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stephxsu's review against another edition
3.0
DIVERSE ENERGIES is like a Halloween trick-or-treat bag: you get some real good ‘uns, but you also get some duds that you always kind of throw back into the bag and hope that you don’t pull out again in your next swipe. It’s definitely a worthwhile read for those interested in the intersection of SFF with POC (hah, so many acronyms), particularly if you enjoy or don’t mind short stories. However, I’m not sure it had the comprehensive punch required for it to break out of its niche for the time being.
Here are some thoughts for most (though unfortunately not all) the short stories:
“Last Day” by Ellen Oh - I felt like this story didn't add anything new to the category of "tales about Japanese people in wartime." The "shocking reveal" towards the end was too sudden to actually move me. 3/5
"Freshee's Frogurt" by Daniel Wilson - Rebellious, murderous robots! Quick, intense, eerily believable. 4/5
"Uncertainty Principle" by K. Tempest Bradford - Attention-holding storytelling. The science aspect felt a little underexplained, though. 4/5
"Pattern Recognition" by Ken Liu – So that’s how one can write about modern China's characteristics. The timeline jumped around a little too abruptly for me, but I felt the idea of this was quite realistic. 3.5/5
"Gods of Dimming Light" by Greg van Eekhout - Bad. Ass. Viking legends? Genomics? Short and fast, but fun! 3.5/5
"Next Door" by Rahul Kanakia - I liked the characters and the world but the pacing was uneven, especially towards the end, when it felt like things rushed to a premature conclusion. 3/5
"Good Girl" by Malinda Lo - Good, controlled balance between emotion, plot, and world-building. Little actually happened and questions were left unanswered at the end, but in a way that felt natural to the MC's understanding of things. 4/5
"A Pocket Full of Dharma" by Paolo Bacigalupi - Great worldbuilding; recognized a lot of elements of the modern China I know in here. The concept of having a person's consciousness in a datacube was fascinating, and the villains were scary. 4/5
"Blue Skies" by Cindy Pon - It's cool to read about a future version of Taipei. Unfortunately, the kidnapping plot felt a bit contrived, which lessened the impact the story's setup could've had for me. 3/5
"What Arms to Hold" by Rajan Khanna - Really wished the story had been slightly more specific as to its setting. 'Twas okay, but forgettable. 3.5/5
"Solitude" by Ursula K. LeGuin – This is the best of the bunch, even though it’s a reprint. But I’m glad the editors decided to include this, because I don’t know if I would’ve heard of this short story otherwise, and it’s brilliant. This is spot-on, a chilling yet fully understandable depiction of communication problems ("CP") between different cultures. 5/5
Here are some thoughts for most (though unfortunately not all) the short stories:
“Last Day” by Ellen Oh - I felt like this story didn't add anything new to the category of "tales about Japanese people in wartime." The "shocking reveal" towards the end was too sudden to actually move me. 3/5
"Freshee's Frogurt" by Daniel Wilson - Rebellious, murderous robots! Quick, intense, eerily believable. 4/5
"Uncertainty Principle" by K. Tempest Bradford - Attention-holding storytelling. The science aspect felt a little underexplained, though. 4/5
"Pattern Recognition" by Ken Liu – So that’s how one can write about modern China's characteristics. The timeline jumped around a little too abruptly for me, but I felt the idea of this was quite realistic. 3.5/5
"Gods of Dimming Light" by Greg van Eekhout - Bad. Ass. Viking legends? Genomics? Short and fast, but fun! 3.5/5
"Next Door" by Rahul Kanakia - I liked the characters and the world but the pacing was uneven, especially towards the end, when it felt like things rushed to a premature conclusion. 3/5
"Good Girl" by Malinda Lo - Good, controlled balance between emotion, plot, and world-building. Little actually happened and questions were left unanswered at the end, but in a way that felt natural to the MC's understanding of things. 4/5
"A Pocket Full of Dharma" by Paolo Bacigalupi - Great worldbuilding; recognized a lot of elements of the modern China I know in here. The concept of having a person's consciousness in a datacube was fascinating, and the villains were scary. 4/5
"Blue Skies" by Cindy Pon - It's cool to read about a future version of Taipei. Unfortunately, the kidnapping plot felt a bit contrived, which lessened the impact the story's setup could've had for me. 3/5
"What Arms to Hold" by Rajan Khanna - Really wished the story had been slightly more specific as to its setting. 'Twas okay, but forgettable. 3.5/5
"Solitude" by Ursula K. LeGuin – This is the best of the bunch, even though it’s a reprint. But I’m glad the editors decided to include this, because I don’t know if I would’ve heard of this short story otherwise, and it’s brilliant. This is spot-on, a chilling yet fully understandable depiction of communication problems ("CP") between different cultures. 5/5
snowkab's review against another edition
2.0
True rating: 2.5 stars
Honestly, some of the short stories were quite good, but many of them dragged on for much longer than they needed to. The last one, in particular, felt boring and confusing.
