Five original tales set in a shared urban future—from some of the hottest young writers in modern SF
A strange man comes to an even stran... read full description
reviews
Dec 22, 2011
Rae
rated it: 
I've observed that the way of anthologies seems to be that you win some and you lose some, and METAtropolis adheres to that view. In this unique anthology, all the stories are written in the same, post-oil world, where either you're green, you're stupid, or you're dead. Although all of the stories are connected via world, they have such a range of qualities that I feel that it is only really fair to review each independently of the others.
In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake was More...
In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake was More...
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Mar 02, 2011
Kiri
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This book was conceived as a joint project between five authors, in which they co-created the world in which their stories would be set, but then took their stories in very different directions. They're all concerned with the evolution of cities and breakdown of our current capitalistic, consumption-based economy. Not quite post-apocalyptic, nevertheless some of the stories have a distinct survivalist feel to them, and they are all creative and thought-provoking.
I liked how the s More...
I liked how the s More...
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Mar 02, 2011
Stefan
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Metatropolis is an interesting book, to say the least: in addition to being a "shared world" anthology, featuring stories from five authors working in the same "collectively-constructed" future setting, it's also (as far as I know) unique in that it was released first as an audio book (reviewed below by Kat) and only subsequently as a traditional "paper" book, first as a limited edition by Subterranean Press, and now in a shiny new edition by Tor.
The con More...
The con More...
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Mar 02, 2011
Kat
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METAtropolis: It’s not a utopia. It’s just maybe something that sucks a little less
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and it turns out that all those eco-freaks were right all along. We humans destroyed the planet and now we’ve got to live with the mess we’ve made. Many world governments, including the U.S., have been essentially dismantled and large, mostly independent and self-governing city-states have taken their place.
Under the direction of John Scalzi, the sto More...
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and it turns out that all those eco-freaks were right all along. We humans destroyed the planet and now we’ve got to live with the mess we’ve made. Many world governments, including the U.S., have been essentially dismantled and large, mostly independent and self-governing city-states have taken their place.
Under the direction of John Scalzi, the sto More...
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Mar 02, 2011
Karlo
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Mar 02, 2011
Rachel
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Not nearly as pretentious as the name implies. This is a collection of short stories imagining the cities of the future. The authors collaborated on a "shared universe," and then wrote individual stories reflecting aspects of the universe. The first story is self-serious and predictably preachy-- evil capitalism, global warming, failure of representative government, etc. It's uphill from there, however. We get less Self-Destructive-Tendencies-of-this-Depraved-Species hogwash and more o
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Mar 02, 2011
Kohl
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METAtropolis is an example of what sci-fi authors do best: show us what's achievable, what's possible, and motivate us to make that future real. My favorite chapters were the first - In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake (read by Michael Hogan) - and fifth - To Hie from Far Cilenia by Karl Schroeder (read by Stefan Rudnicki) - though the fourth - Utere Nihil... by John Scalzi (read by Alessandro Juliani) - was campy and amusing.
Audible.com has the first chapter as a free download, More...
Audible.com has the first chapter as a free download, More...
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Apr 14, 2011
David
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Metatropolis is an interesting project: it is a shared-universe project which explores the post-consumer face of cities. Overall, I think that it attempts more than it achieves - the authors have a tendency to veer into no-second-law-of-thermodynamics-land, which is a lovely place, but seeing it like that jarred me out of the moment. The stories are by and large pretty good: all of the authors are talented, but I wasn't left with the "and then what happened?" moment regarding the cha
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Dec 17, 2011
Betsy
rated it:
Audiobook, various narrators.
Not your typical dystopic sci-fi. Yes, the world has come to social & environmental ruin. But as another reviewer said, these are stories of hope. They are stories in which people have dealt, adapted and, for the most part, risen above in new ways.
I enjoyed the ways that the completely separate stories referenced each other. You could tell that the authors collaborated to a certain extent although each offered their own very individual vis More...
Not your typical dystopic sci-fi. Yes, the world has come to social & environmental ruin. But as another reviewer said, these are stories of hope. They are stories in which people have dealt, adapted and, for the most part, risen above in new ways.
I enjoyed the ways that the completely separate stories referenced each other. You could tell that the authors collaborated to a certain extent although each offered their own very individual vis More...
Jun 22, 2011
Bookworm
rated it:
What interested me was the self labelling on the front cover - A collection of stores in a shared future...yes, now seeing that in print I realize it's a bit weird to find that interesting. But, I really like books that take a look at the world in the near future, especially those horribly depressing post apocalyptic ones!
Looking this book over I realized this book had a couple of things against it, at least in my eyes. One, it was not a book about a post apocalyptic world, which I i More...
Looking this book over I realized this book had a couple of things against it, at least in my eyes. One, it was not a book about a post apocalyptic world, which I i More...
Feb 08, 2012
Melanti
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The first couple of stories in this anthology started off rather slowly, but by the time that Elizabeth Bear’s story came around, I was really into it.
