“From bestselling Nebula-Award winning William Ledbetter comes a groundbreaking collection of science fiction short stories that will bend your heart like a black hole. From AI to robot medics to life on Mars, Ledbetter takes real tech, blends it with hard science fact, and invents futures full of fantastic fiction. Includes 17 previously published stories and one original story.”
I got an ARC of this book.
I wasn’t sure about this book at first. The first story starts up with a man chasing a pregnant woman to punish her. He is so full of hatred. It was very hard to read that one, but as it went on I was hooked. There was not a single story that didn’t make me want to keep reading.
Normally I am not the biggest fan of short story anthologies. They feel so hit or miss. This one was mostly a lot of YES OMG and that was pretty interesting. There were people who traded their bodies to be pretty forever (the ending of that one oof, that hurt), people who judge others and then fall directly into their shoes, and so many interesting things. So many of the stories were intensely emotional. This is the type of sci-fi I love. The type that until the last few years, I didn’t know existed. The sentient sweater was both heart breaking and heart warming at the same time. Having to change so intensely for someone to see the value in you, but you doing whatever you can to support them. It was wow.
I can’t even begin to pick a favorite story. Every time I thought I found the best story, I would just read the next. Then I would cycle around. Was the sentient sweater the best? Was the raiders on the farm? What about the armadillo? Clearly those are not the titles of the stories, but once you read them, you will know exactly the story and why I liked it so much.
I will be reading more Ledbetter as soon as I can track down his other works.
5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book.
You can buy the book here.
~Isaiah
MI Book Reviews 