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metaphorosis's review
3.0
Other reviews indicate their version had only a few stories. Mine had eight, so perhaps a different version of the limited edition. The stories were:
AMARYLLIS by Carrie Vaughn
THE THINGS THAT MAKE ME WEAK AND STRANGE GET ENGINEERED AWAY by Cory Doctorow
IS THIS YOUR DAY TO JOIN THE REVOLUTION? by Genevieve Valentine
JUST DO IT by Heather Lindsley
ARTIES AREN’T STUPID by Jeremiah Tolbert
OF A SWEET SLOW DANCE IN THE WAKE OF TEMPORARY DOGS by Adam-Troy Castro
RESISTANCE by Tobias S. Buckell
CIVILIZATION by Vylar Kaftan
One benefit of anthologies is to introduce readers to new authors. Some of the above were unknown to me, but I'm afraid none of the stories converted me. I did like Tobias Buckell's story - the best of the group. The rest were competently written, but I didn't find them particularly compelling. One, "Of a Slow Sweet Dance..." seemed to me so clearly a re-casting of Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", that I'm surprised that both stories are included in the full version of the book.
Although this was only a sampler, and the stories are different in many ways, I found the styles and themes similar enough that a steady diet of serious dystopia grew wearing. This especially since Vylar Kaftan's story is essentially an outline for dystopian plots - choose one element from column A...
It may be that the full book is more balanced, but I ended up glad I didn't have more to read - surely the opposite of what this taster was intended for.
AMARYLLIS by Carrie Vaughn
THE THINGS THAT MAKE ME WEAK AND STRANGE GET ENGINEERED AWAY by Cory Doctorow
IS THIS YOUR DAY TO JOIN THE REVOLUTION? by Genevieve Valentine
JUST DO IT by Heather Lindsley
ARTIES AREN’T STUPID by Jeremiah Tolbert
OF A SWEET SLOW DANCE IN THE WAKE OF TEMPORARY DOGS by Adam-Troy Castro
RESISTANCE by Tobias S. Buckell
CIVILIZATION by Vylar Kaftan
One benefit of anthologies is to introduce readers to new authors. Some of the above were unknown to me, but I'm afraid none of the stories converted me. I did like Tobias Buckell's story - the best of the group. The rest were competently written, but I didn't find them particularly compelling. One, "Of a Slow Sweet Dance..." seemed to me so clearly a re-casting of Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", that I'm surprised that both stories are included in the full version of the book.
Although this was only a sampler, and the stories are different in many ways, I found the styles and themes similar enough that a steady diet of serious dystopia grew wearing. This especially since Vylar Kaftan's story is essentially an outline for dystopian plots - choose one element from column A...
It may be that the full book is more balanced, but I ended up glad I didn't have more to read - surely the opposite of what this taster was intended for.
anobrega85's review
4.0
I requested this anthology from NetGalley because of the name - who doesn't want to read anything good related to Brave New World? - and because it was edited by John Joseph Adams whose work I've been curious about for a while. I got this selection which consists in the three short stories added to its second edition. Another important factor was my being a fan of dystopian fiction.
The three stories have a previous sort of preface where the author is presented and the theme of the tale that follows is hinted or offered some background information.
The first story is The Cull by Robert Reed and was probably my favourite of the three. It reminded me of Wool, in which it follows a community shut off from the outside world where individuals are excluded when they step out of line apparently by sending them away from the place to an outside world where they surely can't survive. Similarities kind of end right there though. We are told the story by an android medical doctor who is a kind of keeper, simultaneously the doctor and the judge of the humans he "tends to". This tending involves the use of some brain implants that keep everyone in the community (or almost everyone) feeling happy all the time - and this is where I smiled and remembered Huxley's soma. He slowly unveils not only what happens to a kid who is becoming dangerous, behaving aggressively and rather unpredictably in various situations, but also what his intentions towards the whole community are. But he does it so slyly and slowly that the reader is as tricked as the kid or the people right to the very end and is still left questioning how to should judge the doctor's actions.
The second story, by Jennifer Pelland, is called Personal Jesus (yes, the Depeche Mode song). Here, this concept is given a very material interpretation: your Personal Jesus is an object that everyone in the country has connected to their body, forever controlling your social and personal behaviour by means of electric shocks full of divine love and care. The fact that it is written as an enumeration of rules, as if you were given the leaflet on how to live in the Ecclesiastical States of America, adds to the fun and had me laughing out loud.
