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sunn_bleach's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A great compilation of cyberpunk with twists often based in religion and Malaysia’s cultural and ethnic struggles. Some of these are downright funny; shout-out to DMZINE and Attack of the Spambots. Only a couple stinkers in an otherwise awesome selection; I should read more books where the forward is a manifesto.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Racism
Minor: Sexism and Rape
misspalah's review
4.0
Is it cyberpunk? Some of it are close enough. Is it engaging and thrilling? I'd say majority of the featured stories indeed good. I am surprised to see the low rating by some of few readers but based on their review, i get why they gave such rating. It really is the matter of individual's preferences. I picked up this book because i just finished watching Black Mirror Netflix series last month. I don't expect it to be amazing and mind boggling like the TV show but yeah, this book has a few moments that brought me back to the certain black mirror's scenes. The first 2 stories didn't grip me at all. I decided to move on to the 3rd story and i decided if it's still lacking, I wanted to give up reading this book. Fortunately, the 3rd story managed to lure me back in. Overall, I'm rating this as 4 out 5 stars . People may not enjoy it as much as i did but i glad i bought this on Google playbook.
Here's my favorite list of stories :
1. Personal by Sharmilla Ganesan
2. Attack of the spambots by Terrence Toh
3. What the andromaids read at night by Ted Mahsun
4. Kakak by William Tham Wai Liang
5. October 11 by Chin Ai May
6.The White Mask by Zedeck Siew
7. Extracts from DMZINE by Foo Sek Han
The rest of the stories didn't sit well with me. I didn't despise them but i didnt enjoy them either.
Sidenote: I couldn't help but notice how "Tanah Firdaus" resembles the concept of High Rise (both book and movie) but I could be wrong though.
Here's my favorite list of stories :
1. Personal by Sharmilla Ganesan
2. Attack of the spambots by Terrence Toh
3. What the andromaids read at night by Ted Mahsun
4. Kakak by William Tham Wai Liang
5. October 11 by Chin Ai May
6.The White Mask by Zedeck Siew
7. Extracts from DMZINE by Foo Sek Han
The rest of the stories didn't sit well with me. I didn't despise them but i didnt enjoy them either.
Sidenote: I couldn't help but notice how "Tanah Firdaus" resembles the concept of High Rise (both book and movie) but I could be wrong though.
kentcryptid's review
2.0
I wondered while reading this whether cyberpunk can ever be hopeful? There was one optimistic story in this collection but otherwise it was all pretty grim. I guess it's the nature of the genre, but maybe it's time for cyberpunk which looks at the ways technology can enhance people's lives rather than plunging everyone into an immediate dystopia. There were some interesting ideas here, but also some stuff that felt dated and repetitive.
filaughn's review against another edition
3.5
Like any anthology, this one had some winners and some clunkers. I found that the best stories were a bit buried in the middle of the book - so stick with it or jump around if you're not loving the first few. I don't know if all of these technically qualify as "cyberpunk" but it is an interesting collection.
krayfish1's review
4.0
The stories are all solid and set in interesting future Malaysias.
"Attack of the Spambots" -- about advertisers taking things too far -- stood out.
I liked the main characters and premise of "What the Andromaid Reads at Night" but the ending seemed abrupt.
"The Wall that Wasn't a Wall" is dark, as is "October 11"
"Attack of the Spambots" -- about advertisers taking things too far -- stood out.
I liked the main characters and premise of "What the Andromaid Reads at Night" but the ending seemed abrupt.
"The Wall that Wasn't a Wall" is dark, as is "October 11"
justabean_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I enjoyed this collection. I will admit that a lot of the geographical references went over my head, but the cultural and political issues were fairly well laid out over the book.
As with any collection, the content varied, and I didn't finish some stories usually due to being unrelentingly grim, but most had a balance between dystopia and fight against oppression. The themes of personhood, surveillance and state oppression were pretty strongly represented, but many of the stories were humorous and some were hopeful.
It did make me curious about the definition of Cyberpunk, especially the punk part of that, and how that has evolved over the last thirty years or so.
(I got a copy of this book via goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Then I lost the book so it's pretty horrifically late.)
As with any collection, the content varied, and I didn't finish some stories usually due to being unrelentingly grim, but most had a balance between dystopia and fight against oppression. The themes of personhood, surveillance and state oppression were pretty strongly represented, but many of the stories were humorous and some were hopeful.
It did make me curious about the definition of Cyberpunk, especially the punk part of that, and how that has evolved over the last thirty years or so.
(I got a copy of this book via goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Then I lost the book so it's pretty horrifically late.)
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