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tikimoof's review
Largely underwhelming.
One bias against the authors is that I had just read several of the 2019 Hugo nominees for Short Story, and these stories didn't measure up in comparison. It wasn't really the authors' fault (there's certainly nothing they could have done to fix it), but it was definitely a factor.
The Broken Man by Jane O'Reilly: I didn't feel an emotional connection with the characters, didn't really care about the revolution.
Space Rocks by Kerry Buchanan: Characters seemed realer than in the Broken Man, but I didn't understand why quarantine seemed like a death threat, and I didn't understand the threat introduced at the end. Maybe I need to read more Norse mythology?
The Ice Man by Rose Oliver: An interesting idea, but the sympathetic characters seemed...choppy. And I didn't understand the full depth of why some of the sympathetic characters were so helpful.
Holo-Sweet by E. J. Tett: I guess it got the point across, maybe just too mundane to interest me.
A Cold Night in H3-II by Juliana Spink Mills: the best one yet. The only part I didn't understand is why they were so cut off. I guess the answer was implied by the end?
The Colour of Silence by Damaris Browne: President's wife felt really cliched. Hard to keep speakers straight in dialogue. Maybe it would be more emotional if I had children?
My Little Mecha by Shellie Horst: It was fine.
Ab Initio by Susan Boulton: I had more grammar problems here than other stories. The tense shifting really got to me, too. Author also doesn't know how whiskey ages. I did not enjoy Trent's POV.
The Shadows Are Us and They Are the Shadows by Jo Zebedee: Kinda like Horizon Zero Dawn and WALL-E. Seemed like a slight slavery aspect of it too, but I didn't really see the point of the ending.
Interesting that all of the beginning stories had female POVs, and it was all non-female POVs by the end.
Additionally, a Kindle mobile formatting issue: there are links to the new chapters/stories, but the title isn't given in the sidebar.
One bias against the authors is that I had just read several of the 2019 Hugo nominees for Short Story, and these stories didn't measure up in comparison. It wasn't really the authors' fault (there's certainly nothing they could have done to fix it), but it was definitely a factor.
The Broken Man by Jane O'Reilly: I didn't feel an emotional connection with the characters, didn't really care about the revolution.
Space Rocks by Kerry Buchanan: Characters seemed realer than in the Broken Man, but I didn't understand why quarantine seemed like a death threat, and I didn't understand the threat introduced at the end. Maybe I need to read more Norse mythology?
The Ice Man by Rose Oliver: An interesting idea, but the sympathetic characters seemed...choppy. And I didn't understand the full depth of why some of the sympathetic characters were so helpful.
Holo-Sweet by E. J. Tett: I guess it got the point across, maybe just too mundane to interest me.
A Cold Night in H3-II by Juliana Spink Mills: the best one yet. The only part I didn't understand is why they were so cut off. I guess the answer was implied by the end?
The Colour of Silence by Damaris Browne: President's wife felt really cliched. Hard to keep speakers straight in dialogue. Maybe it would be more emotional if I had children?
My Little Mecha by Shellie Horst: It was fine.
Ab Initio by Susan Boulton: I had more grammar problems here than other stories. The tense shifting really got to me, too. Author also doesn't know how whiskey ages. I did not enjoy Trent's POV.
The Shadows Are Us and They Are the Shadows by Jo Zebedee: Kinda like Horizon Zero Dawn and WALL-E. Seemed like a slight slavery aspect of it too, but I didn't really see the point of the ending.
Interesting that all of the beginning stories had female POVs, and it was all non-female POVs by the end.
Additionally, a Kindle mobile formatting issue: there are links to the new chapters/stories, but the title isn't given in the sidebar.
nwhyte's review
4.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3335331.html
A short collection of short stories by women, a number of which ended up on the BSFA long list last month, so I expected value for money - and got it. I must say the knockout story of the lot is co-editor Rosie Oliver's “The Ice Man”, which takes the Scandinavian noir sub-genre and adds a very well crafted sfnal tweak to it. But they were all good.
A short collection of short stories by women, a number of which ended up on the BSFA long list last month, so I expected value for money - and got it. I must say the knockout story of the lot is co-editor Rosie Oliver's “The Ice Man”, which takes the Scandinavian noir sub-genre and adds a very well crafted sfnal tweak to it. But they were all good.
borisignatievich's review
4.0
This was fun. A series of short sci fistories self published by a group of women who hung out on sffchronicles, (and seem to be predominantly from Yorkshire!). Personal faves were the broken man, Holo Sweet, and My Little Mecha, but I enjoyed all the stories tbh, no glaring weak spots even if I have a least fave.
Fully recommended
Fully recommended
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