Reviews

Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction by Joshua Whitehead

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analenegrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense

4.0

The 4 results from my individual ratings of the nine stories divided by nine. Each of these stories is unique and encourages the reader to dig deeper into their understanding of the story. My favorite was story 6, "Story for a Bottle." Below are my short reviews of each story!

4. I struggle with human-AI/Robot relationships because I don’t really believe AI can ever live to the extent of a human, but this story was super cute when I suspended my disbelief!
4.5. This one was beautiful, with a twist often missed in utopian stories: what staying in your home means in the face of disaster and what home truly is.
3.75. The writing of this story was very beautiful, and I liked so much of it, but I had to reread sections multiple times, and I was a little confused by the ending because it seems like the character just accepted that they killed Earth by leaving.
4.5. This expanded would be such a good YA novel! I really enjoyed the way the MC learned as we did and how her world was revealed to us. I would love to see where her story goes!
4. This was a really compelling story with a supernatural way to keep stories alive in the face of those who try to erase them, as well as a love story full of yearning.
4.75. This is a super fun story told in an epistolary format. Our MC is kidnapped by an AI on an old city ship. It really examines what different types of people are willing to do to survive in an interesting environment, which raises a lot of questions.
3.5. This was a short one, but again, AI as people is hard for me, although this one does establish that they are created from their tribe’s minds. But still, AI and Robots don’t really work for me.
3. I have to admit I was very confused by this one! It started out making a lot of sense, but then the ending really lost me. However, the writing was gorgeous!
4.25. This was a really cute and interesting one. It features a VR reality that lets people escape their lives and decades in minutes, including forgetting, which our MC tries to stop a girl interested in her from doing. It really shows how people will turn to tech rather than others in their lives.

“For, as we know, we have already survived the apocalypse- this, right here, right now, is a dystopian present. What better way to imagine survivability than to think about how we may flourish into being joyously animated rather than merely alive?”

maiyabeille's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

fionacashell's review against another edition

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5.0

The sheer diversity of settings and stories within this niche collection is fantastic. In addition to being great queer sci-fi stories, the works challenge norms of conquest and colonization that are so engrained in mainstream science fiction. I would have happily read more of any of these stories, and think they would make a great anthology TV series. I will definitely make note of the authors in this anthology and seek out their work in the future.

hannahfication's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

smelllikefish23's review against another edition

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my life is a disaster (plus im bad with ebooks)

allyg_10's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

soggycedar's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

shells_bells's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

alanahcw's review

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5.0

I really enjoyed these stories, and will be looking for more from these authors!

I have to note: Story for a Bottle by Darcie Little Badger is similar to the new Fallout show; timely that I read this at the same time as watching

Content Warnings

candelibri's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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