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laurenmiller100's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I loved this. Most of the stories left me gobsmacked and excited to talk about them with friends to really dissect the ideas. This compilation is excellent. As always, I love Ted Chiang’s commentary on where each story came from.
Favorites: The Tower of Babylon, Division by Zero, The Story of Your Life, Hell is the Absence of God, Liking What You See: A Documentary
Favorites: The Tower of Babylon, Division by Zero, The Story of Your Life, Hell is the Absence of God, Liking What You See: A Documentary
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture
kappafrog's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-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? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, and Violence
Minor: Torture
rileyeffective's review against another edition
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Death, Infertility, Medical content, Cancer, and Grief
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying
booksthatburn's review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
These stories play with math, language, and science, situating their more technical aspects within various strange and internally consistent rule-sets which stretch into the fantastic while wearing the clothes of the scientific, all to tell deeply moving stories about people in strange worlds which are almost like our own. From a literal interpretation of the Tower of Babel wherein they reach to the heavens, to a mathematical formalism so destabilizing that it drives the theorist to despair, to a contemplation on beauty and appearance which refuses to ever quite take a side on its central question. One of the strengths of this collection is the worldbuilding, the way the details vary from story to story but they're all extremely immersive, exploring the strange corners of each premise while still feeling complete and focused. My favorites were "Tower of Babylon" and "Understand", closely followed by "Story of Your Life" (upon which the 2016 film, "Arrival" is based). Several of them were uncomfortable in a good way, but that experience will obviously vary widely.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, and Torture
Tower of Babylon: CW for death. Understand: CW for anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks, major character death (not depicted), death (not depicted). Division by Zero: CW for mental illness, attempted suicide. Story of Your Life: CW for death (not depicted). Seventy-Two Letters: CW for sexism, racism, eugenics, violence, torture (not depicted), death (not depicted). The Evolution of Human Science: No major CWs. Hell is the Absence of God: CW for bullying (not depicted), ableism, discussion of suicide, major character death, death. “Liking What You see: A Documentary”: CW for sexism (minor), ableism (minor).
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