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eor27. Asimov's Science Fiction July/August 2021
L.X. Becket's take on living through a post social collapse world in "The Hazmat Sisters" was interesting. The central conceit was surprising, but how the characters act and interact rang true for me. Michael Swanwick's "Huggin and Muninn - And What Came After" comes with well deserved trigger warnings. An unblinking frank story wrapped in an parallel universe box. Taimur Ahmad's "Tweak" was a dark warning about what people will do to make themselves feel good about themselves. "Philly Killed His Car" by Will McIntosh gives us a very realistic look at a near future. I really liked how he wrote his way out of the dead end the character got himself into.
Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling's "Fibonacci's Humors" didn't do much for me.
28. Helen Simonson "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand"
Helen Simonson's "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" was a pleasant surprise. For me "New York Times bestseller" usually translates to unreadable book with no redeeming qualities. This one was actually a good read. It is a diatribe against prejudice and intolerance disguised as a romantic comedy. The characters are pretty much all flawed humans with varying degrees on the flawed bits. Quite often they walk on stage as stereotypes, then get progressively more complex and human. Most of them are just trying to get on in life, which when it comes down to it is what most humans are doing. Not all the story arcs end as you might expect them to. In some places the characters had to go through some unnatural contortions to get the plot resolved the way the author wanted, so it loses some marks for that.
L.X. Becket's take on living through a post social collapse world in "The Hazmat Sisters" was interesting. The central conceit was surprising, but how the characters act and interact rang true for me. Michael Swanwick's "Huggin and Muninn - And What Came After" comes with well deserved trigger warnings. An unblinking frank story wrapped in an parallel universe box. Taimur Ahmad's "Tweak" was a dark warning about what people will do to make themselves feel good about themselves. "Philly Killed His Car" by Will McIntosh gives us a very realistic look at a near future. I really liked how he wrote his way out of the dead end the character got himself into.
Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling's "Fibonacci's Humors" didn't do much for me.
28. Helen Simonson "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand"
Helen Simonson's "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" was a pleasant surprise. For me "New York Times bestseller" usually translates to unreadable book with no redeeming qualities. This one was actually a good read. It is a diatribe against prejudice and intolerance disguised as a romantic comedy. The characters are pretty much all flawed humans with varying degrees on the flawed bits. Quite often they walk on stage as stereotypes, then get progressively more complex and human. Most of them are just trying to get on in life, which when it comes down to it is what most humans are doing. Not all the story arcs end as you might expect them to. In some places the characters had to go through some unnatural contortions to get the plot resolved the way the author wanted, so it loses some marks for that.
