Scan barcode
reuben_books's review against another edition
adventurous
3.5
When I picked this collection up, I didn't realise it was an anthology of novellas from already established worlds. I was worried I wouldn't understand a lot of the novellas without the context of the full series, but bar one (and two I didn't finish) each story was well rounded and made sense by itself.
I had a good time reading this, and it's given me a lot of new series to dig my teeth into after being in their worlds for a brief amount of time.
The 3.5 star rating is an average of my individual ratings for each novella. My thoughts on each of the 11 novellas are as follows:
Old Music and the Slave Women
Ursula K. Le Guin
4.5 stars
This is such different writing from Le Guin's fantasy, it felt like it was written by a different person!
It was an interesting story, and has definitely made me intrigued to read the series.
A Separate War
Joe Haldeman
5 stars
This has a really interesting premise and was compulsively readable, especially for an 'older' sci-fi. SO GOOD. Will definitely give the series a go.
Investment Counselor
Orson Scott Card
4.75 stars
A nice little story, I definitely want to read the series.
Temptation
David Brin
5 stars
A very cool concept and some interesting writing techniques. Definitely reading the series.
Getting to Know the Dragon
Robert Silverberg
DNF
This is not sci-fi at all, it's historical fiction? Yes, a different history than what happened, but not sci-fi??? I was not interested at all. It feels really out of place in this collection.
The Orphans of the Helix
Dan Simmons
DNF
I already felt weird vibes from the intro to the story. A guy gets involved with someone he was close to when she was a child and he was a fully grown adult (yes, time skips happened, but still suspicious)...
The writing is pretty pretentious with unnecessarily long sentences that are almost impossible for me to follow. There's also a ridiculously stupid amount of tech jargon that completely destroys the throughline of the story, and just seems like Simmons trying to show off his massive intellect.
Also, the story itself (different coloured armbands for different personalities/genetic training) is SO boring.
I was not interested and actively annoyed by this story.
Sleeping Dogs
Nancy Kress
3.5 stars
This world definitely has interesting concepts, but I wasn't wowed by this particular story. I would be interested to give the series a go.
My biggest gripe with it was that a lot of the story hinges on a dog accidentally killing a kid who interrupted its eating/tried to take food away. It's presented as this obscene thing that only happened because the dog was genetically modified, when in actual fact this is something that has a 100% possibility of happening with 'normal' dogs. Dogs can be very possessive of food, and can return to violent animal instincts easily if someone tries to take it away. Of course a two year old could get seriously hurt and maybe even killed by a dog lashing out in this way. This made the main character’s motivations seem really weak to me, and I couldn't connect to the story properly.
The Boy Who Would Live Forever
Frederik Pohl
4.75 stars
I didn't love that everything in Estrella's life revolved around sex, but apart from that, this was a great story. I definitely want to try the series.
A Hunger for the Infinite
Gregory Benford
4.25 stars
The writing was a little too flowery and tech heavy for me to fully get into this as a novella, but I think I could get more immersed in a full-length novel. The bits with 'the harvested' were amazingly disturbing. I'd give the series a go.
The Ship Who Returned
Anne McCaffrey
5 stars
This was compelling readable with ship loads of humanity. Loved it. Yes please to the series.
The Way of All Ghosts
Greg Bear
2 stars
This was a really confusing read. I couldn't tell if I was not meant to understand everything, or I just wasn't getting it.
I think this story suffers from not being able to stand on its own, which I haven't found with any of the other novellas in this collection. Such complex ideas need better description and more time. The concept of the world is confusing enough without thorough explanation, and then Bear adds more complicated theories on top of that... I struggled to get a grasp on anything. It felt sporadic and half finished.
The latter half of this novella was actual and utter nonsense. And what was with the random Buddha reference at the end after no other mention of religion throughout??
I'm not very motivated to want to read the series after this, but may give it a try at some point to see if the longer format helps me understand things more.
I had a good time reading this, and it's given me a lot of new series to dig my teeth into after being in their worlds for a brief amount of time.
The 3.5 star rating is an average of my individual ratings for each novella. My thoughts on each of the 11 novellas are as follows:
Old Music and the Slave Women
Ursula K. Le Guin
4.5 stars
This is such different writing from Le Guin's fantasy, it felt like it was written by a different person!
It was an interesting story, and has definitely made me intrigued to read the series.
A Separate War
Joe Haldeman
5 stars
This has a really interesting premise and was compulsively readable, especially for an 'older' sci-fi. SO GOOD. Will definitely give the series a go.
Investment Counselor
Orson Scott Card
4.75 stars
A nice little story, I definitely want to read the series.
Temptation
David Brin
5 stars
A very cool concept and some interesting writing techniques. Definitely reading the series.
Getting to Know the Dragon
Robert Silverberg
DNF
This is not sci-fi at all, it's historical fiction? Yes, a different history than what happened, but not sci-fi??? I was not interested at all. It feels really out of place in this collection.
The Orphans of the Helix
Dan Simmons
DNF
I already felt weird vibes from the intro to the story. A guy gets involved with someone he was close to when she was a child and he was a fully grown adult (yes, time skips happened, but still suspicious)...
