thearbiter89's review against another edition
4.0
High on concept, (often) low on follow-through.Adam Robots, a compendium of short stories from the writer with the similar-sounding name, displays much of the brilliance and also many of the problems that characterise his other work.
Roberts is a writer of singular imaginativeness, who creates premises and fictional universes that rival the best in the business with their sf-nal inventiveness, and thematic cleverness. But, having filled out his worlds and explored his thematic preoccupations to his own satisfaction, he seems eager to wrap up his books stat, even in a way that might be unsatisfactory to the more plot-oriented reader. Yellow Blue Tibia and Jack Glass were culprits of this, sporting arresting premises and intriguing universes, but ultimately lacking a sense of completeness and closure.
In that regard, however, the short story medium attenuates this problem because the brevity of the stories prevents expectations from being built up as much as they would in a full-length book. So when the stories fall flat (if they do), the gulf between expectation and reality is not so stark.
That's not to say that the compendium is a disappointment - the breadth and depth of Robert's stories is impressive, with the stated goal to write one short sf story in every subgenre. There's science fiction in there of all kinds - the Asimovean robot-treatise, the Heinlein-esque space opera, stories about time travel, religion, sf fantasy, gaia-sf. Some stories are better than others - some are indulgent experiments; others are serious attempts at self-contained short fiction. Some are truly bizarre - The Cow is a one-page riff on the famous nursery rhyme about a lunar-cresting bovine. But almost all display immense creativity of premise, in the best tradition of speculative fiction.
One other note: Many of Roberts' stories display an interest in religious themes and imagery. Roberts likes to use the imagery of religion - especially Christianity - to explore and interrogate religious devotion, orthodoxia, and cultural norms. Adam Robots is rife with such stories, some displaying a more sympathetic thematic bent towards religiosity of thought, some less so.
Here are some of the better stories in the collection:
Adam Robots: The title story is about AIs that are placed in a simulated Garden of Eden to see if they will commit the Original Sin. A taut satire of the ways in which hermeneutics can be twisted to justify any self-serving purpose.
Thrownness: A somewhat chilling story about what would happen if you got the power to traverse dimensions, meaning your actions have no consequences from your local frame of reference. Mayhem ensues. Throws up some interesting questions of ethics.
The Mary Anna: I have to give Roberts credit for this story - even though it's a somewhat pedestrian example of the subgenre of solar system romance, it's entirely in verse and actually reads pretty well.
And Tomorrow And : What if the witches' prophecies were taken completely literally, and MacBeth became functionally immortal as long as their overly restrictive conditions were not fulfilled? A wildly inventive piece of speculative fiction that takes us to the near future to solve MacBeth's conundrum.
Anticopernicus: Interrogating the question of what if Copernicus was wrong, qua what if we are the centre of the Universe? Brings out that ol' sensawonder so important to the genre.
I give this short story collection: 4 out of 5 clone armies
barryhaworth's review against another edition
3.0
An odd sort of story collection. Roberts has an active imagination which tends towards the mystical at times (though only at times). These stories covered a variety of settings and concepts and were all original (at least to me) - I don't think I predicted the ending of any of them. Many of these stories had fascinating ideas and the collection as a whole is solid, but I can't see myself rereading the book in the future.
Update: Thought I'd mention my favourite story in the collection - the one about Macbeth, and how those witch's charms would really work out. Very amusing.
Update: Thought I'd mention my favourite story in the collection - the one about Macbeth, and how those witch's charms would really work out. Very amusing.
jeremyhornik's review against another edition
3.0
He is so smart and so clever and I kind of hate short stories but these have a lot going for them... if he could only break my heart I would love him forever. But he hasn't yet. And I suspect he never will. Welp.
nomiddlename's review against another edition
3.0
A good collection. Didn't finish them all before having to take the book back to the library - something just didn't grab me. Liked the stories I read though.
sheldonqueens's review against another edition
4.0
Can't decide if I should rate this a 3 or a 4 out of 5.
3.5 would be more on point for me, but Goodreads, for whatever reason, doesn't give us that much-needed option.
Ratings aside, this felt like a literary exercise in new-wave writing for the most part, and even a little experimental in some cases.
Certainly not my favorite style of writing to read, at least on a regular basis, which would account for why it took me almost a year to get through (between other books).
And yet, it was also refreshing and I did appreciate Robert's originality and his take on a variation of sci-fi themes.
When in the right frame of mind, I not only enjoyed, but was also impressed with his varying styles of storytelling. And just as well, as I already have 2 full length novels from Adam Roberts sitting on my shelf waiting to be read, and I'm highly curious as to how his long-form style might differ to his short story approach.
All in all, there were some stories here that I found highly enjoyable to read, despite less than satisfactory endings. Besides, there's rarely a good payoff when it comes to the endings of short stories, so no surprises there.
3.5 would be more on point for me, but Goodreads, for whatever reason, doesn't give us that much-needed option.
Ratings aside, this felt like a literary exercise in new-wave writing for the most part, and even a little experimental in some cases.
