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adru's review
Ikka päris hea, pinge ja ohutunne olid kogu aeg kohal.
Ma eeldan, et "psyhholoogiline põnevik" peaks just selline olema, mitte nagu need mingid n-ö hittraamatud, mida ma lugenud olen.
Ma eeldan, et "psyhholoogiline põnevik" peaks just selline olema, mitte nagu need mingid n-ö hittraamatud, mida ma lugenud olen.
cj13's review
Short story collections are usually a mix of things I enjoy and things I don’t. Didn’t find a single story in this collection that clicked for me.
scottishben's review against another edition
4.0
I was a backer of this Kickstarter funded anthology. As a rule I am more drawn to non-themed collections than themed but was keen to support, curious and optimistically enthusiastic to give Neil Clarke's original anthology debut a try after enjoying so much of the Clarkesworld magazine stories he has published.
Rachel Swirsky - As is usually the case with her we have a poetic, beautifully written piece. Unexpected and powerful exploration of the theme. Very short and more to my taste than the recent "If I were a dinosaur..." currently nominated for a Hugo. First in the collection I read and likely to be a favorite.
Xia Jia - a personal story looking at cyborg type potential exploring robotics and care for the elderly. Old school SF focusing perhaps more on ideas than beautiful prose but very enjoyable, interesting story even if I might argue it is not quite about cyborgs per se. Good to get a non-western story by a writer not overly familiar to me.
Greg Egan - What I liked about this story is that it really looked at the potential around cyborgification in a way that was specific (vision) and credible. People often suggest Egan as a hard science fiction writer who fills his fiction with science but this was science lite although felt credible. Enjoyable story, well told, fitted great into the anthology but didnt rock my world
Seth Dickenson and Mari Ness - perfectly decent but not for me. Might give the Dickenson a second try though.
Ken Liu - the regular - very well done crime PI near future SF - well written, tense and enjoyable. Also quite dark. Didnt feel like it reinvented the wheel but still very solid and quite inventive.
Rich Larsen - God Decay - Looking at Cyborgification in sports - One thing I really like about this volume is the amount of variety and though I didnt massively gel with this I quite liked it and liked how it took the theme differently than some of the other stories.
Genevieveve Valentine - Small Medicines - another good one.
Erin Hoffman - Mercury in Retrograde - I really enjoyed this one, might need to check one more of Erin's work. Its a cyberpunky kind of thrill ride.
More to follow.
Rachel Swirsky - As is usually the case with her we have a poetic, beautifully written piece. Unexpected and powerful exploration of the theme. Very short and more to my taste than the recent "If I were a dinosaur..." currently nominated for a Hugo. First in the collection I read and likely to be a favorite.
Xia Jia - a personal story looking at cyborg type potential exploring robotics and care for the elderly. Old school SF focusing perhaps more on ideas than beautiful prose but very enjoyable, interesting story even if I might argue it is not quite about cyborgs per se. Good to get a non-western story by a writer not overly familiar to me.
Greg Egan - What I liked about this story is that it really looked at the potential around cyborgification in a way that was specific (vision) and credible. People often suggest Egan as a hard science fiction writer who fills his fiction with science but this was science lite although felt credible. Enjoyable story, well told, fitted great into the anthology but didnt rock my world
Seth Dickenson and Mari Ness - perfectly decent but not for me. Might give the Dickenson a second try though.
Ken Liu - the regular - very well done crime PI near future SF - well written, tense and enjoyable. Also quite dark. Didnt feel like it reinvented the wheel but still very solid and quite inventive.
Rich Larsen - God Decay - Looking at Cyborgification in sports - One thing I really like about this volume is the amount of variety and though I didnt massively gel with this I quite liked it and liked how it took the theme differently than some of the other stories.
Genevieveve Valentine - Small Medicines - another good one.
Erin Hoffman - Mercury in Retrograde - I really enjoyed this one, might need to check one more of Erin's work. Its a cyberpunky kind of thrill ride.
More to follow.
metaphorosis's review
4.0
reviews.metaphorosis.com
4 stars
A collection of stories about cyborgs.
