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kaymichelle388's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't care for most of the stories in "Paradise Tales." There were a couple that were quite nice ("Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter" and "Days of Wonder", to name a few), but unfortunately the mediocre outweighs the good in this collection.
tregina's review
3.0
I fought long and hard with myself about what to rate this one, because the ones I loved I really loved (like "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter", which I'd read before), but the ones that didn't work as well for me I tended to forget almost immediately. So really, I settled in the middle. (Though if there was ever a time for a rating between three and four, this is it.)
mattie's review
4.0
The first Ryman book I read was his novel [b:The Child Garden|258096|The Child Garden|Geoff Ryman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173210718s/258096.jpg|200019], which was quite a mashup of fascinating ideas and bits that were quite difficult to follow. This book is similar, though the two are generally segregated into different stories. It did well at making me Feel Feelings and Think Thoughts about the worldbuilding, which is my favorite kind of scifi.
The things I loved the most in this collection: the exploration of age and aging in the future; the intersection of aging with technology; interesting extrapolations of both technological and social trends.
Example, from a narrator in a retirement home in the future: "My eyeglasses are running through all the photographs of staff, and finally I see him. I click a bit of my brain, like I’m going to ask him his name. The glasses tell me."
My favorite stories were that one, VAO, about today's young people in old age (replete with geriatric criminal gang); You, about a future where people can co-live other people's lives through recorded realtime experiences called lifeblogs; and Blocked, a great amalgamation of SE Asian culture and apocalyptic planning and gender exploration. Really disliked a couple of the others, but it still comes out ahead. Hooray Geoff Ryman.
The things I loved the most in this collection: the exploration of age and aging in the future; the intersection of aging with technology; interesting extrapolations of both technological and social trends.
Example, from a narrator in a retirement home in the future: "My eyeglasses are running through all the photographs of staff, and finally I see him. I click a bit of my brain, like I’m going to ask him his name. The glasses tell me."
My favorite stories were that one, VAO, about today's young people in old age (replete with geriatric criminal gang); You, about a future where people can co-live other people's lives through recorded realtime experiences called lifeblogs; and Blocked, a great amalgamation of SE Asian culture and apocalyptic planning and gender exploration. Really disliked a couple of the others, but it still comes out ahead. Hooray Geoff Ryman.
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