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Godlike Machines (2010)

by Jonathan Strahan(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1616647590 (ISBN13: 9781616647599)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Science Fiction Book Club

review 1: Overall I felt the narratives in the majority of the stories here took a backseat to the 'hard' science. I'm all for getting the impression my science fiction is accurate enough. But I really don't care for long technical explanations about how it was possible for X-based lifeforms to evolve on planet Y; or when the whole story hinges on the characters knowing some arcane biological/physical/chemical minutiae.I realize it's often what makes the story 'science' fiction, but having the characters engaged in a lecture series thinly disguised as dialog can also halt the momentum of the story and take you out of the experience.I felt Reynolds' story was the best, with the Kafka-esque Sean Williams story and the anime Cory Doctorow coming in next.
review 2: What a b... morerilliant theme for an anthology of novellas! As Strahan explains in the introduction, this was all inspired by a book cover he had seen in his youth, and years later sought to expand that particular concept into something special. While the idea of "The Big Dumb Machine" is nothing new to Science Fiction, the drastically different takes presented here really allow our imagination to explore the idea.I especially liked how Strahan set this up as a handful of novellas instead of what could have been too many short stories. It was a wonderful example of both writing style and genre, a chance to see the "Big Dumb Object" theme done via Space Opera and Hard SciFi alike. As with any collection of separate tales, some are more successful or engaging than others, but I felt as if each one truly brought something unique to this anthology. Science Fiction is not a genre I'm as well-read in as some others, say horror, fantasy or mystery. That said, I was captivated by the story-telling in each novella and only occasionally confused by the technical jargon in some of the "harder" Hard SciFi tales. I would easily recommend this anthology for someone looking for a fascinating introduction to the genre. less

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