Honestly, some of the short stories were quite good, but many of them dragged on for much longer than they needed to. The last one, in particular, felt boring and confusing.
dawnoftheread's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best Sci-Fi collections I've read in some time.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
This is a short story collection who's conceit is that it is not a story of straight western white males set in typical locations. Just having an exotic location or exotic names in a story does not make a good story. And just being in a specific location and therefore needing to be familiarized or confused by such a location does not make a good story. These stories however pretty much had what it takes. A bit darker than I look but otherwise - well-written, interesting, mostly by authors that I was not familiar with. In fact the LeGuin story was the only one by a prominent author and was one of the weakest in the collection (though not bad). Worth reading.
thedizzyreader's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2 stars. Which is saying a lot because I don't normally enjoy short stories. Very well done, I wished many of these ideas had been developed into fully-fledged novels!
shogins's review against another edition
2.0
I'm all about encouraging diversity in fiction and YA fiction and speculative fiction, but the only story in this book I found particularly interesting or memorable was the Le Guin one, which I had read before anyway. Having multicultural characters isn't enough to make a story - and to me, most of the stories in this book were just vehicles to trot out the characters, not actual STORIES. This may not make much sense, but suffice it to say most of the stories in this book were dull.
thestarman's review against another edition
3.0
Passing grade for a YA SF collection. It's hard to assign a discrete rating, but this was a better book than I expected.
At least 3 memorable stories, and no complete stinkers. The last story is by Ursula K. Le Guin.
At least 3 memorable stories, and no complete stinkers. The last story is by Ursula K. Le Guin.
nematome's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2 stars
I like the idea of this anthology way more that I liked the anthology itself. This world is by no means populated by a white majority, so I think it’s ridiculous that so much of young adult literature is. One of the main things that can make me interested in reading a YA fantasy these days is a non-western setting - perhaps because I’ve read so much western-centric YA. I was really looking forward to reading this anthology, but after finishing it I found it to be mostly forgettable. However, there were a few really bright spots. Here's the run-down (listed from lowest rating to highest):
“Freshee’s Frogurt” by Daniel H. Wilson (1.5 stars): What the heck is this even doing in the collection? All of the main action and story is told by a white guy! I feel like this snuck in on a technicality (whether that technicality is the Native American character or the fact that Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse is being made by Steven Spielberg, I am not sure). This story is all mindless action with no substance.
“The Last Day” by Ellen Oh (3.5 stars), “Blue Skies” by Cindy Pon (3 stars), and “Gods of Dimming Light” by Greg Van Eekhout (3 stars) were all sorta interesting but ultimately very forgettable. I am having a hard time remembering anything but the vaguest of details right now.
“Uncertainty Principle” by K. Tempest Bradford (3 stars): The beginning of this really caught my interest, but then it just unraveled. It felt like she had a great idea for a full length novel, but then decided to cram it all into a short story. The second half felt completely rushed and as a result, most of the tension built during the first half was lost.
“Next Door” by Rahul Kanakia (3.5 stars): This one stuck out to me because I thought the world was a really interesting idea – a place where everyone is so plugged in and oblivious that they don’t even “see” the hundreds of their fellow humans squatting in their own homes/garages. It’s like human apathy to an extreme degree. However, the story itself did almost nothing for me.
“What Arms to Hold” by Rajan Khanna (3.5 stars): This is another one that I mostly liked. It also has a very interesting premise – very reminiscent of Ender’s Game. I also really liked the ending – it was pretty dark stuff. I’d like to read more from this author.
“A Pocket Full of Dharma” by Paolo Bacigalupi (3.5 stars): This was the second time I’ve read this one and I liked it less the second time. A very well developed world that is very authentically non-western with a sympathetic main character, but it didn’t really wow me. It’s a stand-out in this collection, though.
“Pattern Recognition” by Ken Liu (4 stars): This was one of my favorites. I loved Liu’s tie-in of real world child labor, and it was a nicely contained story that felt complete and very well executed.
