Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Epic hard science fiction story from the near future to the heat death of the universe. Good, but not quite the quality I would usually expect from a Philip K Dick Award winner. A collection of short stories with a framing story. There are several other novels by this author set in the same universe that you need to read to get the full story.
Well, that was bleak and confusing in places. I feel I would have gotten a lot more out of this if I'd read the novels the short stories are related to. Most of the short stories stood on their own, but there were instances when I understood that a reference was being made to something I had no knowledge of.
All in all I liked these stories. The aliens were alien, which always is a big plus with me, and the characters relatable. The science explanation were a bit hard to follow on occasion though.
All in all I liked these stories. The aliens were alien, which always is a big plus with me, and the characters relatable. The science explanation were a bit hard to follow on occasion though.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Liked it. Good series of short stories in the 'Ring' or Xe lee Sequence...
This is a collection of short stories with an incredibly lame bridging mechanism that strains credibility all by itself... and oh dear god it gets worse as you keep reading.
It's science used with all the exaggerated care and concern of a man using tipex on his computer screen for the very first time. His short story in which "evolution" is the punchline is astonishing not just in its sheer wrongheadedness, but also in the implication in the story that this is a very clever ending and very clever people are impressed by it. By the very end of the series of stories, you realize that this isn't an attempt at science, but magic dressed up as science. The Similarion, only with lasers and the Maiar as quantum lattice foam.
But the stories are trite and predictable when they aren't boneheaded. The writing is terrible. The characters are there to advance the plot and may as well have the relevant tropes stamped on to their foreheads. And by the time you get to the end of the book, you wonder how on Earth something so dated and parochial (seriously, humans? Made of flesh? At the end of the universe?) could stand up as a theory and you're waiting for the wizard to pull away the curtain and...
...nope. It really is that dumb.
It's science used with all the exaggerated care and concern of a man using tipex on his computer screen for the very first time. His short story in which "evolution" is the punchline is astonishing not just in its sheer wrongheadedness, but also in the implication in the story that this is a very clever ending and very clever people are impressed by it. By the very end of the series of stories, you realize that this isn't an attempt at science, but magic dressed up as science. The Similarion, only with lasers and the Maiar as quantum lattice foam.
But the stories are trite and predictable when they aren't boneheaded. The writing is terrible. The characters are there to advance the plot and may as well have the relevant tropes stamped on to their foreheads. And by the time you get to the end of the book, you wonder how on Earth something so dated and parochial (seriously, humans? Made of flesh? At the end of the universe?) could stand up as a theory and you're waiting for the wizard to pull away the curtain and...
...nope. It really is that dumb.