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annschi's review
4.0
Eine wilde Mischung aus Science Fiction und Traumtagebuch. Nicht ganz, was ich erwartet hatte. Jedoch schön geschrieben (find ich unverständlich, dass keine der Geschichten es auf die Hugo-Shortlist geschafft hat).
coalstaindlife's review
4.0
This was a blind date with a book selection.
It was weird, but matched it's description pretty well.
It was weird, but matched it's description pretty well.
djwudi's review
3.0
Some of these are funny, many of them are disquieting and leave the reader a little uneasy. I didn’t dislike it, though I’m not sure I can really say that I liked it, either.
Of course, as with any anthology, some stories will work better than others, and which ones go which way will change from person to person. For me, I think “Alien Virus Love Disaster”, “Moonkids”, and “I’m Sorry Your Daughter Got Eaten By a Cougar” were my favorites (or, at least, the ones I found most interesting).
Of course, as with any anthology, some stories will work better than others, and which ones go which way will change from person to person. For me, I think “Alien Virus Love Disaster”, “Moonkids”, and “I’m Sorry Your Daughter Got Eaten By a Cougar” were my favorites (or, at least, the ones I found most interesting).
ellenrhudy's review
3.0
Sad that I didn’t like this more. The conceits driving the stories are so wild that for about half the book they were enough to keep me going — especially loved the moon kids story. There’s never plot or character development though, and it began to feel like I was reading one half-formed story after another. Someone else on here wrote that the shorter stories tend to work better, and that was true for me...the longer they got, the more I noticed the flaws of the stories. I’d love to see this sort of world building coupled with more plot or a fuller sense of character, rather than just getting place and voice.
pinkstarpainter's review
5.0
My wife bought this for me as a "blind date with a book" for Valentine's Day 2021. It is perfecctly strange and strangely perfect.
alexmarianyi's review
3.0
These stories are heavily reliant on the concept for a world and then exploring that world and who--or what--lives in it. With few exceptions, there isn't much focus on plot or character development. As a result, I tended to like the shorter stories, and for me, the longer stories tended to go on a little too long. Highly recommended if short stories that focus on voice and world building are your thing.
rachelcadams's review
5.0
This is the most compelling, thought-provoking, challenging, beautiful collection of stories I've read in a really long time. Otis has a gift for creating worlds that feel totally alien to ours yet somehow only a paper thin possibility away.
johnnyideaseed's review
5.0
This is a wonderful selection of stories from an author that is new to me. The stories range from sort of a magical surrealism (similar to the stories of Kelly Link), to more straightforward science fiction. I enjoyed both modes of writing, but the science fiction is grounded in the world as it is now: children born and raised on the moon struggle to make lives on an earth that doesn't want them; a sex robot falls from the sky and is found by a group of kids; aliens pay to watch a couple kids to fight. The characters are recognizable and sympathetic, even when their motivations are unknown, even to themselves. My favorite of the stories is the last one, "Ultimate Housekeeping Megathrill 4," in which a mother in a dystopian world retreats into a video game version of her life to try to cope with the chaos that is going on around her. Her addiction, and the frustration and desperation of her family as they try to get her to respond to her, read as very real to me, in spite of the science fiction milieu. I look forward to reading what this author writes in the future.
(I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book to review.)
(I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book to review.)
sch91086's review
2.0
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," (my imagined tag line for this book.)
This is the review I've been dreading most because I wanted so badly to like it and just couldn't connect with it at all. It's a collection of bizarre short fiction mostly incorporating some kind of romance and/or alien contact.
With a title like Alien Virus Love Disaster- I was expecting something weird, yes, but also something funny. Like the Stephanie Plum of alien books. And it was just dark, depressing, despairing. There isn't a single shred of hope in the whole darn book. Not one tiny story.
I gave it two stars instead of one because on the upside, the stories are unique and inclusive. I can honestly say I've never read anything like them, and I can see how they would be right for someone, just not me. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to be uplifted, and instead I ended up dragged down in a way I wasn't prepared for.
Content warnings:
This is the review I've been dreading most because I wanted so badly to like it and just couldn't connect with it at all. It's a collection of bizarre short fiction mostly incorporating some kind of romance and/or alien contact.
With a title like Alien Virus Love Disaster- I was expecting something weird, yes, but also something funny. Like the Stephanie Plum of alien books. And it was just dark, depressing, despairing. There isn't a single shred of hope in the whole darn book. Not one tiny story.
I gave it two stars instead of one because on the upside, the stories are unique and inclusive. I can honestly say I've never read anything like them, and I can see how they would be right for someone, just not me. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to be uplifted, and instead I ended up dragged down in a way I wasn't prepared for.
Content warnings:
Spoiler
implied rape, talk about child death, and maybe cannibalismnubianibex's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0