Review by emergencily - Exhalation

3.75

Collection of short sci-fi stories
The prose is really plain and matter-of-fact, which is fine - but sometimes it felt a little too bare-bones and plain and almost...ugly? For lack of a kinder word. The style is fr just "She said 'XXX.' Then, she stood up and did this. She thought, 'XXX.' She sat down." But also, I came to this book fresh from finishing a book with very poetic and elaborate descriptive prose so maybe I'm being too harsh
Sometimes a story will have cut-asides with long passages describing the mechanics and logistics and physics of whatever sci-fi device/tech/concept the story is about (e.g. AI, alternate realities), which could really drag on for me. But I know that I'm a person who's interested in sci fi more for the social and cultural implications than the specific mechanics of how a technology works. So it's up to personal preference
Each story was unique and while they rested on familiar sci-fi tropes (like exploring parallel realities), they were executed in really interesting and unique ways, so it never felt close to being cliche or tired.
I probably enjoyed the first story the most, and it was probably also the least scientific one in the bunch, with an "Arabian Nights" inspired storytelling format