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firstbornofgwyn's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
shawniebooks's review against another edition
4.0
As always with a collection, I enjoyed some very much and some not so much. Most were good!
xonrad's review against another edition
2.0
Some interesting shorts, some average and kind of forgettable shorts... and a couple of extremely annoying and cringe worthy shorts.
A very odd, and unbalanced (in terms of quality) collation of tales.
A very odd, and unbalanced (in terms of quality) collation of tales.
tsharris's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent collection of post-apocalyptic fiction. Memorable stories by George R.R. Martin, Junot Diaz, others. Deserves at least four stars just for including David Brin's "The Postman," the story that was later expanded into the novel by the same way, which is probably the best-written post-apocalyptic fiction ever. The quality of the writing here is simply better than some of Adams' other edited volumes.
rcthomas's review against another edition
3.0
Overall I really liked this collection of apocalyptic stories. There were several stories that really tried my patience, particularly one about two hyper-vapid Millennial bloggers who are so god awful that, in the midst of the end of the world, they take the time to express jealousy over the amount of traffic each of their blogs is getting! I'm not sure if this is meant as satire, and I can't tell if that would make it better or worse. Like most anthologies though, there are great stories to balance out the bad, particularly the final story that is told through the media of a wikipedia page accompanied by interviews and excerpts from books and articles about the subject of the wikipedia page.
Overall, it was a good collection of stories to spend the day reading. Some are thought provoking and some you'll probably forget quickly, but almost all enjoyable to some degree.
Overall, it was a good collection of stories to spend the day reading. Some are thought provoking and some you'll probably forget quickly, but almost all enjoyable to some degree.
sleepyboi2988's review
4.0
Yet another solid collection of post apocalyptic short stories from JJJ. While the first anthology was dark with a hopeful bent overall this one took a decidedly bleaker look at the end of things as we know it. There's some very unique takes in this collection which I really appreciated, whether the uniqueness was in how the story was conveyed or the content itself.
In taking a more final dark look at the subject I found myself on more of an introspective journey than before. What is the draw of such writing for me? Unlike most horror I consider a lot of these themes to be in the realm of possibility. So there's that slight endorphin hit of reality coupled with the fiction, that quiet reminder that should this planet go belly up most of us, myself included, will be scythed blood wheat before the Reaper despite the stories Hollywood feeds us.
Do I hope for these themes to happen? Absolutely not, but one can't help but feel a bit like playing with fire when reading this finely curated collection.
In taking a more final dark look at the subject I found myself on more of an introspective journey than before. What is the draw of such writing for me? Unlike most horror I consider a lot of these themes to be in the realm of possibility. So there's that slight endorphin hit of reality coupled with the fiction, that quiet reminder that should this planet go belly up most of us, myself included, will be scythed blood wheat before the Reaper despite the stories Hollywood feeds us.
Do I hope for these themes to happen? Absolutely not, but one can't help but feel a bit like playing with fire when reading this finely curated collection.
spinnerroweok's review against another edition
4.0
Nothing says fun quite like the end of the world. I really enjoyed these short stories. There was a lot of variety in the types of stories all centered around the end of everything. I recommend.