Why
I read this book?
This was a gift from
Audible. There were a couple of options but since I already knew Scalzi and
liked him quite a bit I decided to go for it.
What's
the book about?
This book is actually a
collection of 5 different novellas that happen to share a common universe. A
dystopian United States that has suffered the excesses of our times and now
struggles to survive. Cities have emerged or evolved in such environment and
the people in them have to adapt to new types of societies
Which
was my favorite novella?
My favorite novella was
by far the third one: The Red in the sky
is our Blood by Elisabeth Bear. I really enjoyed the reader Kandyse McClure. Contrary to what I felt with the
previous two novellas, this one wasn't so much "the world is destroyed"
in your face as the other, albeit it does mention several situation that have
developed from the previous living ways. It talks about trust and being able to
adapt. Second favorite would be Scalzi's Utere Nihil
Non Extra Quiritationem Suis. As always Scalzi manages to bring a funny side to
this writing while giving a nice story.
Final
thoughts
Thank goodness for the
3rd and 4th novellas. I wasn't that much into the other three...well, that's
not true, I liked the premise of all of the novellas, but the delivery of the
first 2 and the last one didn't cut it for me. I think my problem was mostly
with the narrators. Sotchasti-city was
particularly monotone in tone, so sometimes I wouldn't realize the characters
had changed, similar problem with To Hie
from Cilenia, but Stefan Rudnicki's voice carried more than Scott Brick.
In general I liked the idea of very different lives converging in a common universe, while being told with such different voices, but I was expecting more, which is why I gave this book a 3.5.
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