Certainly not my favorite style of writing to read, at least on a regular basis, which would account for why it took me almost a year to get through (between other books).
And yet, it was also refreshing and I did appreciate Robert's originality and his take on a variation of sci-fi themes.
When in the right frame of mind, I not only enjoyed, but was also impressed with his varying styles of storytelling. And just as well, as I already have 2 full length novels from Adam Roberts sitting on my shelf waiting to be read, and I'm highly curious as to how his long-form style might differ to his short story approach.
All in all, there were some stories here that I found highly enjoyable to read, despite less than satisfactory endings. Besides, there's rarely a good payoff when it comes to the endings of short stories, so no surprises there.
roba's review
4.0
I don't often like short stories, but the forms suits Roberts as you get the excellent high-concept hard SF hooks without room for the weird fugue/wandering journey episodes that usually intrude about three-quarters of the way into his novels. Funny and poetic.
davidallkins's review
3.0
This is a collection of short fiction by the author Adam Roberts. In the preface, Roberts states that he was working towards exploring all the common themes and sub-genres of science fiction. The stories are previously published with four being original to this book.
A tone that connects a lot of the stories is a sense of dark humour or satire. Religion is a recurring theme from the examination of familiar stories in ‘Adam Robots’ to fundamentalism and repression in ‘Constellations’. There are also new approaches to older material such as ‘The World of the Wars’ and ‘Pied’. The best of these is ‘And tomorrow and ‘ dealing with the precise wording of the prophecies in ‘Macbeth’. The highlight of the collection for me, is ‘The Imperial Army’ a dissection of military science fiction space operas and trying to fight long term wars that goes into very dark directions.
However, I felt that the stories had a tendency to convey a distancing effect. They are well written and good explorations of the ideas the narrative is dealing with. Still, often they come across as lacking a sense of engagement with the characters. You are aware of the intelligence of what you are reading, but it becomes something easier to admire the cleverness rather than emotionally care. It is the same problem I have with Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. The material is intelligent but you feel that the author is not really having any feeling for the figures he pushes across a board to get from A to B.
Despite this, there is clearly very good material in the collection. It may just be that the distancing effect is caused by trying to read it all in one sitting. Or this collection may be more suited for readers who already fans of the work of this author rather than complete newcomers.
Originally published
at SF2 Concatenation' link. http://www.concatenation.org/frev/roberts_adam.html
A tone that connects a lot of the stories is a sense of dark humour or satire. Religion is a recurring theme from the examination of familiar stories in ‘Adam Robots’ to fundamentalism and repression in ‘Constellations’. There are also new approaches to older material such as ‘The World of the Wars’ and ‘Pied’. The best of these is ‘And tomorrow and ‘ dealing with the precise wording of the prophecies in ‘Macbeth’. The highlight of the collection for me, is ‘The Imperial Army’ a dissection of military science fiction space operas and trying to fight long term wars that goes into very dark directions.
However, I felt that the stories had a tendency to convey a distancing effect. They are well written and good explorations of the ideas the narrative is dealing with. Still, often they come across as lacking a sense of engagement with the characters. You are aware of the intelligence of what you are reading, but it becomes something easier to admire the cleverness rather than emotionally care. It is the same problem I have with Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. The material is intelligent but you feel that the author is not really having any feeling for the figures he pushes across a board to get from A to B.
Despite this, there is clearly very good material in the collection. It may just be that the distancing effect is caused by trying to read it all in one sitting. Or this collection may be more suited for readers who already fans of the work of this author rather than complete newcomers.
Originally published
at SF2 Concatenation' link. http://www.concatenation.org/frev/roberts_adam.html
lordofthemoon's review
3.0
Adam Roberts is good at short stories. In the introduction, he says that this collection contains his attempts to write a story in each of the myriad genres within SF, and although I haven't counted, it certainly feels like he's succeeded. Each story has a new idea, from the Biblical Adam of robots to time travel, space opera, dystopia and more. The only problem, for me, at least, is that eventually it becomes wearing. I found myself longing for a run of a few good, simple, adventure stories. However, I readily accept that this is my failing, not the book's (nor the author's). There were a few stories towards the end that I really didn't like, Wonder: A Story in Two is probably the one that made me want to throw the book across the room the most. This felt very experimental and "New Wave-y", but since I've never really been a fan of the New Wave, it totally left me cold.
There is, however, an awful lot to like. From the very meta Review: Thomas Hodgkin, 'Denis Bayle: a Life' (a review of a biography of a fictional SF author) to And Tomorrow And, a very funny retelling of Macbeth. So as I say, there's an awful lot to enjoy, but it's probably worth taking your time over.
There is, however, an awful lot to like. From the very meta Review: Thomas Hodgkin, 'Denis Bayle: a Life' (a review of a biography of a fictional SF author) to And Tomorrow And, a very funny retelling of Macbeth. So as I say, there's an awful lot to enjoy, but it's probably worth taking your time over.
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