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A review by reasie
The Apex Book of World SF 5 by Liliana Colanzi, Vandana Singh, T.L. Huchu, Lavie Tidhar, R.S.A. Garcia, Ana Hurtado, Basma Abdel Aziz, Daína Chaviano, Karla Schmidt, Sara Saab, Kim Bo-young, Darcie Little Badger, Giovanni De Feo, Taiyo Fujii, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Chi Hui, Israel Alonso, Tochi Onyebuchi, Cristina Jurado, Eliza Victoria
4.0
I've been meaning to get into this anthology series just based on the retro-cool covers, and I'll definitely read more of them!
The opening stories blew me away so much I ended up reading the first six in one big gluttonous binge when I had intended to just read one before bed!
My favorite is definitely the first story, "A Series of Steaks" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. It's got art and science and compelling characters and complex problems with logical resolutions that feel both inevitable and surprising.
Second favorite was the last, "Ugo" by Giovanni De Feo, a story that feels almost Borges-like to me. The twist was twisted!
Others varied from all right to conflicting... stories I hated parts of and loved other parts of, like "The Calculations of Artificials" by Chi Hui which felt irritatingly info-dumpy at times, and classic morality play at others, though isn't Utopia itself awfully info-dumpy? Likewise "Violation of the Truenet Security Act" by Taiyo Fujii had segments I found flat or cliche, but the centrality of web development -- well, this story was written for ME. For people who started coding in PHP back in the day day and now feel a bit behind the times.
It's not the flawless story that sticks hardest in your mind. The flaws worm into your brain-meat and make you keep coming back to look at them, and why they are there.
There was a great variety in these stories, from hardest SF to magical magic, settings in the past, present, far future, and other worlds entirely.
The opening stories blew me away so much I ended up reading the first six in one big gluttonous binge when I had intended to just read one before bed!
My favorite is definitely the first story, "A Series of Steaks" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. It's got art and science and compelling characters and complex problems with logical resolutions that feel both inevitable and surprising.
Second favorite was the last, "Ugo" by Giovanni De Feo, a story that feels almost Borges-like to me. The twist was twisted!
Others varied from all right to conflicting... stories I hated parts of and loved other parts of, like "The Calculations of Artificials" by Chi Hui which felt irritatingly info-dumpy at times, and classic morality play at others, though isn't Utopia itself awfully info-dumpy? Likewise "Violation of the Truenet Security Act" by Taiyo Fujii had segments I found flat or cliche, but the centrality of web development -- well, this story was written for ME. For people who started coding in PHP back in the day day and now feel a bit behind the times.
It's not the flawless story that sticks hardest in your mind. The flaws worm into your brain-meat and make you keep coming back to look at them, and why they are there.
There was a great variety in these stories, from hardest SF to magical magic, settings in the past, present, far future, and other worlds entirely.