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readivine's review against another edition
3.0
"...the amount of pain we inflict on others shows how much we hate ourselves."This was such a pleasantly weird and thought-provoking short story collection. Age of Blight skirts different scenarios of near-extinction driven by the dark recesses of human nature. I personally love how the first part delved on the flipside of animal cruelty in the name of science and referenced real-life events like The Nature of Love experiment by Harry Harlow as well as the catastrophic experience of Soviet space dog Laika. My favorite short stories were under the Children and Instead of Human category as it aptly explores the theme heavily. This was a great collection but I find some of the stories quite forgettable as well. However, I can't deny the fact that I really enjoyed reading it.
ecarter611's review against another edition
5.0
What a wonderful collection of stories, uniquely told, with the stories as rereadable as good poetry.
Reflective on both humanity’s past and inevitable tragic demise.
Faves: “The Ghost of Laika Encounters a Satellite” “Jude and the Moonman” “Dominic & Dominic” “Pet” “Beautiful Curse” “Day of the Builders” “History of the World”
Reflective on both humanity’s past and inevitable tragic demise.
Faves: “The Ghost of Laika Encounters a Satellite” “Jude and the Moonman” “Dominic & Dominic” “Pet” “Beautiful Curse” “Day of the Builders” “History of the World”
lucasilievskie's review against another edition
3.0
2.75
The premise of the stories held a lot of promise, but the abbreviated length and the rather surface-level exploration of these profound sci-if/horror/dystopian themes ultimately rendered the collection forgettable.
However, there were a number of stories that I thought were compelling enough: The Playground, Jude and the Moonman, Zombie Sister, and The First Ocean.
In short, a decent if not a little underwhelming entry into the modern weird genre.
The premise of the stories held a lot of promise, but the abbreviated length and the rather surface-level exploration of these profound sci-if/horror/dystopian themes ultimately rendered the collection forgettable.
However, there were a number of stories that I thought were compelling enough: The Playground, Jude and the Moonman, Zombie Sister, and The First Ocean.
In short, a decent if not a little underwhelming entry into the modern weird genre.
theartolater's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this book.
A collection of (very) short weird stories, I think my only complaint about it is the overall length, as the collection is only a hair over 100 pages. But within those hundred pages you get great stories about clones, about sea monsters (and the discovery therein), apocalyptic diseases, and so on.
Why is this so great, though? I think there's a reasonable comparison to Kelly Link here, but where Link keeps her tongue firmly in cheek throughout, Kristine Ong Muslim succeeds in perfectly balancing her stories on the line between disturbing and ridiculous. There's enough of the awkward, gross, and strange here to satiate the hunger for strange stories, but it's hard not to giggle at the kid who used to use his tentacle to swing from the bannisters in his house, too.
Overall, I don't know how well known this book is or how easy it is to get it, but if you like weird short stories, you need to get your hands on it. Such a great surprise.
A collection of (very) short weird stories, I think my only complaint about it is the overall length, as the collection is only a hair over 100 pages. But within those hundred pages you get great stories about clones, about sea monsters (and the discovery therein), apocalyptic diseases, and so on.
Why is this so great, though? I think there's a reasonable comparison to Kelly Link here, but where Link keeps her tongue firmly in cheek throughout, Kristine Ong Muslim succeeds in perfectly balancing her stories on the line between disturbing and ridiculous. There's enough of the awkward, gross, and strange here to satiate the hunger for strange stories, but it's hard not to giggle at the kid who used to use his tentacle to swing from the bannisters in his house, too.
Overall, I don't know how well known this book is or how easy it is to get it, but if you like weird short stories, you need to get your hands on it. Such a great surprise.
burmecia's review against another edition
5.0
I'm still reeling from the amazing writing so a proper review will come soon but
ooh boy DO I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS
ooh boy DO I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS
natalye's review against another edition
2.0
This book was unsettling and creepy, kind of like a "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" for adults. I went in blind, so I didn't know what to expect, and already in the first story I could tell I was going to be in for a ride. So why the two stars? Well, I didn't hate it. In fact, I liked the way Muslim messed with the reader's mind a bit. But I also found it a bit too... macabre? for my taste. Just not my cup of tea. And I also found myself a bit bored, maybe because the stories were so short that I couldn't get involved/invested in it before it was over. All that said, I know it's a book a lot of people really enjoyed, and I know plenty of people who would also probably like it. It just wasn't for me.
meghan_is_reading's review against another edition
weird, speculative, but not overly horror influenced short stories. interesting
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