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A review by rinnyssance
Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein
3.0
This book is a group of short stories by the author that are centered around some mixture dystopia, tech, sharing culture and the vision of a near future. Some of the stories were really good. My favorites were "Say Goodbye to Yang" and "The Cartographers." Others, not so much. I'd say I enjoyed four of the stories in total, but even enjoying the stories doesn't make up for the fact the book isn't one I'd recommend.
So what were the flaws of the stories? For one, the redundancy of the mid-thirties White male character who was tired of the world as it is and nostalgic for the way things used to be. After a while it was like dipping into a parallel universe where the same cynical guy was living different lives. In short, the characters were flat and boring.
Some of the short stories had no plot. For instance, I have no idea what was going on in Fall Line. First there was snow and then suddenly there was, the end. And we're following this has-been skier who complained about--not much of anything. Boring.
There are way better science fiction stories than these. Ones that bring excitement and dimensions to characters. Ones that have interesting plots that leave you wishing the story was longer. Stories that make you contemplate real-world implications of the technology or human behavior surrounding the plotline. This book failed to do all of that.
This says three stars but it's really two and a half.
So what were the flaws of the stories? For one, the redundancy of the mid-thirties White male character who was tired of the world as it is and nostalgic for the way things used to be. After a while it was like dipping into a parallel universe where the same cynical guy was living different lives. In short, the characters were flat and boring.
Some of the short stories had no plot. For instance, I have no idea what was going on in Fall Line. First there was snow and then suddenly there was, the end. And we're following this has-been skier who complained about--not much of anything. Boring.
There are way better science fiction stories than these. Ones that bring excitement and dimensions to characters. Ones that have interesting plots that leave you wishing the story was longer. Stories that make you contemplate real-world implications of the technology or human behavior surrounding the plotline. This book failed to do all of that.
This says three stars but it's really two and a half.