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atuin's review
adventurous
emotional
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
I'll admit to being a little dissapointed with this. I loved her Cat Pictures Please story, but many others felt less interesting to me. However, there are still some other standout stories that help lift up this anthology. In addition to the aforementioned Cat Pictures Please, I greatly enjoyed Bit's, The Good Son, Honest Man, The Wall, and So Much Cooking.
par3's review
5.0
5 Stars! Excellent fun story.
Read: 8/8/22
Link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/
Merged review:
5 Stars! Excellent fun story.
Read: 8/8/22
Link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/
Read: 8/8/22
Link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/
Merged review:
5 Stars! Excellent fun story.
Read: 8/8/22
Link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/
albaheso's review
4.0
Joder, qué miedo da pensar que está escrito en 2015 y se consideraba ciencia ficción. Hoy por hoy ya no se puede considerar ciencia ficción, de ningún modo.
Cortito, pero que da para mucho; hay momentos duros, alegres, tristes, sentimentales...
Recomendado 100% para pasar un rato entretenido.
Merged review:
Joder, qué miedo da pensar que está escrito en 2015 y se consideraba ciencia ficción. Hoy por hoy ya no se puede considerar ciencia ficción, de ningún modo.
Cortito, pero que da para mucho; hay momentos duros, alegres, tristes, sentimentales...
Recomendado 100% para pasar un rato entretenido.
Cortito, pero que da para mucho; hay momentos duros, alegres, tristes, sentimentales...
Recomendado 100% para pasar un rato entretenido.
Merged review:
Joder, qué miedo da pensar que está escrito en 2015 y se consideraba ciencia ficción. Hoy por hoy ya no se puede considerar ciencia ficción, de ningún modo.
Cortito, pero que da para mucho; hay momentos duros, alegres, tristes, sentimentales...
Recomendado 100% para pasar un rato entretenido.
echan's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
pinkbasil's review
4.0
I mostly preferred the stories that aren't straight fantasy -- the ones that are about people from the present or near future dealing with the unintended consequences of technology. Some of those are like upbeat Black Mirror stories. Also very enjoyable, the dragon story, the golem story, and the one that ends the book, where a food blogger deals with unexpected obstacles.
misssusan's review
4.0
great collection! there wasn't a single story i disliked and i enjoyed how kind every story was. good sense of voice too, it can be hard to balance high concepts with character in short stories but kritzer pulled it off consistently
4 stars
4 stars
robotswithpersonality's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
Showcases a creative and impactful writing talent across a broad spectrum of tone within sci fi and fantasy, contemporary (?) genres.Only the first, eponymous story, feels like the CatNet duology. After that, I appreciate Kritzer's writing but it's a heck of a tone shift. Despite the adorable title, I wouldn't say that age demographic for this collection is YA. I will talk more individually about each story but best to caveat first with personal bias, aka I finally figured out what's bugging me about short story collections, even then good ones.
I rely on library loan periods to access books and the pressure to read a book within a certain time period is exacerbated by unmodifiable interlibrary loan due dates.
There's such a difference in tone from story to story in a short story collection, but also, I feel that authors pull their punches less when the narrative arc is short. You may have several hard hitting tales in a row, whereas a novel (not in the thriller/horror genre) would ease up in the course of the narrative.
While reading a short story made to be impactful, brief or even not completely satisfying in ending every once in a while, spaced out, is reasonable for my personal reader temperament, trying to steadily work my way through a variable collection, as I would with the chapters in a linear volume, feels like it requires more energy/effort/attention. Not an experience I'm likely to repeat frequently.
The Golem - Personal choice a big one, feels like early AI, not automatically thinking like a human, but through being cared for by humans, learns to care in turn.
Ace of Spades - what does it mean to truly live your life, if you were offered a different future , would you change your decisions, your goals, your dreams?
Wind - Fantasy/fairytale/folk lore - again unexpected, but quite enjoyed it
Witches Garden - Closer to that Grimm tradition of fairy tales, but a very inventive scifi/fantasy retelling of/inspired by the Snow Queen highlighting conformity, the worst aspects of modern commercialized science.
Blessing Creek - What it can do to people raised under repressive traditions, how racism/xenophobia twists people to do things they might not otherwise consider, addresses the destruction and displacement of indigenous peoples by white 'settlers' of the Western 'fronter'
Cleanout - By far my favourite, weaving together siblings, dealing with infertility, adoption, loss of/care for elderly parents, immigrant parents and first generation americans, how being immigrant/having immigrant parents affects one's outlook, seems to be leaning towards folklore mystery, but then...maybe sci-fi? Would make an amazing novel, but is also perhaps the best structured of the short stories/ in the form it currently exists.