I've been a fan of editor Neil Clarke's Clarkesworld magazine for some time now. The stories are consistently good, if with a certain similarity of tone. I was interested to see what he would do with a themed anthology.
Happily, Updated has a wide array of styles. It's true that the cyborg theme gets a little wearing - 26 stories about cyborgs is a lot of cyborgs - so there may just be too much of a good thing. But within that parameter, there's variation in theme, concept, impact, and tone.
Clarke has attracted a lot of today's newish writers for this anthology - there are few of the old guard here; in fact, maybe only middle guard. With few exceptions, though, the writers are good. The ones that do get off track tend to be aiming for a poetic or avant garde approach that ends up choppy, and, in one case, almost incomprehensible.
The best stories in the anthology:
Always the Harvest by Yoon Ha Lee
The opener for the anthology is also one of its strongest stories, with an interesting and affecting look at alien contact. I believe I've only read one of Lee's stories before (surprising, given how much she's published), but I'll definitely be looking for more.
The Sarcophagus, by Robert Reed
This one takes its time to get going, and leaves out quite a bit of useful information, but eventually wends its way to a satisfying end.
Oil of Angels, by Chen Qiufan
A study of memory, this has one of the best, most interesting, concepts in the book. The writing is a bit stilted, and ordinarily I'd put that down to translation. When you've got Ken Liu translating, though, who not only is a highly talented writer, but seems to have a second job translating Chinese authors, it's hard to complain. The style makes it a bit hard to get beneath the surface of the character, but the story works well overall.
Honeycomb Girls, by Erin Cashier
As with much SF, about the effects of technology on culture. The story is burdened with an awkward vocal style meant to emphasize the distance between two groups, but the bulk of the story is well told, with an interesting perspective on a possible future.
The Regular, by Ken Liu
A mystery story clad in SF, but also genuine SF as a look at how humans are regardless of technology. What can I say? I try to be critical, but Liu seems to go from strength to strength as an excellent writer, plus near single-handed purveyor of new Chinese SF voices (and what a good thing that turns out to be).
Tongtong's Summer, by Xia Jia
Quite a few of the stories in this anthology are about family, and this is one of the best. Relatively simple construction and concept, but a moving story about love.- Memories and Wire, by Mari Ness
Ness is another one of those writers who (for me) seems to have come out of nowhere to be everywhere. It's a happy result. As with Ken Liu, Ness seems incapable of writing anything that's not good. This story is a creepy, even disturbing, story about relationships. Frankly, I don't know quite what to make of it, but it worked. - Small Medicine, by Genevieve Valentine
Grandparents seem to figure quite a lot in this anthology. This story, about a young girl's relationship with her grandmother, does a great job of presenting a child's view of change.
If you want stories about cyborgs, this is the place to go. The stories here get at the idea from all sorts of angles, and most of them do it very well. In fact, there's so much variation and skill here that this may be the definitive collection of cyborg stories. If you like cyborgs, get this. If you don't like cyborgs, you should probably get it anyway (just read it in more, shorter sittings).
NB: Received free copy from Net Galley.
NB: Received free copy from Net Galley.
brizreading's review
2.0
Short novella about a quasi-robocop private eye lady, full of damaged parts and cybernetic parts (cool), hunting for a serial killer who kills fancy prostitutes. Some stuff about blackmailing high-level Chinese politicians. Some stuff about Boston's Chinatown.
Meh. This didn't connect with me at all. I found Liu's writing full of telling, telling, telling, and very little showing. I'm also not a huge fan of serial killer/dead prostitute stories, so that was a barrier.
Meh. This didn't connect with me at all. I found Liu's writing full of telling, telling, telling, and very little showing. I'm also not a huge fan of serial killer/dead prostitute stories, so that was a barrier.
alexanderpaez's review
3.0
Reseña completa en el blog
No la he leído completa.
