edited by Tobias S. Bucknell
rating:☆☆☆
published: 20th November 2012
spoilers? no
Goodreads
To act as though we have hope is to keep hope alive.
The problem I have with rating anthologies by various authors is that I never know how to rate the thing overall. Like, do I average the ratings? Do I give it an overall rating based on my enjoyment of it as a whole? Who knows.
In the end, I guess the three star rating is a bit of both. It's not the greatest anthology I've ever read unfortunately (although I don't think I've read any where I've loved all the stories - at least for this one the ratings never went below three stars), but it was refreshing in its diversity even if the writing wasn't always the best quality. Also, the stories were incredibly dark.
The Last Day - Ellen Oh (3 stars):
An alternate post-WWII story, that I can't remember all that much about. It was a good idea and I would have liked to have read more about the characters, but the writing was kind of lacking, and a little simplistic at times.
Freshee's Frogurt - Daniel H. Wilson (5 stars):
I am happy to admit I am entirely biased when it comes to Daniel H. Wilson. He writes the best "robots take over the world" fiction I've read ever. So obviously, I loved this story just as much, even if it was too short.
Uncertainty Principle - K. Tempest Bradford (3 stars):
Not gonna lie, I don't remember a lot of this one, so I'm having to look at other people's reviews. It was (again) a good idea, though it reminded me a lot of Time Riders with maybe less good writing.
Pattern Recognition - Ken Liu (3 stars):
This one could easily have been a full-length story, and perhaps would have worked better that way. It definitely feels a bit rushed when it was explained they found the phone and could immediately work out how to use it to contact the outside world, without having seen a phone before, and get in touch with reporters (who also believed them straightaway). For sure, could have benefited from being longer.
Gods of the Dimming Light - Greg Van Eekhout (3 stars):
This one was kind of trippy, I gotta say. I mean, valkyries and Norse Gods and a battle to reach Valhalla, all set within a dystopian city. Uh, OK?
Next Door - Rahul Kanakia (3 stars):
This was strange. And a definite downer. I mean, the two (gay) main characters at the end die. Or at least I assume they do, because they inhale some toxic gas but it's left on a bit of a question mark.
Good Girl - Malinda Lo (3 stars):
Girls!! Kissing!!! Thank you, Malinda Lo. It was cute, though the love was kind of rushed (again, short story problems), and it wasn't really clear why the government had decided to ban interracial marriage.
A Pocket Full of Dharma - Paolo Bacigalupi (4 stars):
I really liked Paolo Bacigalupi's full length book, so I might have been slightly biased towards this one. All the politics of who wanted the Dalai Lama in that USB-box-thing (don't ask, just read it) was kind of confusing but it was an interesting concept.
Blue Skies - Cindy Pon (3 stars):
It had a pretty abrupt ending, to be honest, and I didn't really get much of the guy's motivations for kidnapping the girl beyond getting the money.
What Arms to Hold - Rajan Khanna (3 stars):
Again, another one that could have benefited from being a full length novel. It had an interesting idea, but it felt rushed inevitably. I did like that it ended with the MC leaving on his own, without helping anyone else though, because that was different.
Solitude - Ursula K. LeGuin (3 stars):
In a book full of dystopia stories, this one, about aliens and sociologist aliens, is a little odd, to say the least. It was well written and intriguing, but it didn't fit the anthology as a whole. The idea of the alien society was pretty good though, even if it did read like an anthropologist's report (which I guess was the aim).
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