last characters standing. The description of the land and events were evocative and beautiful.
"Manmade" by Mercurio D. Rivera was beautiful for the exploration of humanity and what it means even at its worst. There were a lot of directions that story could have gone in and I was delightful surprised in how he structured this relatable world and the plot.
Martin Sketchley's "Circle of Least Confusion" was one of the collection's hopeful stories. It takes a simple and familiar sci-fi idea of an alien artifact and how it affect as couple who finds it and makes a sweet little story.
"Far Distant Suns" is a hard sci-fi story of witnessing a sun rise on an alien planet. A solid story despite barely having no characters and no dialogue.
"The Lighthouse" feels like it was cobbled together from parts of other stories. It's complete but It left me cold. I'm not sure why. Mayeb because I found the ending cliche despite the story''s lovely language.
Martin McGrath's "The Last Dance" is the other hopeful story. It has a tinge of dystopia, but it's focus is on relationships and it's a small beautiful story.
"Still Life with a Skull" was an interesting concept and I love the images presenting in the story, but I'm not sure what happened. I loved the frequent use of gender neutral pronouns, like hir and se.
Vandana Singh's "With Fate Conspire" was an interesting a beautiful story. I want to read more by her. I could go on and on about the themes and the language and the characters, but
tiredtank's review
4.0
I was pleasantly surprised by how many of the stories I liked, it's usually a more even division of hit and miss. I think the diversity of themes being addressed helped to keep each story feeling fresh
More...