He leído:
- No Place to Dream, but a Place to Die by Elizabeth Bear
- Tongtong’s Summer by Xia Jia
- Always the Harvest by Yoon Ha Lee
- The Regular by Ken Liu
- Musée de l’Âme Seule by E. Lily Yu
- Come From Away by Madeline Ashby
- Oil of Angles by Chen Qiufan
Aproximadamente un 50% de los relatos.
No la he leído completa.
He leído:
- No Place to Dream, but a Place to Die by Elizabeth Bear
- Tongtong’s Summer by Xia Jia
- Always the Harvest by Yoon Ha Lee
- The Regular by Ken Liu
- Musée de l’Âme Seule by E. Lily Yu
- Come From Away by Madeline Ashby
- Oil of Angles by Chen Qiufan
Aproximadamente un 50% de los relatos.
arkron's review
4.0
Full review at my blog.
Female cyborg Ruth is engaged in a noir style murder case of a prostitute. The story follows murderer and
private detective in their struggle to stay in control.
Female cyborg Ruth is engaged in a noir style murder case of a prostitute. The story follows murderer and
private detective in their struggle to stay in control.
pearseanderson's review
4.0
Neil Clarke is magical. This is a great collection, and although there are some problems with a good eighth of the stories, each is powerful, unique, and very engaging. Perhaps after reading fifteen stories about cyborgs I wanted something a bit different, but hey, I knew what I was getting into. Glad I was able to finish this after my Kindle broke in the boy's locker room and I didn't find out how a story ended for months. Now I know.
dr_matthew_lloyd's review
3.0
As with any short-story collection, the quality and interest of stories in Upgraded was variable. There was nothing here that I thought was terrible, but there were a couple I just plain couldn't follow. The ones which interested me the least were those which just told stories about people who happened to live in worlds where there were cyborgs, rather than reflecting on the personal/social effects of such a radical change to the human body. These far outnumbered those which had genuine solid SF premices about the impact of "upgrading" human beings with machinery. Indeed, a few too many of these stories focused less on the upgrading than on the permutation of mechanical additions - they focused on able-bodied people getting additions rather than the medical function of most cyborg additions.
Stand-out stories, for me, were: "What I've Seen With Your Eyes" by Jason K. Chapman; "Married" by Helena Bell; "Tender" by Rachel Swirsky (particularly for its appraoch to questions of bodily automony); "Tongtong's Summer" by Xia Jia; "Musée de L’Âme Seule" by E. Lily Yu (for a second-person narrative which works, a triumph in itself); "Memories and Wire" by Mari Ness; "God Decay" by Rich Larson; "Small Medicine" by Genevive Valentine; "Collateral" by Peter Watts (although I'm not sure I agree with some of the assertions made in this story, it certainly leaves a lot to think about); and "Seventh Sight" by Greg Egan. Most of these are in the latter half of the volume, which I suppose should encourage you to keep going if you're reading it! I flagged a little as I went on, I must say. Ken Liu's "The Regular" also deserves a mention as a solid story, although it was enjoyable to read while those above tend more towards the "left me with interesting questions" branch of SF.
I would recommend this volume. The good is worth it.
Stand-out stories, for me, were: "What I've Seen With Your Eyes" by Jason K. Chapman; "Married" by Helena Bell; "Tender" by Rachel Swirsky (particularly for its appraoch to questions of bodily automony); "Tongtong's Summer" by Xia Jia; "Musée de L’Âme Seule" by E. Lily Yu (for a second-person narrative which works, a triumph in itself); "Memories and Wire" by Mari Ness; "God Decay" by Rich Larson; "Small Medicine" by Genevive Valentine; "Collateral" by Peter Watts (although I'm not sure I agree with some of the assertions made in this story, it certainly leaves a lot to think about); and "Seventh Sight" by Greg Egan. Most of these are in the latter half of the volume, which I suppose should encourage you to keep going if you're reading it! I flagged a little as I went on, I must say. Ken Liu's "The Regular" also deserves a mention as a solid story, although it was enjoyable to read while those above tend more towards the "left me with interesting questions" branch of SF.
I would recommend this volume. The good is worth it.