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gerd_d's review
3.0
I picked this collection up when it was free on Amazon.
This is not so much a collection of short stories, I would say, as it is an introduction to several different SF series, with two exceptions.
As is the case with most collections I liked some of the stories more than others, but overall it was interesting to see different writing styles at work.
Anthea Sharp, Passage Out
A steampunk short story which reads well enough but suffers, in my personal opinion, from special girl syndrome.
Christine Pope, Blood Ties
Noir style story with a few tired concepts, like sexual assault, set in a promising world building.
Sara Reine, Raising a Dragon
Space Dragons!
Sara combines Fantasy and SF not always logical in this story but delivers a charming, fast read. Entertaining and self enclosed this is one of the entries not bound to a larger series.
Nathan Lowell, Exile
This feels more like a story fragment or a teaser for the series it belongs to. There's not much of a story building here and it ends on a complete open note.
Debra Dunbar, Arcturus 5
A bit confusing, I didn’t fully grasp the concept behind the main characters race.
The story itself though provided an entertaining read with some twist and an interesting “bad boy” character. There’s a bit of a romance undercurrent going on (with the tired old “soulmates” concept) that I felt didn’t readily belong to the story, but which I guess is part of the main series concept.
Audrey Faye, A Tale of Two Ships
This one felt heavily tied to the series it belongs too.
More than a teaser, less than a self-contained short story it seems mostly to serve as a character introduction.
C. Gockel, Carl Sagan’s Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe
Ends on a open, somewhat confusing note and probably needs to be read with the series it belongs to. Liked the writing and the way it was set-up though. Going from fun, to bitter-sweet, to quite dark, I think this is the most ambitious story in the collection.
Phaedra M. Weldon, Blue Light
Didn’t really get into this, I thought there was too much explaining going on and not enough story. The overall concept to it reminded me of an 80s TV-Series.
LJ Cohen, Treason’s Course
Militaristic SF, which although it reads like a self-enclosed story probably sets up the backdrop for the series it belongs to which is set several decades later.
Colleen Vanderlinden, Silent Witness
Girl on a mission comes along a ragtag band of adventurers.
Space opera with a superheroes bend this seems to be aimed at younger readers and such who are young at heart. Lovely storytelling with an YA-ish feel this was my favourite from the collection.
An author I need to keep in mind.
Shawntelle Madison, The Final Sunrise
A vampires in space short story. The set-up left me a bit confused but the story was fun to read and it isn’t part of a series, yet it left me wondering about missing story background.
This is not so much a collection of short stories, I would say, as it is an introduction to several different SF series, with two exceptions.
As is the case with most collections I liked some of the stories more than others, but overall it was interesting to see different writing styles at work.
Anthea Sharp, Passage Out
A steampunk short story which reads well enough but suffers, in my personal opinion, from special girl syndrome.
Christine Pope, Blood Ties
Noir style story with a few tired concepts, like sexual assault, set in a promising world building.
Sara Reine, Raising a Dragon
Space Dragons!
Sara combines Fantasy and SF not always logical in this story but delivers a charming, fast read. Entertaining and self enclosed this is one of the entries not bound to a larger series.
Nathan Lowell, Exile
This feels more like a story fragment or a teaser for the series it belongs to. There's not much of a story building here and it ends on a complete open note.
Debra Dunbar, Arcturus 5
A bit confusing, I didn’t fully grasp the concept behind the main characters race.
The story itself though provided an entertaining read with some twist and an interesting “bad boy” character. There’s a bit of a romance undercurrent going on (with the tired old “soulmates” concept) that I felt didn’t readily belong to the story, but which I guess is part of the main series concept.
Audrey Faye, A Tale of Two Ships
This one felt heavily tied to the series it belongs too.
More than a teaser, less than a self-contained short story it seems mostly to serve as a character introduction.
C. Gockel, Carl Sagan’s Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe
Ends on a open, somewhat confusing note and probably needs to be read with the series it belongs to. Liked the writing and the way it was set-up though. Going from fun, to bitter-sweet, to quite dark, I think this is the most ambitious story in the collection.
Phaedra M. Weldon, Blue Light
Didn’t really get into this, I thought there was too much explaining going on and not enough story. The overall concept to it reminded me of an 80s TV-Series.
LJ Cohen, Treason’s Course
Militaristic SF, which although it reads like a self-enclosed story probably sets up the backdrop for the series it belongs to which is set several decades later.
Colleen Vanderlinden, Silent Witness
Girl on a mission comes along a ragtag band of adventurers.
Space opera with a superheroes bend this seems to be aimed at younger readers and such who are young at heart. Lovely storytelling with an YA-ish feel this was my favourite from the collection.
An author I need to keep in mind.
Shawntelle Madison, The Final Sunrise
A vampires in space short story. The set-up left me a bit confused but the story was fun to read and it isn’t part of a series, yet it left me wondering about missing story background.
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