Federations Summary and Reviews

Federations

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Book Summary Information

Editor: John Joseph Adams
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009
ISBN: 1607012014
Number of pages: 379
Publisher: Prime Books

Book Reviews of Federations

Book Review: Excellent anthology
Summary: 5 Stars

I bought this book purely for Jeremiah Tolbert's story, which did not disappoint, and was surprised to see other authors I liked among the contributors. There were a number of stories that blew me away, and several that really didn't, and the rest were good. Drill-down below...

The Excellent:
"Swanwatch" by Yoon Ha Lee
* Love the structure of this universe.
"Spirey and the Queen" by Alastair Reynolds
* Perfect mixture of "You don't live in this world so I will use enough words so that the things you are seeing will make sense to you" and "I live in this word so my every thought is not a bucket of exposition."
"My She" by Mary Rosenblum
* Superb on all accounts.
"The Culture Archivist by Jeremiah Tolbert
* Funny and explorative with interesting tech. Excited to see a genderless character, but there was one thing that bugged me about it.
"Golubash, or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy" by Catherynne M. Valente
* Her first SF story is epic and brilliant.

The Good:
"Carthago Delenda Est" by Genevieve Valentine
* I think I didn't quite "get" this story, but it worked.
"Life-suspension" by L. E. Modesitt
* Interesting concept executed well.
"Aftermaths" by Lois McMaster Bujold
* More of a feel-good story than a technical masterpiece.
"Twilight of the Gods" by John C. Wright
* Another one I didn't quite "get," not being familiar with Wagner, but it was pretty and internally consistent.
"Warship" by George R. R. Martin and George Guthridge
* Good concept done well, but a little overstated.
"Like They Always Been Free" by Georgina Li
* It's hard to find a good really short story and this one definitely makes the grade, but the intensely personal voice was a little hard for me to follow.
"Eskhara" by Trent Hergenrader
* Good structure and timely concerns.
"The One With the Interstellar Group Consciousnesses" by James Alan Gardner
* Fairly clever, amusing and sweet in a heteronormative romcom sort of way.

The Decent:
"Terra-Exulta" by S. L. Gilbow
* An interesting idea, but the format bugged me and it wasn't subtle enough for its length.
"Prisons" by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason
* I couldn't tell what this one was trying to say, and it felt split somehow.
"Different Day" by K. Tempest Bradford
* Love the concept, but it doesn't really go anywhere.
"Pardon Our Conquest" by Alan Dean Foster
* I didn't get this one, but I may have been missing info from the other works in the milieu I hadn't read.
"The Ship Who Returned" by Anne McCaffrey
* Again, missing context since I haven't read the books.
"The Shoulders of Giants" by Robert J. Sawyer
* Great concept, not enough character development.
"The Other Side of Jordan" by Allen Steele
* Great concept skimmed over in favor of a fairly cardboard love story.

The Not Worth It:
"Mazer In Prison" by Orson Scott Card
* I enjoy much of Card's fiction and dearly love several of his books, but I really didn't need to read this story. It doesn't stand on its own and doesn't contribute much to its contextual works.
"Someone Is Stealing the Great Throne Rooms of the Galaxy" by Harry Turtledove
* If Steve Eley had read this on Escape Pod, I probably would have liked it, but by itself it's kind of thin. Punny, but again, I didn't need to read this.
"Symbiont" by Robert Silverberg
* Silverberg's written a zillion stories, but all the ones I've read seem to take a concept that could be interesting, give it a few quirks--a few good lines, a nice twist, a funny scene--but just not do much with it. This one was not an exception.

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