darah_kor's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
findyourgoldenhour's review
4.0
I am not usually a fan of short story collections, for the usual reasons. A story begins, you start to get invested in the characters, then it abruptly ends and you have to immediately hit the reset button in your brain and read about totally different characters. That happens here, too, but of course it does.
This book about the not-so-distant future is eerie and freakish and all too plausible. The author takes technology just a few steps further then what we have today and it is not a world I want to live in. I picked up this book on a whim at the library, and I'm glad I did.
This book about the not-so-distant future is eerie and freakish and all too plausible. The author takes technology just a few steps further then what we have today and it is not a world I want to live in. I picked up this book on a whim at the library, and I'm glad I did.
awalia_rp's review
challenging
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
hlparis's review
3.0
3.8
A very interesting take on the “new world” that explores many different aspects of what our world could look like if the world as we now it is destroyed. As the title suggests, it’s largely about the kids’ experiences and how to help them cope.
From AI to an earth covered in ice, each take on the theme is unique. Some parts are very clever and others I didn’t care for. The worst part of this recording is the reader’s female voice. It’s horrendous, sounds stupid and is the same in every story.
A very interesting take on the “new world” that explores many different aspects of what our world could look like if the world as we now it is destroyed. As the title suggests, it’s largely about the kids’ experiences and how to help them cope.
From AI to an earth covered in ice, each take on the theme is unique. Some parts are very clever and others I didn’t care for. The worst part of this recording is the reader’s female voice. It’s horrendous, sounds stupid and is the same in every story.
scoutee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
thought provoking and well written; insightful about the human condition; bleak
samratbasani's review
3.0
Definitely uneven, and often uncomfortable about women. But there's something to these stories, even when they read ham-fisted in their allegories and narrow in the perspectives they can show.
jpace2112's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
fav stories: saying goodbye to yang, the cartographers, children of the new world, fall line, rocket night, openness
i loved how the stories were just about, like, (mostly) normal people going about their day in a hellish future. it’s something that is always on my mind in these types of stories, and it seems like it’s on alexander weinstein’s mind, which i appreciated. weird sex stuff in a lot of chapters! im not a prude, most of it worked, but some could benefit without that.
i liked it :D
fav stories: saying goodbye to yang, the cartographers, children of the new world, fall line, rocket night, openness
i loved how the stories were just about, like, (mostly) normal people going about their day in a hellish future. it’s something that is always on my mind in these types of stories, and it seems like it’s on alexander weinstein’s mind, which i appreciated. weird sex stuff in a lot of chapters! im not a prude, most of it worked, but some could benefit without that.
i liked it :D
paulataua's review
2.0
It looked so promising. Taking a technological development, creating a futuristic story, and making a haunting observation at the end all seemed like an unbeatable formula, but the stories were shallow, seemed contrived, and were ultimately forgettable. Having nothing else to read I finished it, but had I had something else, who knows?
textpublishing's review against another edition
4.0
‘Mind-blowing...In the vein of George Saunders, Rick Bass, and Alex Shakar, Weinstein writes with stirring particularity, unfailing sensitivity, and supercharged imagination, creating nuanced stories harboring a molten core of astutely satirical inquiries.’
STARRED Review, Booklist
‘Inspired by the author’s anxiety over our increasingly virtual lives, these 13 stories artfully slam an unchecked obsession with technology and affirm the beauty of reality’s texture.’
The New York Times
‘Scary, recognizable, heartbreaking, witty, and absolutely human...This is mind-bending stuff. Weinstein’s collection is full of spot-on prose, wicked humor, and heart.’
STARRED Review, Publishers Weekly
‘[Weinstein’s] stories look like SF—consider the childless couple living in a virtual-reality community whose child there is wiped out by a computer virus—but read like literary fiction. Calling all fans of Margaret Atwood and Emily St. John Mandel.’
Library Journal
‘Taken together, these stories present a fully imagined vision of the future which will disturb you, provoke you, and make you feel alive. Weinstein is brilliant, incisive and fearless, and I expect to be reading his work for years to come.’
Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
‘Each of these stories has its genesis in the question “What if …?” and Weinstein’s imaginings are far too much like the current state of the world to be anything but chilling. Yet he can also, if only in passing, be very funny.’