The anthology does get rather preachy on the ecological propaganda at times (Bear’s story being the most preachy of the set), but that makes sense because all but one of the stories are focused on someone from within a society attempting to recruit an individual from without the society, and thus having to convert the prospective citiz More...
The anthology does get rather preachy on the ecological propaganda at times (Bear’s story being the most preachy of the set), but that makes sense because all but one of the stories are focused on someone from within a society attempting to recruit an individual from without the society, and thus having to convert the prospective citiz More...
Nov 30, 2011
Erik
rated it:
This was an excellent collection of short stories. The premise of the collection was nice, that the authors came together to create a world in which all their stories would take place. Then they went off and wrote completely different stories. The world they created was very nice, a place where cities across the world had more in common with each other than with the nations they existed in. A place where carbon footprint was eco-friendly are critical to existance.
Of the stories, I tota More...
Of the stories, I tota More...
Sep 15, 2011
Ellen
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Loved this for many reasons. First, the future dsytopia here is not as "dys" as most. It's a hopeful, but not candy coated, potential future (in which Detroit plays a leading role). Second, this was an audio book that was written down, not the reverse. I think this lends the stories momentum. No one seems too worried about fancy language and descriptions, it's straight forward story telling. Third, I loved the idea of authors getting together to create a shared world. Once you're throu
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Apr 10, 2011
Jimmy
rated it:
I think I liked the idea of this book more than the execution. As I say that I'd like to state that this is fair from a bad book, it's just not a great book. I found some of the stories to be very interesting and I found other stories to be pretty lack luster.
The best thing about this book is that as a reader, it's an absolute joy to have stories built around world-building. The problem I found with the book is that the worlds are built and then nothing is done with what has been crea More...
The best thing about this book is that as a reader, it's an absolute joy to have stories built around world-building. The problem I found with the book is that the worlds are built and then nothing is done with what has been crea More...
May 28, 2011
Phillip
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The book starts off with one of the best stories and has a couple of interesting ones that follow. Over all though, the pedantic drum beating of the green eco theme just gets to be overwhelming. I remember listening to the first story (available free at one point) and thinking - wow, this will be good - so I spent the credits on Audible to get the entire collection. By the end, I had taken the second series (Cascadia) off my wishlist and swore never to listen to another word of it. Maybe that's
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Feb 08, 2012
Chris
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In the Forests of the Night - Jay Lake
Perhaps because it was the first story of this new world created jsut for this anthology but i found this to be my least favorite, and most confusing. As best as i can describe a man, Tygre Tygre, enters a city as a paid operative that goes rogue and almost plays a Jesus-esque role in converting the city. I think it may have gone over better if the author had a few more pages to add about the final battle which is glossed over and only the aftermath More...
Perhaps because it was the first story of this new world created jsut for this anthology but i found this to be my least favorite, and most confusing. As best as i can describe a man, Tygre Tygre, enters a city as a paid operative that goes rogue and almost plays a Jesus-esque role in converting the city. I think it may have gone over better if the author had a few more pages to add about the final battle which is glossed over and only the aftermath More...
Mar 02, 2011
Bryan
rated it:
I'll argue that any anthology has some sort of a "theme" to tie the stories together. There's many that broadcast their theme within the volume's title (such as The Dimension Next Door, Man Vs Machine, Moon Shots,Aliens Among Us). DAW does a lot of these, but you can find plenty published by Ace and Baen as well.
However, even a less-focused volume still has some sort of theme. Dozois and Hartwell publish a "Best of" each year, in which they collect the foremost sh More...
However, even a less-focused volume still has some sort of theme. Dozois and Hartwell publish a "Best of" each year, in which they collect the foremost sh More...
Mar 02, 2011
February
rated it:
As usual, Scalzi's story was the one I liked the best. I got the feeling the book was arranged from weakest to strongest, definitely. With the exception of the Jay Lake, every story in this collection is great. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in reading a collection of same-universe stories by different authors.
My thoughts on the world: I find the notion of the city-states intriguing. They feel somewhat artificial, but the concept is more-or-less sound. Whether o More...
My thoughts on the world: I find the notion of the city-states intriguing. They feel somewhat artificial, but the concept is more-or-less sound. Whether o More...
Mar 02, 2011
Eric
rated it:
This was an interesting look at a near-future post-apocalyptic scenario. I like the concept of the project (which is essentially a group of authors getting together, doing some collaborative world-building, and then individually writing short stories in that world), which lends several different voices and perspectives to the book.
I also find it interesting that the book was conceived and first executed as an audiobook; most books go from written to spoken, not the other way round. T More...
I also find it interesting that the book was conceived and first executed as an audiobook; most books go from written to spoken, not the other way round. T More...
Mar 02, 2011
Kelley
rated it:
Courtesy of Amazon
The apocalypse has come and those remaining are trying to survive in a whole new world. Cities have to figure out how to sustain themselves and the farther away from the city you get, the more dangerous the world becomes. Enter into the METAtropolis and come away with a new perspective.
In In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake, Tyger Tyger has arrived in Cascadiopolis and no one knows where he came from. He quickly inserts himself into society, disrupt More...