Artifice - The kind of sad robot story I'm used to seeing in modern sci-fi, I'm glad it's not the only kind out there, even if it makes its points well.
Perfection - A lot of points to make at once, feels like it was just getting somewhere as it ended - the obsession with a certain type of accepted physical appearance, genetic modification or plastic surgery, as a path to conformity, xenophobia, the broader, more flavour-filled world outside the pursuit of homogeneity.
The Good Son - My personal synopsis would be: 'what if the Fae/Fey were not canonically assholes?' , a few jabs at US health care system as it exists, what true love and commitment looks like in the face of illness, mortality
Scrap Dragon - Another favourite - would happily read a short story collection with all tales told in this back and forth between narrator and argumentative audience/reader/listener style; author's note just adds to the loveliness 😉
Comrade Grandmother - Not one for Russian nationalism or war stories, myself, but the idea of Bab Yaga from folklore shaping pivotal WW2 battles with other mythical figures, and dropping by a combat zone to chat with an incredibly brave young woman is honestly more palatable than the truth of warfare
Isabella's Garden - Probably the most benign version of what would happen if you had that kind of power
Bits - Somehow wholesome and a jaw dropper, the author's note gave me a giggle
Honest Man - Going to stay with me for a long time, because I had an uncanny sense of deja vu the whole time I was reading it, and the timing of its original publication makes it incredibly unlikely I would have read it previously 😨
The Wall - Ah, time travel, so often touching, about choices and what you accept you can't change
So Much Cooking - Considering this was published in 2017, this cooking blog style story about H1N1 felt frighteningly like a rehash of Covid quarantine, and all the ups and downs therein, might be a bit too close to things for people post-2020
⚠️ Descriptions of WW2 anti-semitic genocide
Three different stories set in the time of world war two, but it's obvious from the start, so easy to skip if that's not your bag
I rely on library loan periods to access books and the pressure to read a book within a certain time period is exacerbated by unmodifiable interlibrary loan due dates.
There's such a difference in tone from story to story in a short story collection, but also, I feel that authors pull their punches less when the narrative arc is short. You may have several hard hitting tales in a row, whereas a novel (not in the thriller/horror genre) would ease up in the course of the narrative.
While reading a short story made to be impactful, brief or even not completely satisfying in ending every once in a while, spaced out, is reasonable for my personal reader temperament, trying to steadily work my way through a variable collection, as I would with the chapters in a linear volume, feels like it requires more energy/effort/attention. Not an experience I'm likely to repeat frequently.
The Golem - Personal choice a big one, feels like early AI, not automatically thinking like a human, but through being cared for by humans, learns to care in turn.
Ace of Spades - what does it mean to truly live your life, if you were offered a different future , would you change your decisions, your goals, your dreams?
Wind - Fantasy/fairytale/folk lore - again unexpected, but quite enjoyed it
Witches Garden - Closer to that Grimm tradition of fairy tales, but a very inventive scifi/fantasy retelling of/inspired by the Snow Queen highlighting conformity, the worst aspects of modern commercialized science.
Blessing Creek - What it can do to people raised under repressive traditions, how racism/xenophobia twists people to do things they might not otherwise consider, addresses the destruction and displacement of indigenous peoples by white 'settlers' of the Western 'fronter'
Cleanout - By far my favourite, weaving together siblings, dealing with infertility, adoption, loss of/care for elderly parents, immigrant parents and first generation americans, how being immigrant/having immigrant parents affects one's outlook, seems to be leaning towards folklore mystery, but then...maybe sci-fi? Would make an amazing novel, but is also perhaps the best structured of the short stories/ in the form it currently exists.
Artifice - The kind of sad robot story I'm used to seeing in modern sci-fi, I'm glad it's not the only kind out there, even if it makes its points well.
Perfection - A lot of points to make at once, feels like it was just getting somewhere as it ended - the obsession with a certain type of accepted physical appearance, genetic modification or plastic surgery, as a path to conformity, xenophobia, the broader, more flavour-filled world outside the pursuit of homogeneity.