The writing is pretty pretentious with unnecessarily long sentences that are almost impossible for me to follow. There's also a ridiculously stupid amount of tech jargon that completely destroys the throughline of the story, and just seems like Simmons trying to show off his massive intellect.
Also, the story itself (different coloured armbands for different personalities/genetic training) is SO boring.
I was not interested and actively annoyed by this story.
Sleeping Dogs
Nancy Kress
3.5 stars
This world definitely has interesting concepts, but I wasn't wowed by this particular story. I would be interested to give the series a go.
My biggest gripe with it was that a lot of the story hinges on a dog accidentally killing a kid who interrupted its eating/tried to take food away. It's presented as this obscene thing that only happened because the dog was genetically modified, when in actual fact this is something that has a 100% possibility of happening with 'normal' dogs. Dogs can be very possessive of food, and can return to violent animal instincts easily if someone tries to take it away. Of course a two year old could get seriously hurt and maybe even killed by a dog lashing out in this way. This made the main character’s motivations seem really weak to me, and I couldn't connect to the story properly.
The Boy Who Would Live Forever
Frederik Pohl
4.75 stars
I didn't love that everything in Estrella's life revolved around sex, but apart from that, this was a great story. I definitely want to try the series.
A Hunger for the Infinite
Gregory Benford
4.25 stars
The writing was a little too flowery and tech heavy for me to fully get into this as a novella, but I think I could get more immersed in a full-length novel. The bits with 'the harvested' were amazingly disturbing. I'd give the series a go.
The Ship Who Returned
Anne McCaffrey
5 stars
This was compelling readable with ship loads of humanity. Loved it. Yes please to the series.
The Way of All Ghosts
Greg Bear
2 stars
This was a really confusing read. I couldn't tell if I was not meant to understand everything, or I just wasn't getting it.
I think this story suffers from not being able to stand on its own, which I haven't found with any of the other novellas in this collection. Such complex ideas need better description and more time. The concept of the world is confusing enough without thorough explanation, and then Bear adds more complicated theories on top of that... I struggled to get a grasp on anything. It felt sporadic and half finished.
The latter half of this novella was actual and utter nonsense. And what was with the random Buddha reference at the end after no other mention of religion throughout??
I'm not very motivated to want to read the series after this, but may give it a try at some point to see if the longer format helps me understand things more.
pussreboots's review against another edition
3.0
Far Horizons will be most interesting to fans of certain series. Unfortunately the only series in the lot that I am familiar with is the Ursula K. Le Guin story ("Old Music and the Slave Woman" from the Ekumen books) and even it fell short of expectations.
The other stories included are:
2) "A Separate War" by Joe Halderman (an author I haven't read before). This story is a parallel story to his novel The Forever War. It covers the theme of the military being the lesser of the two evils after a lifetime of fighting and finding one's home country changed so much as to be unrecognizable and unfriendly.
3) "Investment Counselor" which is part of the Ender Series by Orson Scott Card. This story covers how Ender and Jane met. since I've not read any of the Ender series, the story didn't hold my attention.
4) "Tempation" is story based in the Uplift Universe created by David Brin. My husband likes this series a lot more than I did.
5) "Getting to Know the Dragon" I had hoped to enjoy but I wasn't in the mood for an alternate history story that brings the Roman Empire (minus Christianity) into the present.
6) Orphans of the Helix by Dan Simmons is part of the Hyperion universe.
7) "Sleeping Dogs" by Nancy Kress contiues to explore the aftermath of making a generation of people who don't need to sleep.
8) "The Boy Who Would Live Forever" by Frederick Pohl is another story of the Heechee.
9) "The Ship that Returned" is a short story in my least favorite of Anne McCaffrey's series.
10) "The Way of all the Ghosts" by Greg Bear rounds out the book.
The other stories included are:
2) "A Separate War" by Joe Halderman (an author I haven't read before). This story is a parallel story to his novel The Forever War. It covers the theme of the military being the lesser of the two evils after a lifetime of fighting and finding one's home country changed so much as to be unrecognizable and unfriendly.
3) "Investment Counselor" which is part of the Ender Series by Orson Scott Card. This story covers how Ender and Jane met. since I've not read any of the Ender series, the story didn't hold my attention.
4) "Tempation" is story based in the Uplift Universe created by David Brin. My husband likes this series a lot more than I did.
5) "Getting to Know the Dragon" I had hoped to enjoy but I wasn't in the mood for an alternate history story that brings the Roman Empire (minus Christianity) into the present.
6) Orphans of the Helix by Dan Simmons is part of the Hyperion universe.
7) "Sleeping Dogs" by Nancy Kress contiues to explore the aftermath of making a generation of people who don't need to sleep.
8) "The Boy Who Would Live Forever" by Frederick Pohl is another story of the Heechee.
9) "The Ship that Returned" is a short story in my least favorite of Anne McCaffrey's series.
10) "The Way of all the Ghosts" by Greg Bear rounds out the book.
nicholasbobbitt1997's review
3.0
While I enjoyed all of these stories, I don't have the background in any of the worlds but Orson Scott Card's to truly really like any of the other stories.
More...