Reviews

Loosed upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction by John Joseph Adams

marct22's review against another edition

5.0

sobering. particularly "the precedence". highly recommended

invisibleninjacat's review against another edition

4.0

This is an excellent, well-written anthology of climate fiction. I was, however, hoping for some more positive, hopeful stories than I found - the impulse to show the worst that can happen is strong, and showing a crisis averted is harder than showing destruction.

mpeteuil's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Some stories offered hope for the future. Some stories showed us the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some stories flipped the script. Overall There were a handful that I'll be referring to in the future, but they all made me think, and for that I'm grateful to have read this collection.

I'd recommend it as a good starting point for anyone else looking for climate fiction, particularly if they didn't want to commit into a full length novel.


Shooting the Apocalypse by Paolo Bacigalupi: 4.25
The Myth of Rain by Seanan McGuire: 2.75
Outer Rims by Toiya Kristen Finley: 3
Kheldyu by Karl Schroeder: 4.25
The Snows of Yesteryear by Jean-Louis Trudel: 3.5
The Rainy Season by Tobias S. Buckell: 2.5
A Hundred Hundred Daisies by Nancy Kress: 3
The Netherlands Lives with Water by Jim Shepard: 2.75
The Precedent by Sean McMullen: 4
Hot Sky by Robert Silverburg: 4
That Creeping Sensation by Alan Dean Foster: 3.25
Truth and Consequences by Kim Stanley Robinson: 3.25
Entanglement by Vandana Singh: 3.5
Staying Afloat by Angela Penrose: 3.5
Eighth Wonder by Chris Bachelder: 3.5
Eagle by Gergory Benford: 3.25
Outliers by Nicole Feldringer: 3.5
Quiet Town by Jason Gurley: 3
The Day It All Ended by Charlie Jane Anders: 4
The Smog Society by Chen Qiufan: 4.25
Racing the Tide by Craig DeLancy: 4
Mutant Stag at Horn Creek by Sarah K. Castle: 4
Hot Rods by Cat Sparks: 2.5
The Tamarisk Hunter by Paolo Bacigalupi: 3.25
Mitigation by Tobias S. Buckell & Karl Shroeder: 4
Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet by Margaret Atwood: 4.25

schnaucl's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Like most anthologies, this one had stories of varying quality.   It was interesting to see the different ideas about the forms the climate crisis will take.  Also a little depressing to read the stories 7 years after publication and realize maybe some of them weren't pessimistic enough.  

haramis's review against another edition

4.0

It took me two months to finish this, which is rather long for a JJA anthology. I blame Cat Sparks' Hot Rods, which took me three tries to finish, though it wasn't the only piece that I felt went on a tad too long, thus the loss of a star on the rating. I had already read both of the Paolo Bacigalupi stories in other anthologies as well as Outer Rims, which I liked enough to reread, so my first story in this was really Seanan McGuire's The Myth of Rain, which went straight for the gut. I was already a fan, but she killed me with the destruction of the Olympic National Park. I thought Sean McCullen's The Precedent was also quite good and haunting. The rest was more of a mixed bag of odd pieces, but I liked several of them, and I would recommend this for some interesting thoughts on this theme.

pearseanderson's review against another edition

2.0

This collection did ideas right. Authors had a lot of great ideas. Authors had, however, terrible execution. I read about characters I didn't care for. I read rushed or broken arcs and plots. I read paragraphs that somehow made it through the copy editor despite grammatical and structural problems. The last hundred pages, combined with "The Eight Wonder" were the best pieces in the collection. But they why—why for God's sake—would you leave the best for last? I had to trawl my body through this brick of a book for a tale or two I could read in a Clarkesworld anthology at the beginning. Worldbuilding felt incomplete, characters felt like mouthpieces, scenes felt broken. I am surprised John Joseph Adams and Atwood got anywhere close to this stuff. Bleh.

socialpsysteph's review against another edition

2.0

Whew, this one took a while to get through. I started this back in June and am just now finishing it. The stories were really hit or miss for me. I rate each story individually and the average came out to a 2.96 / 5, so not great, but not terrible. My favorites stories were Outer Rims, That Creeping Sensation, and The Day It All Ended, I gave all of those 5 stars. For me, most of these stories didn't work as short stories because the worlds were too intricate. There wasn't enough time for the buildup that I like in an apocalyptic tale. I could see several of these being way better novels than they are short stories. This book counts for Popsugar 2020 for an anthology.

the_grimdragon's review against another edition

4.0

Review to come!