wunder's review
2.0
Mostly a short story padded by listing lots and lots of book titles. Just OK, not great.
coboshimself_'s review
4.0
"We can't just let books disappear without a trace, can we? All those histories and plays and adventures and sentimental novels and textbooks and biographies? We can't just let them die."
kieralesley's review
3.0
I had mixed feelings about this issue. I loved some stories and disliked others, which means there's a good range of material, but the whole was a bit uneven. There were a few consistent themes running through the stories which helped hold it together - my favourite of which was different takes on the impact of incoming technologies on future labour markets. The pieces vary from 20-minutes in the future speculative takes, to emotional and broad-reaching scifi explorations of things like gender or death, to historical fiction.
Highlight pieces for me this issue were:
"I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land" by Connie Willis (Special mention for this one - a wonderful trip through thinking about what happens to the books society collectively decides to let die).
"The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine" by Greg Egan
"Operators" by Joel Richards
"The Nanny Bubble" by Norman Spinrad
I am reviewing each of the stories in this issue individually for SFF Reviews. They are forthcoming here: (https://sffreviews.com/tag/kiera-lesley/)
Highlight pieces for me this issue were:
"I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land" by Connie Willis (Special mention for this one - a wonderful trip through thinking about what happens to the books society collectively decides to let die).
"The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine" by Greg Egan
"Operators" by Joel Richards
"The Nanny Bubble" by Norman Spinrad
I am reviewing each of the stories in this issue individually for SFF Reviews. They are forthcoming here: (https://sffreviews.com/tag/kiera-lesley/)
lonecayt's review
3.0
Certainly not her best - more a rant about the disappearance of books in our society than anything else. Made me feel a little bit guilty, because part of my current job working at the library involved testing up and disposing books that are too damaged to be in general circulation any longer.
tarana's review
3.0
Just an average read, but these were the ones that I particularly liked (and I really loved the first one!).
I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land - Connie Willis
Skipped by Emily Taylor
A Float Above A Floor of Stars - Tom Purdom
Operators - Joel Richards
Nanny Bubble - Norman Spinrad
I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land - Connie Willis
Skipped by Emily Taylor
A Float Above A Floor of Stars - Tom Purdom
Operators - Joel Richards
Nanny Bubble - Norman Spinrad
pctek's review
2.0
A story supposedly showing why books shouldn't be digitized, but in fact shows the exact opposite.
Made me seriously consider getting a kindle.
Made me seriously consider getting a kindle.
esquetee's review
3.0
Very strange little book. Took about an hour to read. A rant against libraries? A satire of nostalgia? I have no idea. I’m not even sure if I would recommend this to anyone, which makes me sad since Connie Willis was one of my favorite authors years ago.
psteve's review
3.0
Good setup, an author stumbles upon a very strange bookshop in midtown Manhattan. But it never becomes a real story, just remains a setup, though it's fun and intriguing. You just want more.
coolcurrybooks's review
2.0
I requested this novella on Netgalley because of how much I’d enjoyed some of Connie Willis’s other work, namely To Say Nothing of the Dog and The Doomsday Book. That turned out to be a mistake.
Jim is in New York to talk to publishers about a book based on his blog, Gone for Good, which holds the premise that it’s no use being nostalgic for vanished technologies. If they’ve disappeared, it’s because society has no use for them. Then Jim wanders into a little, secondhand bookstore and discovers a massive, underground cavern of labyrinth shelves, the last remnants of lost books.
I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land is amazingly heavy-handed about its message, but it doesn’t have much to offer beyond that. The graveyard for books is potentially interesting, but it’s an idea I’ve seen before. Besides, it never much moves beyond a device to show Jim how he’s wrong and impart Willis’s message (printed books are special!) to readers.
Characterization? Again, hardly any. There’s Jim, who’s entirely one note. He doesn’t care about nostalgia or preserving old things. The narrative proves him wrong. Beyond that he doesn’t have any character. Otherwise, there’s Jim’s agent, who occasionally calls with updates about the sale of his book, and the attractive blonde clerk who shows him around and info dumps at him.
Plot? Jim goes into Ozymandias Books and learns his life philosophy is wrong. There’s not much more too it. If you’re looking for a good story, that’s not this. I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land is all message, no story.
People who already heartily agree with Willis’s message may like this one. Everyone else shouldn’t bother. I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land is dripping with hand-wringing sentimentality. The best I can say about it? At least it’s short.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.
Jim is in New York to talk to publishers about a book based on his blog, Gone for Good, which holds the premise that it’s no use being nostalgic for vanished technologies. If they’ve disappeared, it’s because society has no use for them. Then Jim wanders into a little, secondhand bookstore and discovers a massive, underground cavern of labyrinth shelves, the last remnants of lost books.
I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land is amazingly heavy-handed about its message, but it doesn’t have much to offer beyond that. The graveyard for books is potentially interesting, but it’s an idea I’ve seen before. Besides, it never much moves beyond a device to show Jim how he’s wrong and impart Willis’s message (printed books are special!) to readers.
Characterization? Again, hardly any. There’s Jim, who’s entirely one note. He doesn’t care about nostalgia or preserving old things. The narrative proves him wrong. Beyond that he doesn’t have any character. Otherwise, there’s Jim’s agent, who occasionally calls with updates about the sale of his book, and the attractive blonde clerk who shows him around and info dumps at him.
Plot? Jim goes into Ozymandias Books and learns his life philosophy is wrong. There’s not much more too it. If you’re looking for a good story, that’s not this. I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land is all message, no story.
People who already heartily agree with Willis’s message may like this one. Everyone else shouldn’t bother. I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land is dripping with hand-wringing sentimentality. The best I can say about it? At least it’s short.
Review from The Illustrated Page.
I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.
cabridges's review
3.0
I’m a Connie Willis fan, but this one didn’t do it for me. It read like a good but unfinished idea for a longer work, or an overlong short story that spends too much time overwhelming us with the main concept but then not doing anything with it. If she ever expands it into a more developed story, I’d love to see where she takes it.