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A review by wealhtheow
Warriors 2 by Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin
2.0
A collection of stories about warriors, mostly but not solely sff. One story was fantastic--the rest ranged from mediocre to outright awful.
"Seven Years from Home" by Naomi Novik. An academic goes to a far off planet that is right on the tipping point of a civil war between colonists who transform themselves to adapt to the planet, and colonists who want to terraform the planet to match themselves. I love the technology used here (bio-transformations are my favorite sf trope, but are so rarely used), but the real brilliance of this story is in the way it twisted and turned as I read it. Not that the narrator is unreliable or even hiding things, but that they're telling a story where they assume we know their background and context, and not knowing those things means I had to constantly readjust my interpretation of the plot and the narrator's motives. I found this story fascinating and would definitely read it again.
"Dirae" by Peter S Beagle. A specter fights crime and injustice in their city, but wonders where it came from and what motivates it. Super dark.
"Ancient Ways" by SM Stirling. In the future, a Cossak and a Kalmyk ally themselves. This took so long to get going, and I didn't care about the characters or world at all, so I didn't finish this.
"The Scroll" by David Ball. In 17th century Morocco, an engineer is tortured for 42 pages and then dies. Unpleasant but also boring.
"Recidivist" by Gardner Davois. After they gain consciousness, AIs turn on humans and play with them (and the very make up of the Earth) for their amusement. One old man tries to stop them. The ever-changing Earth was cool, but the main character had so little personality that I didn't care whether he succeeded at stopping the AIs or not. (And of course, like so many stories in this collectionhe fails because futility is apparently GRMM's favorite trope .
"Ninieslando" by Howard Waldrop. In the midst of WWI, soldiers create a mini oasis of peace where they speak Esperanto. Of course they cannot escape the trenches forever.More futile gestures and dark endings full of death! Hurrah.
"Out of the Dark" by David Weber. Evil aliens try to conquer the Earth but are shocked, shocked I tell you to discover how adaptable and amazing humanity is. The end reveal thatone of the humans is Dracula was just the idiot icing on a cake made of stupid.
"Seven Years from Home" by Naomi Novik. An academic goes to a far off planet that is right on the tipping point of a civil war between colonists who transform themselves to adapt to the planet, and colonists who want to terraform the planet to match themselves. I love the technology used here (bio-transformations are my favorite sf trope, but are so rarely used), but the real brilliance of this story is in the way it twisted and turned as I read it. Not that the narrator is unreliable or even hiding things, but that they're telling a story where they assume we know their background and context, and not knowing those things means I had to constantly readjust my interpretation of the plot and the narrator's motives. I found this story fascinating and would definitely read it again.
"Dirae" by Peter S Beagle. A specter fights crime and injustice in their city, but wonders where it came from and what motivates it. Super dark.
"Ancient Ways" by SM Stirling. In the future, a Cossak and a Kalmyk ally themselves. This took so long to get going, and I didn't care about the characters or world at all, so I didn't finish this.
"The Scroll" by David Ball. In 17th century Morocco, an engineer is tortured for 42 pages and then dies. Unpleasant but also boring.
"Recidivist" by Gardner Davois. After they gain consciousness, AIs turn on humans and play with them (and the very make up of the Earth) for their amusement. One old man tries to stop them. The ever-changing Earth was cool, but the main character had so little personality that I didn't care whether he succeeded at stopping the AIs or not. (And of course, like so many stories in this collection
"Ninieslando" by Howard Waldrop. In the midst of WWI, soldiers create a mini oasis of peace where they speak Esperanto. Of course they cannot escape the trenches forever.
"Out of the Dark" by David Weber. Evil aliens try to conquer the Earth but are shocked, shocked I tell you to discover how adaptable and amazing humanity is. The end reveal that