A review by bamboobones_rory
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

"Story of your life" was my favorite in this collection- about grief and loss and thinking out of linear time and all at once. And if you already know what will happen, what is language for? Ritual and actualization is the answer given here. A story of a parent losing a child in a freak accident, a parent who also spent time learning an alien language from a species that forms their whole sentences and thoughts at once instead of in a linear way. Reminded me of the prophets/wormhole aliens in Star Trek Deep Space 9, and their relation with Captain Sisko and his processing of grief. Some of the other stories were just so-so to me, very hit or miss, but I expect that in a short story collection.