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tsavatar 's review for:
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
by Ted Chiang
4.5/5 There are two types of good speculative fiction in my opinion. One is the entertaining type, the type that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The second one is the type that makes you think. You rarely stumble upon one story or book or even author that is both. Those are the greats. But they are not alone.
Ted Chiang is not an entertaining author in my opinion but he has mastered the "really makes you think" style of sci-fi in a way few of his contemporaries do. He writes tersely but well and never uses two words to express what he can do with one where a lot of sF&f writers (perhaps myself included) use 5 words instead. His work is perfect for the short story and novella format. And perhaps best of all, despite writing tersely, despite dabbling in science and philosophy, he knows how to get ideas across wiuthout sounding like a technical manual.
This is perhaps one of his most challenging works, a meditation on identity and the nature of digital consciosness, language maturity etc. wriiten up as basically a pokemon story. It is close to flawless and i could see this turned into a very good movie. Read it.
Ted Chiang is not an entertaining author in my opinion but he has mastered the "really makes you think" style of sci-fi in a way few of his contemporaries do. He writes tersely but well and never uses two words to express what he can do with one where a lot of sF&f writers (perhaps myself included) use 5 words instead. His work is perfect for the short story and novella format. And perhaps best of all, despite writing tersely, despite dabbling in science and philosophy, he knows how to get ideas across wiuthout sounding like a technical manual.
This is perhaps one of his most challenging works, a meditation on identity and the nature of digital consciosness, language maturity etc. wriiten up as basically a pokemon story. It is close to flawless and i could see this turned into a very good movie. Read it.