“Good Girl” by Malinda Lo (4 stars): Dear girls of YA, please stop falling for the first jerk who treats you like crap. Even if she’s a girl, it’s still not sexy. That being said this was actually one of my favorites of the collection. It felt like an intense snapshot of the life of a girl I could completely relate to, and I thought it had a great ending. Maybe I didn’t quite like that Lo’s “good girl” main character would fall for the bad girl jerk, but it did feel authentic to the character that she would want to rebel a bit, and the relationship was painted realistically without any rosy, romantic artificiality. This was one where I wished for more.
“Solitude” by Ursula K. Le Guin (4.5 stars): Probably my favorite in the collection, although it’s a re-print. Ursula Le Guin isn’t afraid to dive headlong into a completely foreign culture and fully commit herself to its point of view. Here, we follow a young girl who’s relocated to a very tribal planet by her anthropologist mother and raised within its customs as a sort of experiment. However, when the time comes for her family to relocate back to their homeland, she finds that she can’t bear to part with her childhood home. A very interesting look at cultural perceptions and the things that shape us.
Also seen at The Readventurer.
I like the idea of this anthology way more that I liked the anthology itself. This world is by no means populated by a white majority, so I think it’s ridiculous that so much of young adult literature is. One of the main things that can make me interested in reading a YA fantasy these days is a non-western setting - perhaps because I’ve read so much western-centric YA. I was really looking forward to reading this anthology, but after finishing it I found it to be mostly forgettable. However, there were a few really bright spots. Here's the run-down (listed from lowest rating to highest):
“Freshee’s Frogurt” by Daniel H. Wilson (1.5 stars): What the heck is this even doing in the collection? All of the main action and story is told by a white guy! I feel like this snuck in on a technicality (whether that technicality is the Native American character or the fact that Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse is being made by Steven Spielberg, I am not sure). This story is all mindless action with no substance.
“The Last Day” by Ellen Oh (3.5 stars), “Blue Skies” by Cindy Pon (3 stars), and “Gods of Dimming Light” by Greg Van Eekhout (3 stars) were all sorta interesting but ultimately very forgettable. I am having a hard time remembering anything but the vaguest of details right now.
“Uncertainty Principle” by K. Tempest Bradford (3 stars): The beginning of this really caught my interest, but then it just unraveled. It felt like she had a great idea for a full length novel, but then decided to cram it all into a short story. The second half felt completely rushed and as a result, most of the tension built during the first half was lost.
“Next Door” by Rahul Kanakia (3.5 stars): This one stuck out to me because I thought the world was a really interesting idea – a place where everyone is so plugged in and oblivious that they don’t even “see” the hundreds of their fellow humans squatting in their own homes/garages. It’s like human apathy to an extreme degree. However, the story itself did almost nothing for me.
“What Arms to Hold” by Rajan Khanna (3.5 stars): This is another one that I mostly liked. It also has a very interesting premise – very reminiscent of Ender’s Game. I also really liked the ending – it was pretty dark stuff. I’d like to read more from this author.
“A Pocket Full of Dharma” by Paolo Bacigalupi (3.5 stars): This was the second time I’ve read this one and I liked it less the second time. A very well developed world that is very authentically non-western with a sympathetic main character, but it didn’t really wow me. It’s a stand-out in this collection, though.
“Pattern Recognition” by Ken Liu (4 stars): This was one of my favorites. I loved Liu’s tie-in of real world child labor, and it was a nicely contained story that felt complete and very well executed.
“Good Girl” by Malinda Lo (4 stars): Dear girls of YA, please stop falling for the first jerk who treats you like crap. Even if she’s a girl, it’s still not sexy. That being said this was actually one of my favorites of the collection. It felt like an intense snapshot of the life of a girl I could completely relate to, and I thought it had a great ending. Maybe I didn’t quite like that Lo’s “good girl” main character would fall for the bad girl jerk, but it did feel authentic to the character that she would want to rebel a bit, and the relationship was painted realistically without any rosy, romantic artificiality. This was one where I wished for more.
“Solitude” by Ursula K. Le Guin (4.5 stars): Probably my favorite in the collection, although it’s a re-print. Ursula Le Guin isn’t afraid to dive headlong into a completely foreign culture and fully commit herself to its point of view. Here, we follow a young girl who’s relocated to a very tribal planet by her anthropologist mother and raised within its customs as a sort of experiment. However, when the time comes for her family to relocate back to their homeland, she finds that she can’t bear to part with her childhood home. A very interesting look at cultural perceptions and the things that shape us.
Also seen at The Readventurer.