Age
‘[Children of the New World] is a stellar book of short stories by the American writer Alexander Weinstein, that shows how science fiction is arguably the essential genre for our age. The stories here present various futures, rooted in virtual technologies and climate change, with such urgency and humour that indulging in any other genre seems tantamount to escapism. …It is startling that this is Weinstein’s first book, given how ambitiously and impressively it speaks of our future.’
Saturday Paper
‘A darkly mesmerizing, fearless, and exquisitely written work. Stunning, harrowing, and brilliantly imagined.’
Emily St. John Mandel, author of, Station Eleven
‘Taken together, these stories present a fully-imagined vision of the future which will disturb you, provoke you, and make you feel alive. Weinstein is brilliant, incisive and fearless, and I expect to be reading his work for years to come.’
Charles Yu, author of, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
‘Scary, recognizable, heartbreaking, witty, and absolutely human…This is mind-bending stuff. Weinstein’s collection is full of spot-on prose, wicked humor, and heart.’
STARRED Review, Publishers Weekly
‘Each of the stories feels utterly possible, and the worlds are deftly rendered—whether they show us the effects of climate change or new types of sex made possible by advanced technology.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Missing the vague, futuristic dread you feel watching Black Mirror? Weinstein’s eerie sci-fi collection—featuring adopted robot children and the addictive fictional memory industry—fills the void brilliantly.’
EW.com
‘These stories are equally unnerving and tender, and a reminder that what we ultimately long for is human connection.’
LitHub
‘Weinstein writes sensitively and with deceptive simplicity, slicing into the emotional core of his haunted, self-estranged characters. The more they connect via technology, the less connected they feel…Children of the New World is a nuanced and complex vision of where we as a species might be going — and how, for better and for worse, we’re already there.’
NPR
‘By turns satirical, jarring, ludicrous, and sad, Weinstein’s stories take present-day anxieties about pornography, cloning, social media, and digital isolation, and follow them to their logical extremes.’
Atlantic
‘Weinstein is a master of his craft. His stories are each elegantly constructed, many with a startling reveal at the end, both surprising and obvious, which is formally reminiscent of certain Golden Age science fiction stories.
Millions
‘An eye-opening horror that will leave you thinking about the implications of technology long into the night…Fantastic.’
Cosy Dragon
‘To read this collection of 13 short stories is to be stunned, thrilled and terrified in equal measure. That’s because US writer Alexander Weinstein isn’t seeing into the future in a wacky sci-fi sort of way; he’s looking at what’s just over the horizon and approaching fast…An exceptional debut.’
North & South
‘A highly enjoyable collection…You will emerge with one heck of a book hangover, and it might take you a while to re-acclimate yourself to the “real” world.’
100% Rock Magazine
‘Stories that artfully claw at our complacency and explore, with insight and wit, the human side of the human/technology equation that comprises who we are…Children of the New Worldis the kind of unsettling read that is a compulsive and confusing pleasure. It pulls just far enough ahead to offer perspective without straining relatability and then deposits you back into a comfortable reality that feels slightly less so.’
ArtsHub
‘A quiet achievement…Not a single word is wasted; each reality is constructed convincingly, without exposition, and the pages keep turning…You’ll find yourself thinking about these worlds later, as you go about your life, and thinking they aren’t so far from yours.’
Aurealis
STARRED Review, Booklist
‘Inspired by the author’s anxiety over our increasingly virtual lives, these 13 stories artfully slam an unchecked obsession with technology and affirm the beauty of reality’s texture.’
The New York Times
‘Scary, recognizable, heartbreaking, witty, and absolutely human...This is mind-bending stuff. Weinstein’s collection is full of spot-on prose, wicked humor, and heart.’
STARRED Review, Publishers Weekly
‘[Weinstein’s] stories look like SF—consider the childless couple living in a virtual-reality community whose child there is wiped out by a computer virus—but read like literary fiction. Calling all fans of Margaret Atwood and Emily St. John Mandel.’
Library Journal
‘Taken together, these stories present a fully imagined vision of the future which will disturb you, provoke you, and make you feel alive. Weinstein is brilliant, incisive and fearless, and I expect to be reading his work for years to come.’
Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
‘Each of these stories has its genesis in the question “What if …?” and Weinstein’s imaginings are far too much like the current state of the world to be anything but chilling. Yet he can also, if only in passing, be very funny.’
