Reviews

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius by John Joseph Adams, Marjorie Liu

themadmaiden's review

5.0

With most short story collections there were some I enjoyed and some I didn't really like. However the good ones in this book; the A.I guarding the family fortune, the daughters of mad scientists and more were more then enough to get this book a 5 star rating.

mjtucker's review

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

paladinboy's review

4.0

Anthology, of course, means hits and misses. This one had more hits than misses. I actually could have done without the intros by the editor as well. I think that there is more than enough for everyone who loves a good villain story here.

plural's review

4.0

i picked this up because of the Mary Robinette Kowal short story set in the Lady Astronaut universe/timeline. It fits this collection's themes well, but stands apart (for good reason) from the other stories in the series.

thiefofcamorr's review

5.0

‘The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination’ is a collection of utterly fantastic shorts, edited by John Joseph Adams.

It is a rare event when one can say they equally enjoyed each short as much as each other, in an anthology. Generally there are one or two that don’t quite capture the reader’s interest, yet with this anthology each was a winner. Match that with a lovely cover by the incredibly talented Ben Templesmith, and lovely interior design – the title pages for each short are so good that it warrants a mention! – we have here easily my favourite anthology I have ever read.
• “Professor Incognito Apologizes: an Itemized List” by Austin Grossman
• “Father of the Groom” by Harry Turtledove
• “Laughter at the Academy” by Seanan McGuire
• “Letter to the Editor” by David D. Levine
• “Instead of a Loving Heart” by Jeremiah Tolbert
• “The Executor” by Daniel H. Wilson
• “The Angel of Death Has a Business Plan” by Heather Lindsley
• “Homo Perfectus” by David Farland
• “Ancient Equations” by L. A. Banks
• “Rural Singularity” by Alan Dean Foster
• “Captain Justice Saves the Day” by Genevieve Valentine
• “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter” by Theodora Goss
• “The Space Between” by Diana Gabaldon
• “Harry and Marlowe Meet the Founder of the Aetherian Revolution” by Carrie Vaughn
• “Blood and Stardust” by Laird Barron
• “A More Perfect Union” by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
• “Rocks Fall” by Naomi Novik
• “We Interrupt This Broadcast” by Mary Robinette Kowal
• “The Last Dignity of Man” by Marjorie M. Liu
• “Pittsburg Technology” by Jeffrey Ford
• “Mofongo Knows” by Grady Hendrix
• “The Food Taster’s Boy” by Ben Winters

Within we hear of a letter by a mad scientist to his unsuspecting girlfriend, revealing who he is and how very sorry he is (or how sorry he is that he isn’t really sorry…). There is also a tale of scientists going mad, one by one, and the only thing they have in common is a very capable assistant. There’s also a career coach for heroes and villains – someone who helps them with their evil laugh, and confidence issues. The range of different takes we receive on the theme of mad scientists is utterly inspired!

I really couldn’t recommend this anthology enough. A dozen stars, and my freeze-ray – I can’t get it to work anyhow.


Review originally posted here: http://sentientonline.net/?p=3815

elevetha's review

2.0

2.5 stars.

Full breakdown forth coming....Siiiister, I need my notes back!!

felis_libris's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Some great stories and some not so great stories. They did a good job of picking stories that good at the mad scientist at very different angles.

larisa2021's review

4.0

Gabaldon, Vaughn, Robinnete-Knowels, Liu, Turtledove...happily cherry-picked through this collection.

taeli's review

4.0

read 10/3/16

reader44ever's review

4.0

I enjoyed this anthology, despite the fact that it took me nine days to read it. I spent three days reading “The Space Between” by Diana Gabaldon, the longest story in this book! I don’t exactly know why, but it was probably just because of daily distractions and nighttime gaming, and not because the stories were in any way dull. They were all pretty great, to be honest.

These stories were also rather fun. I don’t know if I have a favorite. I really enjoyed [a:Seanan McGuire|2860219|Seanan McGuire|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1245623198p2/2860219.jpg]’s story, “Laughter at the Academy”; [a:Carrie Vaughn|8988|Carrie Vaughn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1468274730p2/8988.jpg]’s Harry and Marlowe story; and “Rocks Fall” by [a:Naomi Novik|8730|Naomi Novik|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206646770p2/8730.jpg]. So maybe those three were favorites of mine? It's quite probable that they were. :-)

I also don't know that I have a least favorite story. As far as I can remember, I really enjoyed them all.

I just don’t know, but this was a rather fun collection of stories that I really enjoyed reading. I might even buy it for rereading someday!