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A review by anobrega85
Selections from Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories by John Joseph Adams, Heather Lindsley, Tobias S. Buckell, Cory Doctorow, Vylar Kaftan, Carrie Vaughn, Genevieve Valentine, Jeremiah Tolbert, Adam-Troy Castro
4.0
I requested this anthology from NetGalley because of the name - who doesn't want to read anything good related to Brave New World? - and because it was edited by John Joseph Adams whose work I've been curious about for a while. I got this selection which consists in the three short stories added to its second edition. Another important factor was my being a fan of dystopian fiction.
The three stories have a previous sort of preface where the author is presented and the theme of the tale that follows is hinted or offered some background information.
The first story is The Cull by Robert Reed and was probably my favourite of the three. It reminded me of Wool, in which it follows a community shut off from the outside world where individuals are excluded when they step out of line apparently by sending them away from the place to an outside world where they surely can't survive. Similarities kind of end right there though. We are told the story by an android medical doctor who is a kind of keeper, simultaneously the doctor and the judge of the humans he "tends to". This tending involves the use of some brain implants that keep everyone in the community (or almost everyone) feeling happy all the time - and this is where I smiled and remembered Huxley's soma. He slowly unveils not only what happens to a kid who is becoming dangerous, behaving aggressively and rather unpredictably in various situations, but also what his intentions towards the whole community are. But he does it so slyly and slowly that the reader is as tricked as the kid or the people right to the very end and is still left questioning how to should judge the doctor's actions.
The second story, by Jennifer Pelland, is called Personal Jesus (yes, the Depeche Mode song). Here, this concept is given a very material interpretation: your Personal Jesus is an object that everyone in the country has connected to their body, forever controlling your social and personal behaviour by means of electric shocks full of divine love and care. The fact that it is written as an enumeration of rules, as if you were given the leaflet on how to live in the Ecclesiastical States of America, adds to the fun and had me laughing out loud.
The last story is The Perfect Match by Ken Liu and I'll start by saying it isn't just a romance in the dystopian age. It does have some of that, but the main focus is driven widely away from it and into the exploration of what this world of communications and informations directed by algorithms can lead us to. There were some moments where the narrator decides to tell you the interpretation you could be making on your own, which is a bit annoying specially in a story exploring this theme, but overall it's a good tale and does question very important issues. Ken Liu reminds us, on one side, that we are already being controlled by those who choose which news or updates to put up at the top of our lists or timelines, and on the other side, of what a world where we grow isolated, each one only seeing and doing what he supposedly wants or likes a priori, looks like.
The book ends with some recommendation pages, on dystopian films and books worth watching or reading. Something I should never read again, should I want to have money to buy food and pay bills and space in my room to live.
This selection worked really well as a sneak preview of the anthology, so much that I instantly added the book to my wishlist. Highly recommended for people who like dystopian works, short fiction or overall science fiction fans.
This review was originally published on my blog, both in English and Portuguese.
The three stories have a previous sort of preface where the author is presented and the theme of the tale that follows is hinted or offered some background information.
The first story is The Cull by Robert Reed and was probably my favourite of the three. It reminded me of Wool, in which it follows a community shut off from the outside world where individuals are excluded when they step out of line apparently by sending them away from the place to an outside world where they surely can't survive. Similarities kind of end right there though. We are told the story by an android medical doctor who is a kind of keeper, simultaneously the doctor and the judge of the humans he "tends to". This tending involves the use of some brain implants that keep everyone in the community (or almost everyone) feeling happy all the time - and this is where I smiled and remembered Huxley's soma. He slowly unveils not only what happens to a kid who is becoming dangerous, behaving aggressively and rather unpredictably in various situations, but also what his intentions towards the whole community are. But he does it so slyly and slowly that the reader is as tricked as the kid or the people right to the very end and is still left questioning how to should judge the doctor's actions.
The second story, by Jennifer Pelland, is called Personal Jesus (yes, the Depeche Mode song). Here, this concept is given a very material interpretation: your Personal Jesus is an object that everyone in the country has connected to their body, forever controlling your social and personal behaviour by means of electric shocks full of divine love and care. The fact that it is written as an enumeration of rules, as if you were given the leaflet on how to live in the Ecclesiastical States of America, adds to the fun and had me laughing out loud.
The last story is The Perfect Match by Ken Liu and I'll start by saying it isn't just a romance in the dystopian age. It does have some of that, but the main focus is driven widely away from it and into the exploration of what this world of communications and informations directed by algorithms can lead us to. There were some moments where the narrator decides to tell you the interpretation you could be making on your own, which is a bit annoying specially in a story exploring this theme, but overall it's a good tale and does question very important issues. Ken Liu reminds us, on one side, that we are already being controlled by those who choose which news or updates to put up at the top of our lists or timelines, and on the other side, of what a world where we grow isolated, each one only seeing and doing what he supposedly wants or likes a priori, looks like.
The book ends with some recommendation pages, on dystopian films and books worth watching or reading. Something I should never read again, should I want to have money to buy food and pay bills and space in my room to live.
This selection worked really well as a sneak preview of the anthology, so much that I instantly added the book to my wishlist. Highly recommended for people who like dystopian works, short fiction or overall science fiction fans.
This review was originally published on my blog, both in English and Portuguese.