Reviews

Tomorrow's Parties: Life in the Anthropocene by Jonathan Strahan

edriessen's review

4.0

I think I have a new favourite genre: environmental scifi. MIT’s Twelve Tomorrows series are always interesting to read. Having fiction writers create stories based on contemporary themes is a great idea. Tomorrow’s Parties focuses on climate change. This book is worth your time.

hannahgarstang's review

The best sci-fi anthology I've read. 

This collection speculates different possibilities for our own future taking into account climate change, pollution, capitalism and social issues. There is a lot of variety between the stories in terms of heaviness and how grounded they were to our current reality, but overall, the strategic optimism was powerful. It's difficult to have hope in the face of these global environmental and social issues, so stories like these matter. Narrative can expand our very imagination of what's possible, and thus shape the world that comes into being. This collection highlights how adaptable humans are to challenging and or changing circumstances. People will find ways of experiencing love, community and joy despite what state the world is in. 

There are many stories I think back on frequently and I really want someone I know to read it so we can talk about it. Would definitely recommend to anyone who is interested in speculative fiction. 

jarekko's review

4.0

Some of these stories are really great. All are inspiring to do something about climate and injustice.

books_and_keys's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

domydoo's review

adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

martinatan's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Neat little story collection of a niche of speculative fiction that I am always intrigued by. I love when the tech in someone’s high-“realism” future world makes me think about how we get to that from where we’re at now—socially, politically, technologically, etc. That happened a lot reading these stories. I appreciated the diversity of “what if”s across the stories, which mostly feature climate change but explore its effects (and our attemped human interventions) in so many sifferent ways.

Some stories I dogeared because they really hit home or got me thinking:
- Once Upon a Future in the West by Daryl Gregory (loved the plot twists in this one)
- When the Tide Rises by Sarah Gailey (loved the narrator’s voice, the frustration and underlying unspoken sadness about their life under capitalism was so felt)
- Legion by Malka Older (reminded me of an old class in Digital Rhetoric I took, got me wondering about the morals of this future vision of surveillance)
- The Ferryman by Saad Z. Hossain (just really sweet world building)

So glad to get an intro to these authors’ work, and I already noted their full length titles that I might read soon.

And I also want to shout out the amazing art contributions by Sean Bodley throughout the book—on the cover and on the bumper pages between stories. I really enjoyed the artist statement at the end and think that work is incredibly delightful and intricate.

billybear72's review

5.0

Each story bring with it unique ideas about the best and far future, intelligent and creative writing and the occasional warning. Fantastic read!

ameliareadsstuff's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

I picked this up to read some climate fiction stories as inspiration for a university writing assignment, and, of course, I didn't end up finishing it until well after class was done. It's a great collection though, and shows a variety of different takes on what the future might look like. It was interesting to see where ideas on certain topics both overlapped and differed.

Honestly, my primary takeaway is that I should endeavour to read more sci-fi in the future.

bark's review

adventurous dark inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

saturdayslaughter's review

Did not finish this because I gave it away as a gift