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1001cranes's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
like all short story collections, a mixed bag.
jmoses's review
4.0
A good mix of stories. A couple standouts, and a couple that were forgettable, just like any anthology. Adams does a great job putting these together, and the overall quality was high.
orcaseatingstrawberries's review
4.0
So awesome! The velveteen story, and the final story, are grim. I mean the stuff in the whole book isn't light and rainbows, but those two stories stood out for me as ones I might skip when I read it again.
Great book, though. Even the story or two that wasn't as great as I thought they were maybe making it out to be, were decent, and then there were some really amazing ones, and some really good ones. Better than most collections I've read, but with the list of authors, one would expect that.
Great book, though. Even the story or two that wasn't as great as I thought they were maybe making it out to be, were decent, and then there were some really amazing ones, and some really good ones. Better than most collections I've read, but with the list of authors, one would expect that.
philibin's review
3.0
Complex God (Scott Sigler) - This is typical Sigler, he presents a well thought-out story and tries (successfully) to make it fit inside of a science-realistic framework. Predictable, but more than worth it!
Cycles (Charles Yu) - Almost a love story... but in reverse. It was a good filler, but written well enough that I'd read something longer by him.
Lullaby (Anna North) - This one was really good. It read like a horror story and reminded me of early Stephen King. Great story elements!
Eighty Miles an Hour All The Way to Paradise (Genevieve Valentine) - This was a great edge-of-your-seat read. Very walking dead-ish. Character driven with internal monologue.
Executable (Hugh Howey) - I love Hugh Howey's writing, it is always engaging and compelling and this is no exception. Very Lord of the Flies like... if a short story can be that. Always pregnant with possibilities.
The Onmibot Incident (Ernest Cline) - I have to admit that this is my least favorite (so far) of the collection. Not because I didn't like it, because I did really enjoy it. I think Cline is a colorful writer who can weave a story that keeps you guessing and never bores you. This is a touching story that has the nostalgia Cline readers have come to expect and the levity that continues to impress me (clever, not kitsch). However I feel it is a little out of place with the rest of the stories in this book.
Epoch (Corey Doctorow) - Corey is almost incapable of writing anything less than great! He has a lyrical quality and his writing has a cadence of its own. This story, like most of his, explores the human condition and how it relates to the technology all around us. Does art imitate life? Does life imitate art? or does art imitate life imitation art?
Human Intelligence (Jeff Abbott) - This was pretty good, I really liked it. The internal struggle between individual survival and survival of the species. I love this type of dystopian trope.
The Golden Hour (Julianna Baggott) - I thought this was a little confusing and unrealistic... maybe trying too hard or something. There are a lot of literary references which were fun but the story lacked believability or maybe the robots were just too human? I didn't hate it, I just didn't love it.
Sleepover (Alastair Reynolds) - I really liked this one. It had a bit of a "Pacific Rim" quality to it coupled with Silo by Hugh Howey (Read this series NOW). Very visual writing and there was a lot of information in a very short story but it never felt rushed or overwhelming.
Seasoning (Alan Dean Foster) - This one was very interesting... a paranoia inducing story bringing in elements of nonobots and anti-GMO and conspiracy theory. Very classic Sci-Fi
Nanonauts! In Battle with Tiny Death-Subs! (Ian McDonald) - Just a day in the life of a microscopic biological drone pilot. Very character driven and good development but at times went too far into the weeds.
Of Dying Heroes and Deathless Deeds (Robin Wasserman) - This one was just ok. I think it was a lot longer than it needed to be. Basically a human "shrink" for battle weary robots. It just seemed unrealistic to me so maybe I just couldn't get into it enough to enjoy the writing?
The Robot and the Baby (John McCarthy) - This one was pretty thought provoking. Reliance on technology until our technology starts to have more humanity than we do. We desire the easy life and become angry when we are burdened with things like childcare and eventually technology begins to develop those emotional ties that we no longer do.
We Are All Misfit Toys in the Aftermath of the Velveteen War (Seanan McGuire) - This was strange... not bad at all, but I did have a little trouble immersing myself in it. Basically we are at war with robots because they kidnapped our children but try to keep them from growing up because we tried keeping children away from the robots.So now all adults are in PTSD counseling.
Spider the Artist (Nnedi Okorafor) - I really liked this one a lot! It was very well written and thought provoking. Man vs machine and where we differ... but are also alike.
Small Things (Daniel H. Wilson) - Daniel Wilson continues to impress me, he is so detailed without being boring, and comes up with such original ideas and new ways to think about old stories. His characters and unique and real and make decisions with consequences. This is more a story of technology and unintended consequences than it is of a robot uprising... But it was a very enjoyable, albeit disturbing, story.
modeste's review
4.0
4,1 There are great stories and there are lesser stories in the book but the great asset of the book is the multitude of conceivable ways AI and/or robots could turn on us. You’ve got like 17 different ways things go awry and berserk gathered in one volume. Each of them worth a complete book. My favourites ? “Eighty miles an hour all the way to paradise’, “Sleepover”, “The robot and the baby (recommended for us legal nerds)” and “We are all misfit toys in the aftermath of the velveteen war”.
valbowski83's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mjfmjfmjf's review
3.0
A pretty good collection. True to it's theme and filled will generally good stories. But not enjoyable, pretty much the whole book was a downer. There were definitely standout stories, Cory Doctorow's Epoch about the AI Big Mac was very much a favorite. But mostly it was a collection of horror stories and I don't do horror much. Sure there were interesting ideas here, but not ones I want to spend time thinking about.
shawcrit's review
5.0
I will repeat what others have said here - this is a truly excellent collection, with no real duds. A short story collection with no entries that I really just wanted to skim through is a rare and special occasion. After reading most of these I really really wanted more and want some to be adapted to novels. That said, it took me so long to read this because I dipped in for a story here and there, so the thematic similarities didn't get to me. There were a few that were very similar and might have blended into one another if I read the entirety of the collection in a shorter period of time.