The Good Son - My personal synopsis would be: 'what if the Fae/Fey were not canonically assholes?' , a few jabs at US health care system as it exists, what true love and commitment looks like in the face of illness, mortality
Scrap Dragon - Another favourite - would happily read a short story collection with all tales told in this back and forth between narrator and argumentative audience/reader/listener style; author's note just adds to the loveliness 😉
Comrade Grandmother - Not one for Russian nationalism or war stories, myself, but the idea of Bab Yaga from folklore shaping pivotal WW2 battles with other mythical figures, and dropping by a combat zone to chat with an incredibly brave young woman is honestly more palatable than the truth of warfare
Isabella's Garden - Probably the most benign version of what would happen if you had that kind of power
Bits - Somehow wholesome and a jaw dropper, the author's note gave me a giggle
Honest Man - Going to stay with me for a long time, because I had an uncanny sense of deja vu the whole time I was reading it, and the timing of its original publication makes it incredibly unlikely I would have read it previously 😨
The Wall - Ah, time travel, so often touching, about choices and what you accept you can't change
So Much Cooking - Considering this was published in 2017, this cooking blog style story about H1N1 felt frighteningly like a rehash of Covid quarantine, and all the ups and downs therein, might be a bit too close to things for people post-2020
⚠️ Descriptions of WW2 anti-semitic genocide
Three different stories set in the time of world war two, but it's obvious from the start, so easy to skip if that's not your bag
triftwizened's review
5.0
Short online story, can be read here: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/
If Catfishing on the CatNet is the first book of Kritzer’s CatNet series, consider this book #0.5. And this - just by itself - was delightful. Wonderful short, quick read with a snarky AI main character. I’m really looking forward to reading Catfishing on the CatNet.
Merged review:
Short online story, can be read here: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/
If Catfishing on the CatNet is the first book of Kritzer’s CatNet series, consider this book #0.5. And this - just by itself - was delightful. Wonderful short, quick read with a snarky AI main character. I’m really looking forward to reading Catfishing on the CatNet.
If Catfishing on the CatNet is the first book of Kritzer’s CatNet series, consider this book #0.5. And this - just by itself - was delightful. Wonderful short, quick read with a snarky AI main character. I’m really looking forward to reading Catfishing on the CatNet.
Merged review:
Short online story, can be read here: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/
If Catfishing on the CatNet is the first book of Kritzer’s CatNet series, consider this book #0.5. And this - just by itself - was delightful. Wonderful short, quick read with a snarky AI main character. I’m really looking forward to reading Catfishing on the CatNet.
milointhewoods's review
4.0
well this was a disturbingly accurate supposition of how my life has been for pretty much the last year and a half. it is creepy and off - putting how prescient this story was. it was well written, and i really liked the format of recipe blogging - i thought it was interesting and i hadn’t seen it done before. but mainly this was just a bizarre read, from 2015 predicting 2020 and 2021, by accident, with pinpoint accuracy.
i have to say - i thought this was heading in the ~cannibalism~ direction and i’m a little disappointed it didn’t, because theme wise it didn’t really hold up to other short stories in the 2016 hugo long list anthology. but it was well written and disturbing to read so it gets stars!!
Merged review:
well this was a disturbingly accurate supposition of how my life has been for pretty much the last year and a half. it is creepy and off - putting how prescient this story was. it was well written, and i really liked the format of recipe blogging - i thought it was interesting and i hadn’t seen it done before. but mainly this was just a bizarre read, from 2015 predicting 2020 and 2021, by accident, with pinpoint accuracy.
i have to say - i thought this was heading in the ~cannibalism~ direction and i’m a little disappointed it didn’t, because theme wise it didn’t really hold up to other short stories in the 2016 hugo long list anthology. but it was well written and disturbing to read so it gets stars!!
i have to say - i thought this was heading in the ~cannibalism~ direction and i’m a little disappointed it didn’t, because theme wise it didn’t really hold up to other short stories in the 2016 hugo long list anthology. but it was well written and disturbing to read so it gets stars!!
Merged review:
well this was a disturbingly accurate supposition of how my life has been for pretty much the last year and a half. it is creepy and off - putting how prescient this story was. it was well written, and i really liked the format of recipe blogging - i thought it was interesting and i hadn’t seen it done before. but mainly this was just a bizarre read, from 2015 predicting 2020 and 2021, by accident, with pinpoint accuracy.
i have to say - i thought this was heading in the ~cannibalism~ direction and i’m a little disappointed it didn’t, because theme wise it didn’t really hold up to other short stories in the 2016 hugo long list anthology. but it was well written and disturbing to read so it gets stars!!