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errantdreams's review
3.0
Human for a Day is an anthology edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Jennifer Brozek. Each story tackles a different aspect of the question: what if something could become human for just one day? How would that affect them and those around them? What would happen? Each author has a very different tale to tell, and the range is quite interesting. I’ll delve into a few of the individual tales, although I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers.
The Blade of His Plow by Jay Lake: Longinus is a deathless soldier, doomed to fight again and again in other men’s wars until a day when he might be released from his condition. Watching him live and fight through century after century of evolving warfare is both fascinating and sad. The topic of the anthology makes it inevitable that he will find his freedom, and seeing what he does with it is equally fascinating.
Mortal Mix-Up by Laura Resnick: A vampire and a high school student trade bodies, leaving the stunned vampire to try to fake her way through a teenage girl’s morning. While the concept is interesting, the vampire feels awfully stereotypical, and the altered state she finds herself in didn’t feel like it went much of anywhere. It felt like it could have been an interesting start to something that got cut prematurely short.
Zombie Interrupted by Tim Waggoner: This tale clearly takes place in a pre-existing world from the author’s novels. It’s impressive how well Waggoner manages to get the feel of the unique setting across to the reader without info-dumping, failing to do justice to the actual plot, or leaving the reader stranded and confused. The plot itself is interesting (but would probably be more so with the book background); the nifty part is the setting and the zombie’s unique place within it. I found myself caught up in caring about what happened to him.
Six out of sixteen is a high percentage of ‘okay’ stories, particularly combined with two that really didn’t do anything for me, which is why Human for a Day didn’t manage a 4 out of 5. The stories that I did enjoy were quite good, however. It’s a nice book to spend an afternoon with, and you might find a new author or three to follow.
NOTE: review book provided by publisher.
For a longer review including attention to more of the individual stories, you can visit my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/05/review-human-for-a-day-ed-greenberg-brozek/
The Blade of His Plow by Jay Lake: Longinus is a deathless soldier, doomed to fight again and again in other men’s wars until a day when he might be released from his condition. Watching him live and fight through century after century of evolving warfare is both fascinating and sad. The topic of the anthology makes it inevitable that he will find his freedom, and seeing what he does with it is equally fascinating.
Mortal Mix-Up by Laura Resnick: A vampire and a high school student trade bodies, leaving the stunned vampire to try to fake her way through a teenage girl’s morning. While the concept is interesting, the vampire feels awfully stereotypical, and the altered state she finds herself in didn’t feel like it went much of anywhere. It felt like it could have been an interesting start to something that got cut prematurely short.
Zombie Interrupted by Tim Waggoner: This tale clearly takes place in a pre-existing world from the author’s novels. It’s impressive how well Waggoner manages to get the feel of the unique setting across to the reader without info-dumping, failing to do justice to the actual plot, or leaving the reader stranded and confused. The plot itself is interesting (but would probably be more so with the book background); the nifty part is the setting and the zombie’s unique place within it. I found myself caught up in caring about what happened to him.
Six out of sixteen is a high percentage of ‘okay’ stories, particularly combined with two that really didn’t do anything for me, which is why Human for a Day didn’t manage a 4 out of 5. The stories that I did enjoy were quite good, however. It’s a nice book to spend an afternoon with, and you might find a new author or three to follow.
NOTE: review book provided by publisher.
For a longer review including attention to more of the individual stories, you can visit my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/05/review-human-for-a-day-ed-greenberg-brozek/
jldyer's review
3.0
There were only a few stories that were worthwhile in this collection, but I would definitely recommend:
The Mainspring of His Heart, The Shackles of His Soul - Ian Tregellis
Cinderella City - Seanan McGuire
The Dog-Catcher's Song - Tanith Lee
The Destroyer - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
I suppose looking back through the stories there were more I enjoyed than didn't, but I found some stories like The Blade of His Plow and The Very Next Day that I found cliched and trite. And then there were some in between that were good, but not as memorable like Zombie Interrupted and Into the Nth Dimension.
The Mainspring of His Heart, The Shackles of His Soul - Ian Tregellis
Cinderella City - Seanan McGuire
The Dog-Catcher's Song - Tanith Lee
The Destroyer - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
I suppose looking back through the stories there were more I enjoyed than didn't, but I found some stories like The Blade of His Plow and The Very Next Day that I found cliched and trite. And then there were some in between that were good, but not as memorable like Zombie Interrupted and Into the Nth Dimension.
janetlun's review
The short stories all feature some sort of being that become human for just one day. I adored Ian Tregillis' golem-robot love story, _The Mainspring of his Heart, the Shackles of his Soul_. Seanan McGuire's _Cinderella City_ is a love story to San Francisco, and has some a lovely magic of a place. Quite a change from her shambling zombies! David D. Levine's _Into the Nth Dimension_ pulls a fun change-up, making me look at things in a different way (I'm avoiding a spoiler here), and works in a love story, too. Kristine Kathryn Rusch does a wonderful job of channeling a cat, on a cat's terms. Jean Rabe's vigilante statues are hilarious, if a bit alarming.
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