★★★★★
★★½
Unsubtle satire on the wages of whiteness, in pace with the ’30s in its portrayal of women
★★★
★★½
★★★★½
★★½
★★★½
** spoiler alert **
★★★
Uneven, from distasteful sympathies (the anti-abortion Lark Street and the entitled white male murderer redemption story Light Spitter) to scintillating acuity
★★★★½
★★★★
Many of the stories are glaringly built around a fixed idea so that the notes at the end are redundant—or are more interesting than the stories themselves. The surrounding texts are more filler than breathing worlds. “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, “The Lifecycle of Software Objects”, and … Read more
It’s a shame that nearly all the authors who are paid homage are long dead white men. And having one character describe the protagonist as sexist isn’t enough. Why is alien telepathy more envisionable than gender equity in 2066?
Still Thompson has created an … Read more
I managed to finish six of the stories. Generally too on the nose and yielding to stock themes of science fiction. “Walking Awake” was the most engaging even with all the hand-holding, with allusions to Get Out and TNG’s “Conspiracy”.
So far Jemisin’s not for me.
★★★★½
Read:
In between significant and smaller blind spots—including, like Goethe, promoting a stalker’s idea of love—is a work of phenomenal imagination. It’s the most absorbing book of the three, and excitingly explores ideas of humans in time and space.
