Reviews

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

mbelle97's review against another edition

I got this book to read the short story that inspired the movie arrival, and I found that I liked arrival better 😅 I was listening to the audiobook and found it very hard to follow what was happening, so it might have been better to read physically. The stories just didn't compell me that much to keep reading 

panicsuper's review against another edition

2.0

“Story of Your Life” was good (I had already seen Arrival) and “Understand” was interesting but I really couldn’t get into the rest. Perhaps too much religion for my taste.

sss23's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

fran_mosteiro's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

3.75

isabelmary's review against another edition

3.75

Well done, but highly concept driven rather than characters driven. If you like speculative fiction focused on ideas you’ll like this. For a character girlie like me it didn’t fully satisfy.

tcatsninfan's review against another edition

I’ve been aware for years that Chiang has won many awards, and I saw Arrival a few years ago. I’m a big fan of scifi, so I decided to give this short story collection a try. 

Unfortunately, I gave up after the second story. The first story was incredibly boring and didn’t have a satisfying ending. The second story just felt annoying to read. 

One thing about the second story: it’s written in 1st person with the narrator explaining what’s happening to him. However, he seemingly dies at the end. Logically, he wouldn’t be able to tell the story to anyone later if he died. It just doesn’t make any sense.

After I finished the second story, I thought about how Chiang has won all these awards and felt like I “should” like his writing because of those. I felt like I should force myself to continue reading. 

Ultimately, though, everyone has their own taste and mine doesn’t include Chiang’s writing. Life is too short to read things we don’t enjoy, and it’s OK to have a different opinion from others. 

calliopereads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

lalune's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

mikimeiko's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

I love Ted Chiang's voice, and I wish he didn't only write short stories because I would like the chance of staying in a world of his for a little longer. In the other hand though I found all the stories starting very strong, with compelling what ifs, but then kinda getting lost in the execution? Anyway I'll probably read more of his short stories in the future, especially more recent ones.

mauvenotebook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

2.0