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tigger89's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Against the backdrop of a world growing ever more desperate by the day, Hyde's short story collection seeks to catalogue various potential catastrophes and their effects on the planet, the future, and the survivors. Experimental palliative treatments gone wrong, the intersection of rugged capitalism with the commodification of youth, and a predictive algorithm gone authoritative are just a few of the unnerving scenarios proposed in this collection of fifteen stories.
Overall, this is a fairly solid collection. A few of the stories didn't really do it for me, but the ones I liked, I loved. My favorites were The Future Is a Click Away, Frights, Colonel Merryweather's Intergalactic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Grace & Good Nature, and The Eaters. That last one actually gave me a spooky dream, so maybe don't make the mistake I did of reading it immediately before bed!
While most of the stories deal with various speculative situations, there's a few that seem to deal with the here and now, for example Chevalier. I actually struggle to see what ties those to the rest of the collection. I chose to write a description based on the majority of the content and what was presented in the publisher's write-up, but just know that the collection itself goes a little beyond those bounds. Themes range from the obvious — eco destruction, extinction, civilization collapse, technology run rampant — to the weird, such as the European researcher who intends to study American culture but instead finds herself trapped by it. On that note, I will say that this is a very US-centric collection, and readers from outside that culture may be left wondering, what about the rest of us? Well, you're not in this book, and when you are we apparently consume you.
While not every story did it for me as a whole, I enjoyed the process of reading them all. Hyde's writing style easily draws the reader in, making even the longer stories go by in what felt like a flash. There's an element of weird and whimsy present in most of the stories, balancing the darkness nicely. While I wouldn't say this is a horror collection, due to the subject matter there are elements of these stories that certainly could strike the horror chord in readers, so read with caution if you're sensitive to that.
Overall, this is a fairly solid collection. A few of the stories didn't really do it for me, but the ones I liked, I loved. My favorites were The Future Is a Click Away, Frights, Colonel Merryweather's Intergalactic Finishing School for Young Ladies of Grace & Good Nature, and The Eaters. That last one actually gave me a spooky dream, so maybe don't make the mistake I did of reading it immediately before bed!
While most of the stories deal with various speculative situations, there's a few that seem to deal with the here and now, for example Chevalier. I actually struggle to see what ties those to the rest of the collection. I chose to write a description based on the majority of the content and what was presented in the publisher's write-up, but just know that the collection itself goes a little beyond those bounds. Themes range from the obvious — eco destruction, extinction, civilization collapse, technology run rampant — to the weird, such as the European researcher who intends to study American culture but instead finds herself trapped by it. On that note, I will say that this is a very US-centric collection, and readers from outside that culture may be left wondering, what about the rest of us? Well, you're not in this book, and when you are we apparently consume you.
While not every story did it for me as a whole, I enjoyed the process of reading them all. Hyde's writing style easily draws the reader in, making even the longer stories go by in what felt like a flash. There's an element of weird and whimsy present in most of the stories, balancing the darkness nicely. While I wouldn't say this is a horror collection, due to the subject matter there are elements of these stories that certainly could strike the horror chord in readers, so read with caution if you're sensitive to that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Death, and Violence
Minor: Cannibalism and Classism
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