dancarey_404's review against another edition
Good enough collection. Nothing particularly grabbed me.
jenniferbbookdragon's review against another edition
4.0
Very collection of short stories that are positive scifi. Not that there are not problems in these alternative futures, but they show hope, beneficial development of tech and renewables and more.
ajuda's review
2.0
Maybe I just don't care for optimism, but I could not get into this anthology. It could be that when you're expecting an upbeat ending, it's harder to invest in the characters and conflicts, or just that it doesn't fit the genre very well. Most of the stories were forgettable, and only a few were actually optimistic (with the rest going for ambiguous endings). I don't recommend it.
yazerk's review
4.0
http://betweentwobooks.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-review-shine-edited-by-jetse-de.html
jandi's review
2.0
There were some stories that I really enjoyed. "The Church of Accelerated Redemption" had an interesting premise (although the motivations of the protagonist made me cringe). "The Solnet Ascendancy" was funny and kind of uplifting. "Scheherazade Cast in Starlight" packed a lot of punch in a few words. Some of the stories I just couldn't get into. "Sarging Rasmussen... " really annoyed me with its attempt to disguise misogyny as social engineering. And most stories were not particularly optimistic, well, at least not my definition of it.
I'm not sure I would call this science fiction either - while most of the stories include some level of tech, for the most part, it is just a natural evolution of what we have today. I don't think my SF loving husband would be drawn to it.
I'm not sure I would call this science fiction either - while most of the stories include some level of tech, for the most part, it is just a natural evolution of what we have today. I don't think my SF loving husband would be drawn to it.
janetlun's review
The stories are, indeed, optimistic. The quality of the stories is uneven. I loved some, found the others a bit meh. I didn't entirely skip any, though.
daveversace's review
3.0
An uneven collection of optimistic science fiction stories. While a number of the stories are outstanding, too many present a collection of bland or underdeveloped characters coming up with an ingenious technical solution to an environmental or social problem. Worthy, even inspiring, but not necessarily compelling to read.
But Alastair Reynold's "At Budokan" has a tyrannosaurus that plays heavy metal guitar, in a completely serious story, so you know what? I heartily recommend this collection.
But Alastair Reynold's "At Budokan" has a tyrannosaurus that plays heavy metal guitar, in a completely serious story, so you know what? I heartily recommend this collection.
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