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Shoggoths In Bloom (2008)

by Elizabeth Bear(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1607013789 (ISBN13: 9781607013785)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Prime Books

review 1: Sample Bear's Range and DiversityHere's the thing about anthologies, and about attempts to review, describe or comment on anthologies - well intentioned blurbers and reviewers give you one sentence summaries of the most remarkable stories, or even of each story. Depending on whether they liked the collection or disliked the collection they can easily make each story sound fascinating or tedious and derivative. The summaries are helpful, of course, and can be tasty come-ons, but it's hard to gauge exactly what you're getting into.The task is easier here, because the multiple award winning story "Tideline" is so good that it justifies the purchase of the book, and so everything else is just gravy.Elizabeth Bear is a fine writer; you will not find fault with her technique or... more her skills. More problemattic is her choice of subjects and themes, and the treatment she gives some fairly old-school topics, (mind control, robot rights, racial equality, genetic engineering). All of her stories are worth reading; some of them you will find particularly rewarding. None of them will disappoint. Bear has already created an estimable body of work. If you aren't familiar with her this collection is a fine and fairly representative sampler. Think of it as a tasting menu and you won't be disappointed.Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
review 2: "Tideline": Loooooooved it. I love it when Bear gives souls to soulless things, eg robots. Plus the new importance of oral storytelling in post-apocalyptic world so yeah FEELINGS. 5/5"Sonny Liston Takes the Fall": This one is very understated and at first I was like "ehhh that was ehhhh" but it stuck in my brain and percolated for a while and it's really quite lovely. 5/5"Sounding": Whales, man, they'll kill ya??? I didn't really get this one. 2/5"The Something-Dreaming Game": heebie-jeebies, auto-erotic asphyxiation style. I liked the ambiguousness of whether what is happening is actually happening. 4/5"The Cold Blacksmith": Shenanigans with Weyland Smith (from Promethean novels). Some things are harder to fix than others so it kinda sucks when you have a "fix-it-all" geas, DOESN'T IT. 4/5"In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns": Parrot-cats and side-notes on astronomy and a really fabulous little murder mystery. LOVED IT. 5/5 PS I would like more in this universe."Orm the Beautiful": There are a LOT of stories in this collection about how the person who pays isn't necessarily the person who benefits. This is one of them. Dragons and miners museums and I loved it. 5/5"The Inevitable Heat Death of the Universe": Well there's a shark and it...well it eats everything. 3/5"Love Among the Talus": I started reading it and wondered how Bear would invert princess-in-the-tower, and then she did it and it was horrible and beautiful and ugh. 5/5"Cryptic Coloration": The constant POV-switches really annoyed me and messed up my feeling of suspense. Despite that, there's nothing really WRONG with this monster-hunt feat. freshmen college girls. 4/5"The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder": I loved the ending, but at the same time I didn't quite believe the character's journey to making that choice. 3/5*rest of review to come* less

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