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alexvalpeter's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5 stars.
Beautifully written collection! Many of these stories were quite emotional and dark, which was fitting for the theme.
You could almost call them "quiet" in that they are mostly character-driven instead of event-driven, which for me, suits the short story format very well. After each story I felt as though I'd read an entire novel.
I was particularly fond of the way many of these stories ended.
I took off half a star because I felt that the story "Onyx" was unnecessarily a bit too long (at around 65 pages) and that a couple of the characters were a bit clichéd/stereotypical/trope-y, but the collection overall is beautiful.
My favorites were Nebulae and The Dark Age.
Looking forward to reading more from Jason Gurley.
Beautifully written collection! Many of these stories were quite emotional and dark, which was fitting for the theme.
You could almost call them "quiet" in that they are mostly character-driven instead of event-driven, which for me, suits the short story format very well. After each story I felt as though I'd read an entire novel.
I was particularly fond of the way many of these stories ended.
I took off half a star because I felt that the story "Onyx" was unnecessarily a bit too long (at around 65 pages) and that a couple of the characters were a bit clichéd/stereotypical/trope-y, but the collection overall is beautiful.
My favorites were Nebulae and The Dark Age.
Looking forward to reading more from Jason Gurley.
vixreader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
stewartfritz's review against another edition
4.0
Oh man. A heartbreaking collection of short sci-fi stories, most of which feature some sort of distressing post-apocalyptic or dystopian theme. However, this isn't really part of the flavor-of-the-month sci-fi/dystopia crowd that's flooding the market lately. With few exceptions these stories are far more centered around the characters and their emotional states in the face of overwhelming changes than in the causes or effects of the changes themselves. The last story, "The Dark Age", is by far the most depressing bit of science fiction I've read in a long time as it examines the real, human cost of a deep space mission. A couple of the stories feel a little like sketches, and come off as too abstract to really have any impact, but for the most part this is a perfect little volume of sorrow and loss.
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