matosapa's review
3.0
While I appreciate the purpose of this collection it was a bit too far out in left field for me. I enjoyed some of the stories but most left me flat or confused. I guess I like my sci-fi a bit less nuanced.
jmeyers888's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a little hard for me to follow in the beginning, but slowly I was able to gain a picture of the events that were happening. Overall I liked the story, but I thought it could have been delivered a bit more eloquently. However I would recommend this story, and I look forward to reading more Joanna Russ stories.
danslalune's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliant. Just brilliant. I love Harlan Ellison.
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/987086.html[return][return]This is the famous follow-up volume to the even more famous Dangerous Visions; an anthology of 41 stories, mainly by the leading lights of sf as it was in 1972, with vast amounts of prefatory material by editor Harlan Ellison and an afterword from each author, and nice art from Ed Emshwiller introducing each story.[return][return]But what is striking is how unmemorable and self-indulgent most of the stories are (also true of Ellison's long-winded prefaces). The three best are definitely Ursula Le Guin's "The Word for World is Forest", Joanna Russ's "When it Changed", and James Tiptree Jr's "The Milk of Paradise"; interestingly all three have the same basic plot, of an unspoilt planet being wrecked by us humans. Many of the others are just silly, Kurt Vonnegut being particularly proud of Using Rude Words To Be Grown-Up. In fact, the only other one I enjoyed was James Blish's erotic pastiche "Getting Along", which parodies numerous High Gothic writers - I particularly liked his riff on The Moon Pool.[return][return]But four memorable stories out of 41 is a very poor strike rate. I couldn't in all conscience recommend anyone to spend money on this collection, and I am wondering, heretically, if it is really such a shame that the third volume of the series never appeared.
sunnybopeep's review
5.0
1 self-indulgent foreword, 46 author introductions, and 46 stories later… Being able to mark this book as “read” is one of my greatest accomplishments of the year.
A,DV is a mine packed with diamonds varying in quality, but it has such a good turnout that the curator of these treasures (Harlan Ellison, that lucky bastard. May he be partying it up in Hell.) is extremely enviable. Some of the stories (about a generous 1/2 of them, I’d wager) are incredible feats of literature. There are a few duds, but they are so rare and this anthology is so packed with stories that it’s easy to just forget about them and move on to the next enlightened story by one of the many geniuses featured within A,DV. At this point, this heinously long collection of brilliant stories has pulled me out of a couple of serious reading slumps and pumped me back up with the juice of weird, wacky, controversial fiction writing.
Three cheers to this beautiful behemoth, my final book of 2021!
Content Warnings
Tons of shitting, cursing, vomiting, bodily mutilation, animal abuse, and other scary sci-fi stuff. Oh, and I can’t forget the unconventional (and sometimes painful) writing styles. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you probably shouldn’t read it.
bookcrazylady45's review against another edition
4.0
One becomes addicted to Harlan's vision of life. Reading any anthology by Harlan leads you to a wealth of writing and introduction to new writers whose books become necessary reads.
delz's review against another edition
4.0
This was definitely a mixed bag of SF. I really enjoyed The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin. It absolutely made you think and kept you thinking. The Big Space Fuck by Kurt Vonnegut had his usual flair of humor and message. The most disturbing story was by Piers Anthony called In the Barn. I’m still thinking about it, like I wish I could scrub it from by brain. If you like eclectic collections of SF this is the book for you.
keyreads's review against another edition
4.0
This is a science fiction classic short story of a human colony solely of women after a plague destroys the male race.
Very enjoyable!!
Very enjoyable!!
"Take my life away but don't take the meaning of my life. For-A-While"