Age
‘[Children of the New World] is a stellar book of short stories by the American writer Alexander Weinstein, that shows how science fiction is arguably the essential genre for our age. The stories here present various futures, rooted in virtual technologies and climate change, with such urgency and humour that indulging in any other genre seems tantamount to escapism. …It is startling that this is Weinstein’s first book, given how ambitiously and impressively it speaks of our future.’
Saturday Paper
‘A darkly mesmerizing, fearless, and exquisitely written work. Stunning, harrowing, and brilliantly imagined.’
Emily St. John Mandel, author of, Station Eleven
‘Taken together, these stories present a fully-imagined vision of the future which will disturb you, provoke you, and make you feel alive. Weinstein is brilliant, incisive and fearless, and I expect to be reading his work for years to come.’
Charles Yu, author of, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
‘Scary, recognizable, heartbreaking, witty, and absolutely human…This is mind-bending stuff. Weinstein’s collection is full of spot-on prose, wicked humor, and heart.’
STARRED Review, Publishers Weekly
‘Each of the stories feels utterly possible, and the worlds are deftly rendered—whether they show us the effects of climate change or new types of sex made possible by advanced technology.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Missing the vague, futuristic dread you feel watching Black Mirror? Weinstein’s eerie sci-fi collection—featuring adopted robot children and the addictive fictional memory industry—fills the void brilliantly.’
EW.com
‘These stories are equally unnerving and tender, and a reminder that what we ultimately long for is human connection.’
LitHub
‘Weinstein writes sensitively and with deceptive simplicity, slicing into the emotional core of his haunted, self-estranged characters. The more they connect via technology, the less connected they feel…Children of the New World is a nuanced and complex vision of where we as a species might be going — and how, for better and for worse, we’re already there.’
NPR
‘By turns satirical, jarring, ludicrous, and sad, Weinstein’s stories take present-day anxieties about pornography, cloning, social media, and digital isolation, and follow them to their logical extremes.’
Atlantic
‘Weinstein is a master of his craft. His stories are each elegantly constructed, many with a startling reveal at the end, both surprising and obvious, which is formally reminiscent of certain Golden Age science fiction stories.
Millions
‘An eye-opening horror that will leave you thinking about the implications of technology long into the night…Fantastic.’
Cosy Dragon
‘To read this collection of 13 short stories is to be stunned, thrilled and terrified in equal measure. That’s because US writer Alexander Weinstein isn’t seeing into the future in a wacky sci-fi sort of way; he’s looking at what’s just over the horizon and approaching fast…An exceptional debut.’
North & South
‘A highly enjoyable collection…You will emerge with one heck of a book hangover, and it might take you a while to re-acclimate yourself to the “real” world.’
100% Rock Magazine
‘Stories that artfully claw at our complacency and explore, with insight and wit, the human side of the human/technology equation that comprises who we are…Children of the New Worldis the kind of unsettling read that is a compulsive and confusing pleasure. It pulls just far enough ahead to offer perspective without straining relatability and then deposits you back into a comfortable reality that feels slightly less so.’
ArtsHub
‘A quiet achievement…Not a single word is wasted; each reality is constructed convincingly, without exposition, and the pages keep turning…You’ll find yourself thinking about these worlds later, as you go about your life, and thinking they aren’t so far from yours.’
Aurealis
zeecorster's review
4.0
An excellent, fast-moving collection of thought experiments disguised as short stories, all of them revolving around a central thread of humanity and how its definition can grow and change under the influence of technology—and the humans who create it. Not all of them worked, but the ones that did landed hard.
"Saying Goodbye to Yang," my favorite in the collection, made me tear up a little, and "The Cartographers" buried a surprising twist in its short word count and sparse prose. The frank discussion of human connection and how we make it work in "Openness" struck a major chord, too, while stories like "Fall Line" feel eerily close to our current time—v. Black Mirror, in all the best ways. (And unlike that show, finishing a story here doesn't make my stomach lurch or make me distrust my cell phone for hours afterward. Well...maybe I take that back.)
"Saying Goodbye to Yang," my favorite in the collection, made me tear up a little, and "The Cartographers" buried a surprising twist in its short word count and sparse prose. The frank discussion of human connection and how we make it work in "Openness" struck a major chord, too, while stories like "Fall Line" feel eerily close to our current time—v. Black Mirror, in all the best ways. (And unlike that show, finishing a story here doesn't make my stomach lurch or make me distrust my cell phone for hours afterward. Well...maybe I take that back.)