Reviews

Women Destroy Science Fiction!: Lightspeed Magazine Special Issue; The Stories by Christie Yant, Robin Lupo, Wendy N. Wagner, Jude Griffin

telerit's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

halflingthief's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Rad as hell. Some of the best short stories I've read 

crtsjffrsn's review against another edition

3.0

Seanan McGuire is a master of world-building as demonstrated in this short but incredibly engaging story. Set in a future where the navy is made up entirely of genetically modified women made to be more like mermaids, no part of it seems out of place or farfetched, and the reader can very easily place oneself into this world. The character of the narrator has a strong, clear, and unique voice and everything just flows well. I hesitate to delve too much more into the details at the risk of spoiling too much (always a much higher risk when dealing with shorter fiction). I definitely recommend this - the only drawback I found is that I got so immersed in this world and this story, I want more...

shanth's review against another edition

4.0

Among the new stories in this anthology, "The Case of the Passionless Bees" by Rhonda Eikamp, a cyberpunk re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes as Gearlock Holmes was my favourite. Gabriella Stalker's dystopian "In the Image of Man" about a future where everything is subsumed by a collection of Malls which house churches, schools, universities (all operated like corporate franchises with sponsors and tie-ins) is eerily close to today's reality in so many ways. And Elizabeth Porter's "A Burglary, Addressed By a Young Lady" has to rank among the most deliciously fantastic imagining of a social order so different from anything I'm used to reading.

The Maureen F. McHugh novella and Tiptree reprint were brilliant but nothing else struck me much. Quite a mixed anthology all in all, but well worth it just for the gems it contains

elizafiedler's review against another edition

4.0

There are some truly amazing stories in here, especially the reprints, like Tiptree. The overall quality is a bit uneven, though, with some of these not really even qualifying as scifi (present-day social satire instead), and others reading like brief unfinished ideas, not completed stories.

zivan's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

A very good collection, by women authors not exclusively about women.

One Novella caught my attention in particular:  

The Cost To Be Wise by Maureen F. McHugh.

The reversal of the point of view from the anthropologist visiting a lost colony to the native girl assigned to take care of her was refreshing. 

 

hopeebruce's review against another edition

4.0

Overall I enjoyed this anthology style issue. As with any compilation of different short stories by multiple authors I enjoyed some more than others. I found this work because of N. K. Jemisin's story.
I haven't ready any other issues of Lightspeed so I don't have a lot of context for this issue.

dswoager's review against another edition

3.0

There's actually a lot in here to like, but some of the stuff that didn't work for me was kind of clustered together and made a large portion of the middle seem interminable.

I think the most disappointing thing is that what I liked the most was from authors I'm already heavily into. Short story collections often feel like a gateway to new material, but I don't think I picked up anyone new.

brhillmann's review against another edition

4.0

Usual thoughts on short story collections: Some hits, some misses. More hits than misses for me. Seanan McGuire and Kris Millering really brought the A-game here, and N.K. Jemisin never disappoints, satisfying my need for a slightly horror bend. My only regret is that I didn't read this issue sooner. I have no excuses.

scamp1234's review against another edition

4.0

This issue is HUGE! And then when you look at the amount of content it's pretty big as well. The collaboration that went into this issue and the backers that made it happen make this a must have out of the lightspeed offerings. There are a lot of great original stories here and the flash fiction pieces are pretty well done as well. What puts the icing on the cake is the fact that the bonus story is awesome and then you have 8 podcasts to listen to that need a review of there own.