misssusan's review against another edition
3.0
interesting set of near-future sci-fi stories. hernandez ranges quite broadly in subject matter -- a story about panda sex! a murder mystery! semi-zombie-mostly-science story on alien symbiotes called macrobes! -- but he does have a one ongoing narrative thread with a reporter who narrates a few of the stories. his writing is strong throughout and consistently conceptually interesting
anyways, i quite liked it! also at some point i'm going to sit down and analyze what makes a narrative feel male to me because reading this like i was like 'ahh yes, definitely written by a dude' and i'm not sure what it was that pinged me as such because it's not about the narrator -- not all of them were men and besides i have read stories narrated by men that didn't hit that reaction -- and it didn't have the kind of pervasive narrative sexism that makes it obvious that the writer's never considered women's perspectives so like. idk. will calendar in that pondering soon
3 stars
anyways, i quite liked it! also at some point i'm going to sit down and analyze what makes a narrative feel male to me because reading this like i was like 'ahh yes, definitely written by a dude' and i'm not sure what it was that pinged me as such because it's not about the narrator -- not all of them were men and besides i have read stories narrated by men that didn't hit that reaction -- and it didn't have the kind of pervasive narrative sexism that makes it obvious that the writer's never considered women's perspectives so like. idk. will calendar in that pondering soon
3 stars
tronella's review against another edition
4.0
A rare case of me liking every story in a short story collection!
mezzythedragon's review against another edition
2.0
2.5, but this is more of a me issue if anything. I think I was just not in the right mood for this book, even though it had been in my TBR for some time. I did enjoy “Entanglements” and “American Moat” though.
leftylauren's review against another edition
4.0
Specifically reviewed for "Fantaisie Impromptu #4 in C# min, Op. 66" as read on Levar Burton Reads
choirqueer's review against another edition
4.0
This was an excellent Halloween read. Brilliantly constructed and interwoven array of stories drawing upon the author’s characteristic blend of humor and dead-seriousness, poking at the boundaries of mildly grotesque to absolute what-the-actual-fuckery. As with any collection of short stories, I liked some better than others, but I especially liked how the stories in this book tied together in ways that became more obvious toward the end of the book. I also appreciated how clearly the author’s unique voice came through -- I read another book of his recently, which was very different in tone and was very much a children’s book whereas this one definitely is not, but I would have recognized that they’d been written by the same author even if I hadn’t known that they were.
My biggest complaint about this book was that several stories included a disabled character and it always felt like that character had been given a disability just to make a point, often in ways that seemed pretty ignorant about the realities of living with that disability. I enjoyed the book a lot nonetheless, but could definitely have done without that.
cw: bestiality (portrayed as consensual), suicide, murder, political execution, a few stories where disability is used as an awkward plot device, 2 stories where an animal whose personality we’ve gotten to know is killed and eaten. There was definitely at least 1 story where I skipped a page or two to avoid triggering content; I don’t remember what that content was.
My biggest complaint about this book was that several stories included a disabled character and it always felt like that character had been given a disability just to make a point, often in ways that seemed pretty ignorant about the realities of living with that disability. I enjoyed the book a lot nonetheless, but could definitely have done without that.
cw: bestiality (portrayed as consensual), suicide, murder, political execution, a few stories where disability is used as an awkward plot device, 2 stories where an animal whose personality we’ve gotten to know is killed and eaten. There was definitely at least 1 story where I skipped a page or two to avoid triggering content; I don’t remember what that content was.
daniestrada7's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
amysong's review against another edition
3.0
Probably the strangest original stories I've read to date. Enjoyed it though!
ivleafclover's review against another edition
4.0
Hernandez has an astounding imagination. All of the stories are intriguing, some are disturbing, and the one about panda conservation was so bizarre and off-putting that I put the book down for three weeks before I could convince myself to finish it. Which is not to say that it was a bad story.
What's truly odd to me is the design. As far as I can tell, Rosarium is a legitimate (though small) publisher, but the interior design looks like a vanity press. I'd say it was printed straight from Word files, except MS Word does a better job with spacing between the headers and footers and the main text, and has an italics function. Very weird. This is a good book; it deserves a competent designer. (The cover is super, though.)
What's truly odd to me is the design. As far as I can tell, Rosarium is a legitimate (though small) publisher, but the interior design looks like a vanity press. I'd say it was printed straight from Word files, except MS Word does a better job with spacing between the headers and footers and the main text, and has an italics function. Very weird. This is a good book; it deserves a competent designer. (The cover is super, though.)
greeniezona's review against another edition
5.0
Normally I put the book back down when I see that it is a collection of short stories, but I just couldn't resist this title, or this cover. For which I am grateful, because I really loved some of these stories, and even the ones that weren't my favorite all had details or moments that excited me. Not a dud in the book.
The first story, "The Aphotic Ghost," was one of my favorites. Think selkie story meets deep ocean marine biology plus some mountaineering. (Trust me, it works.) Minus the whole kidnapping aspect of a traditional selkie tale. There were bits I saw coming and bits that I didn't, but I was delighted with it the whole way through.
The story that surprised me more was "The International Studbook of the Giant Panda." Imagine a future where pandas are so imperiled that it requires a new kind of intervention to save them. This story posits (and I don't know if it's true, but given pandas' highly solitary nature, it seems plausible enough) that part of the reason for pandas' low reproduction rates is a lack of sex education. In a natural state, when many males respond to a female's call,, the males who aren't chosen watch -- and thus get to see and smell how things are supposed to go. With pandas so thin on the ground in the wild and isolated in zoos, they are missing this social instruction. So one lab creates mechanized panda suits that allow human scientists to both create their own live sex-ed shows and also collect semen from male pandas in a more naturalistic way. Of course, in order to give a convincing show, the scientists employ a combination of chemical and nanotech therapy and virtual reality tech in the suits -- enabling them to "be the panda." It could so easily go over the top, but somehow it doesn't and it's absolutely fascinating.
All in all, these stories were a refreshing blend of science, magical realism, and Cuban immigrant culture. I will definitely be on the lookout for future fiction from this author.
The first story, "The Aphotic Ghost," was one of my favorites. Think selkie story meets deep ocean marine biology plus some mountaineering. (Trust me, it works.) Minus the whole kidnapping aspect of a traditional selkie tale. There were bits I saw coming and bits that I didn't, but I was delighted with it the whole way through.
The story that surprised me more was "The International Studbook of the Giant Panda." Imagine a future where pandas are so imperiled that it requires a new kind of intervention to save them. This story posits (and I don't know if it's true, but given pandas' highly solitary nature, it seems plausible enough) that part of the reason for pandas' low reproduction rates is a lack of sex education. In a natural state, when many males respond to a female's call,, the males who aren't chosen watch -- and thus get to see and smell how things are supposed to go. With pandas so thin on the ground in the wild and isolated in zoos, they are missing this social instruction. So one lab creates mechanized panda suits that allow human scientists to both create their own live sex-ed shows and also collect semen from male pandas in a more naturalistic way. Of course, in order to give a convincing show, the scientists employ a combination of chemical and nanotech therapy and virtual reality tech in the suits -- enabling them to "be the panda." It could so easily go over the top, but somehow it doesn't and it's absolutely fascinating.
All in all, these stories were a refreshing blend of science, magical realism, and Cuban immigrant culture. I will definitely be on the lookout for future fiction from this author.