The last story is The Perfect Match by Ken Liu and I'll start by saying it isn't just a romance in the dystopian age. It does have some of that, but the main focus is driven widely away from it and into the exploration of what this world of communications and informations directed by algorithms can lead us to. There were some moments where the narrator decides to tell you the interpretation you could be making on your own, which is a bit annoying specially in a story exploring this theme, but overall it's a good tale and does question very important issues. Ken Liu reminds us, on one side, that we are already being controlled by those who choose which news or updates to put up at the top of our lists or timelines, and on the other side, of what a world where we grow isolated, each one only seeing and doing what he supposedly wants or likes a priori, looks like.
The book ends with some recommendation pages, on dystopian films and books worth watching or reading. Something I should never read again, should I want to have money to buy food and pay bills and space in my room to live.
This selection worked really well as a sneak preview of the anthology, so much that I instantly added the book to my wishlist. Highly recommended for people who like dystopian works, short fiction or overall science fiction fans.
This review was originally published on my blog, both in English and Portuguese.
The three stories have a previous sort of preface where the author is presented and the theme of the tale that follows is hinted or offered some background information.
The first story is The Cull by Robert Reed and was probably my favourite of the three. It reminded me of Wool, in which it follows a community shut off from the outside world where individuals are excluded when they step out of line apparently by sending them away from the place to an outside world where they surely can't survive. Similarities kind of end right there though. We are told the story by an android medical doctor who is a kind of keeper, simultaneously the doctor and the judge of the humans he "tends to". This tending involves the use of some brain implants that keep everyone in the community (or almost everyone) feeling happy all the time - and this is where I smiled and remembered Huxley's soma. He slowly unveils not only what happens to a kid who is becoming dangerous, behaving aggressively and rather unpredictably in various situations, but also what his intentions towards the whole community are. But he does it so slyly and slowly that the reader is as tricked as the kid or the people right to the very end and is still left questioning how to should judge the doctor's actions.
The second story, by Jennifer Pelland, is called Personal Jesus (yes, the Depeche Mode song). Here, this concept is given a very material interpretation: your Personal Jesus is an object that everyone in the country has connected to their body, forever controlling your social and personal behaviour by means of electric shocks full of divine love and care. The fact that it is written as an enumeration of rules, as if you were given the leaflet on how to live in the Ecclesiastical States of America, adds to the fun and had me laughing out loud.
The last story is The Perfect Match by Ken Liu and I'll start by saying it isn't just a romance in the dystopian age. It does have some of that, but the main focus is driven widely away from it and into the exploration of what this world of communications and informations directed by algorithms can lead us to. There were some moments where the narrator decides to tell you the interpretation you could be making on your own, which is a bit annoying specially in a story exploring this theme, but overall it's a good tale and does question very important issues. Ken Liu reminds us, on one side, that we are already being controlled by those who choose which news or updates to put up at the top of our lists or timelines, and on the other side, of what a world where we grow isolated, each one only seeing and doing what he supposedly wants or likes a priori, looks like.
The book ends with some recommendation pages, on dystopian films and books worth watching or reading. Something I should never read again, should I want to have money to buy food and pay bills and space in my room to live.
This selection worked really well as a sneak preview of the anthology, so much that I instantly added the book to my wishlist. Highly recommended for people who like dystopian works, short fiction or overall science fiction fans.
This review was originally published on my blog, both in English and Portuguese.
heroman's review
3.0
This was an odd one from my dad's drive.
It is an abridged anthology series with takes on dystopian worlds.
About the only thing that bothered me was The Adam-Troy Castro story. And that, I had to re-read to make sure I had understood it. I thought it was a weird editors choice, but the introduction text before the story made things click in my head.
Overall, I rate Baen library a cozy library/10. And thank you for everyone who contributed to this. Even Adam-Troy Castro.
It is an abridged anthology series with takes on dystopian worlds.
About the only thing that bothered me was The Adam-Troy Castro story. And that, I had to re-read to make sure I had understood it. I thought it was a weird editors choice, but the introduction text before the story made things click in my head.
Overall, I rate Baen library a cozy library/10. And thank you for everyone who contributed to this. Even Adam-Troy Castro.
saltandcedar's review
2.0
It's hard to know what to rate this anthology because there were one or two stories in it I really enjoyed a lot. But for each story I really liked, there was one I hated so much that I didn't finish it or even worse, had to put down because of scenes depicting sexual violence. It happened often enough that I encountered it in this book that I actually googled if rape had become a trope in its own right in dystopian fiction, but I couldn't turn up anything conclusive either way.
Most of the stories I neither loved nor skipped were lukewarm at best and for that reason I have to give this anthology two stars.
Most of the stories I neither loved nor skipped were lukewarm at best and for that reason I have to give this anthology two stars.
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