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A review by soless
Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy by
Did not finish book.
The semi-post-human pseudo-vore self-cannibalism fic ("The Savage Mouth") verged on Lovecraftian, so I give it points for that. But I've read four stories, and so far none of the translations spark anything in me. They seem...awkward...and I don't know if that's a byproduct of translating from Japanese (I doubt it, since I've read better fansubs/scanlations), if the originals were poorly written, or if the translations are just uninspired.
Several of the plots were just cliché (and I hate using that term), but I was willing to give the authors the benefit of the doubt since they seemed to be emulating Western SF writers and probably just hadn't found their own voice. But after I read the story about a cardboard box, I decided I needed to put some distance between me and this book. The themes were good. I could see where they were trying to take things, but the execution...nope.
I skimmed several of the other stories, and they show promise, but my heart just isn't in it at the moment. Maybe later, when I'm at a loss as to what to read.
Several of the plots were just cliché (and I hate using that term), but I was willing to give the authors the benefit of the doubt since they seemed to be emulating Western SF writers and probably just hadn't found their own voice. But after I read the story about a cardboard box, I decided I needed to put some distance between me and this book. The themes were good. I could see where they were trying to take things, but the execution...nope.
I skimmed several of the other stories, and they show promise, but my heart just isn't in it at the moment. Maybe later, when I'm at a loss as to what to read.