The apocalypse has come and those remaining are trying to survive in a whole new world. Cities have to figure out how to sustain themselves and the farther away from the city you get, the more dangerous the world becomes. Enter into the METAtropolis and come away with a new perspective.
In In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake, Tyger Tyger has arrived in Cascadiopolis and no one knows where he came from. He quickly inserts himself into society, disrupt More...
Mar 02, 2011
Jason
rated it:
I thought this book had some interesting ideas about future cities/communities. I enjoyed the fact that all the writers used a shared world environment that they all helped build. It kept the stories related while allowing the writers to explore their own ideas.
The main problem I had with the book was that the stories were basically about the political workings of these future city-state things. I am not much for political education to begin with and it seemed like I was having to lea More...
The main problem I had with the book was that the stories were basically about the political workings of these future city-state things. I am not much for political education to begin with and it seemed like I was having to lea More...
Mar 02, 2011
Kelley
rated it:
Courtesy of Amazon
The apocalypse has come and those remaining are trying to survive in a whole new world. Cities have to figure out how to sustain themselves and the farther away from the city you get, the more dangerous the world becomes. Enter into the METAtropolis and come away with a new perspective.
In In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake, Tyger Tyger has arrived in Cascadiopolis and no one knows where he came from. He quickly inserts himself into society, disrupt More...
The apocalypse has come and those remaining are trying to survive in a whole new world. Cities have to figure out how to sustain themselves and the farther away from the city you get, the more dangerous the world becomes. Enter into the METAtropolis and come away with a new perspective.
In In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake, Tyger Tyger has arrived in Cascadiopolis and no one knows where he came from. He quickly inserts himself into society, disrupt More...
Mar 02, 2011
"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1247068...[return][return]This is an audiobook of five stories about future cities, read mainly by actors from Battlestar Galactica, on the Hugo shortlist for Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form. I whined a few weeks back about the technical difficulties I had in getting hold of it, because of the DRM protection on the official publication; my thanks to the person who helped me over that hurdle.[return][return]I confess that audiobooks, as opposed to plays,
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Mar 02, 2011
Alan
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This is a shared-world anthology, edited by John Scalzi (an opinionated and high-profile Young Turk of an sf writer—and no, I don't necessarily mean he's physically youthful; it's a matter of attitude—who has some fairly entertaining novels of his own under his belt) and containing stories by Scalzi himself and four other up-and-coming sf authors whose names you should be at least starting to recognize: Elizabeth Bear, Tobias Buckell, Jay Lake and Karl Schroeder.
The introduction, by More...
The introduction, by More...
Mar 02, 2011
Abbey
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The last story is best: "To Hie from far Cilenia" by Jarl Schroeder. It's packed with mind-jarring, yet totally believable future-cities - some are megacities like Seattle/Portland/Vancouver now known as Cascadia, where people renounce allegiance to a country and become citizens of Cascadia and sister mega-cities. Other amalgamations of people are more conceptual, less physical: some people call a mutually accepted reality "home" - they live in a virtual world, where their
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Mar 02, 2011
Ethan
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Karl Schroeder blew the other authors away with his story in this anthology. Scalzi came in a close second with his usual well-crafted and visualized trappings for a long poop joke. Buckell gets a solid third for his contribution though he falls slightly prey to the ailment of the last two, by envisioning a societal development more in keeping with 60's era delusional pseudo-culture than one that could function independently in a 'new-world'. He at least did that on purpose and pointed out in
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Mar 02, 2011
Wendy
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This anthology of stories about cities of the future gets considerably more engaging as it progresses, both because the stories get stronger and because the listener's understanding of how the world works and the stories fit together deepens.
For me the standout stories in this anthology are John Scalzi's contribution, a coming-of-age story told with smart-alecky wit, and Karl Schroeder's tale of technology transcending national boundaries and individual identities. The other stories More...
For me the standout stories in this anthology are John Scalzi's contribution, a coming-of-age story told with smart-alecky wit, and Karl Schroeder's tale of technology transcending national boundaries and individual identities. The other stories More...
Mar 02, 2011
Elijah
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I am unfamiliar with the audiobook experience, but I grabbed this back when it was new and tried to listen to it -- at the time, I couldn't pay enough attention to follow it and gave up. I considered buying the normal book version, but upon seeing the list narrators for the sequel (all Star Trek alums!) I decided to give the audio version of the first book another shot.
I liked it very much, but it is hard to judge where my impressions stem from the writing, and where they're caused b More...
I liked it very much, but it is hard to judge where my impressions stem from the writing, and where they're caused b More...
Mar 02, 2011
L (Sniffly Kitty)
rated it:
Most compilations of short stories are hit and miss because while there is an overarching theme, the individual stories are of variable quality. Metatropolis tackles this problem by having all the writers writing in the same world (and of course having good writers and the amazing John Scalzi on the team I'm sure helped). They swapped ideas over how to build this world while they were each writing. The result is really good.
The near-future post-apocalyptic feeling is built into every d More...
The near-future post-apocalyptic feeling is built into every d More...
Mar 02, 2011
Sarah
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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