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arachne_reads's review against another edition
5.0
This collection is solid, a well-chosen list of some of the best SF I've set my eyeballs on. I think it was a bold move to lead the collection with verse (Girl Hours), but it set the tone for some strange and delicious pieces.
One of the bigger threads throughout many of the selected stories is the question of what happens to one's society and the culturally constructed self in the face of the colonial entity, the power which strips bare and forces new norms. The answers vary, each holding up a new facet when that thread reappears. And not all the works explore those waters. I think as a reader, this is what my antennae are extended to listen for, and so when I find such a rich array of them, that is where I am.
I have come away with some new favorite authors, and I must go inhale all the work in translation that I can find of Hao Jingfang, I have to roll around in Nnedi Okorafor (how, how have I not approached her work before? It was everywhere around me, and yet other things have just always risen to the top of my reading list), and devour all the fiction of E. Lily Yu.
One of the bigger threads throughout many of the selected stories is the question of what happens to one's society and the culturally constructed self in the face of the colonial entity, the power which strips bare and forces new norms. The answers vary, each holding up a new facet when that thread reappears. And not all the works explore those waters. I think as a reader, this is what my antennae are extended to listen for, and so when I find such a rich array of them, that is where I am.
I have come away with some new favorite authors, and I must go inhale all the work in translation that I can find of Hao Jingfang, I have to roll around in Nnedi Okorafor (how, how have I not approached her work before? It was everywhere around me, and yet other things have just always risen to the top of my reading list), and devour all the fiction of E. Lily Yu.
craftwitch's review
5.0
cross posted from fox and fiction
i read a review for another mammoth short story collection where someone complained that the book was filled with too much estrogen. being such a blatant misogynist must be terrible because they are missing out on gems like this. not only is it filled with stories by authors i love, but it introduced me to a whole new flock of women writers that i can't wait to read more of. the best part is that so many of the stories were about women loving women- that's entirely the content i am here for. science fiction lesbians. i know this book is mammoth but i wish it was longer.
i read a review for another mammoth short story collection where someone complained that the book was filled with too much estrogen. being such a blatant misogynist must be terrible because they are missing out on gems like this. not only is it filled with stories by authors i love, but it introduced me to a whole new flock of women writers that i can't wait to read more of. the best part is that so many of the stories were about women loving women- that's entirely the content i am here for. science fiction lesbians. i know this book is mammoth but i wish it was longer.
savaging's review
5.0
This book has an awkward title and a cover with a sexy lady...beheading a robot? There is absolutely no reason for this to be a good book. They could have sold as many copies just mashing together some mediocre stories. That seems to be what the marketing arm thought this was.
And yet. It is magnificent. It is a superb collection. Alex Dally MacFarlane found some of the most exquisite stories, all of them resonating with each other, reweaving questions of gender and race and culture and the future. Read about communist vampires in the Philippines, oil pipelines guarded by sensitive spider-robots in Nigeria, Yoruban myth-monsters, anarchist bees in China, and Black space-colonies curing disease by connecting to ancestral funk musicians.
The standard thing to say about anthologies is that they are 'uneven.' What surprises me about this one is how consistently fantastic it is.
Also: so many lesbians! Highly recommend.
And yet. It is magnificent. It is a superb collection. Alex Dally MacFarlane found some of the most exquisite stories, all of them resonating with each other, reweaving questions of gender and race and culture and the future. Read about communist vampires in the Philippines, oil pipelines guarded by sensitive spider-robots in Nigeria, Yoruban myth-monsters, anarchist bees in China, and Black space-colonies curing disease by connecting to ancestral funk musicians.
The standard thing to say about anthologies is that they are 'uneven.' What surprises me about this one is how consistently fantastic it is.
Also: so many lesbians! Highly recommend.
caramm's review
5.0
As with all anthologies, the breadth of works here means different pieces will hit different readers in different ways. There were certainly stories in here that I preferred to others, but on the whole, I felt like this was a really strong collection. Highly recommend.
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