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The Far Reaches #1-6
The Far Reaches: Stories to Take You Out of This World
Look outward beyond the stars with six stories from bestselling visionary authors. An AI awakens to its purpose. A researcher seeds a thousand new worlds for one more chance at love. A murder rocks the crew of an interstellar ship. With a sweeping sense of wonder, these stories explore the galaxy . . . and the horizons of humanity’s potential.
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
An astronaut’s interstellar mission is a personal journey of a thousand second chances in an exhilarating short story by James S. A. Corey, the New York Times bestselling author of The Expanse series.
Void by Veronica Roth
An intergalactic luxury cruise to a distant port is a world unto itself in this piercing short mystery by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth.
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
A young man caught between two disparate worlds searches for his place in the universe in a wrenching short story by New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
An inquisitive life-form finds there’s more to existence than they ever dreamed in an imaginative short story by New York Times bestselling and Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Ann Leckie.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
A revolutionary experiment in space opens a woman’s eyes to the meaning of solitude in a thought-provoking short story by New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor.
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
An artificial intelligence on a star-spanning mission explores the farthest horizons of human potential—and its own purpose—in a mind-bending short story by New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi.
©2023 How It Unfolds © 2023 by Tyler Franck and Daniel Abraham. Void © 2023 by Veronica Roth. Falling Bodies © 2023 by Rebecca Roanhorse. The Long Game © 2023 by Ann Leckie. Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach © 2023 by Africanfuturism Productions. Slow Time Between the Stars © 2023 by John Scalzi. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
An astronaut’s interstellar mission is a personal journey of a thousand second chances in an exhilarating short story by James S. A. Corey, the New York Times bestselling author of The Expanse series.
Void by Veronica Roth
An intergalactic luxury cruise to a distant port is a world unto itself in this piercing short mystery by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth.
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
A young man caught between two disparate worlds searches for his place in the universe in a wrenching short story by New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
An inquisitive life-form finds there’s more to existence than they ever dreamed in an imaginative short story by New York Times bestselling and Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Ann Leckie.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
A revolutionary experiment in space opens a woman’s eyes to the meaning of solitude in a thought-provoking short story by New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor.
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
An artificial intelligence on a star-spanning mission explores the farthest horizons of human potential—and its own purpose—in a mind-bending short story by New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi.
©2023 How It Unfolds © 2023 by Tyler Franck and Daniel Abraham. Void © 2023 by Veronica Roth. Falling Bodies © 2023 by Rebecca Roanhorse. The Long Game © 2023 by Ann Leckie. Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach © 2023 by Africanfuturism Productions. Slow Time Between the Stars © 2023 by John Scalzi. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
227 pages, Audiobook
First published June 27, 2023
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802 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
June 30, 2023
Where my Sci-Fi peeps at?
This was, all around, the strongest collection of these stories that Amazon has produced, imo. Quick thoughts of each story:
~ "How it Unfolds" by James S.A. Corey: 5 stars; Whoa geez what a banger to start with. Personal, emotional narrative with a dash of terraforming? Heck yes.
~ "Void" by Veronica Roth: 4 stars; Who's up for a space cruise ship murder mystery? If yes, this is for you.
~ "Falling Bodies" by Rebecca Roanhorse: 3.5 stars; Very cool worldbuilding. I'd read a whole novel in this world no questions asked. Surprising ending.
~ "The Long Game" by Ann Leckie: Another 5 stars; From an alien perspective, Leckie makes readers look at the universe, at life, through a whole new perspective in just 30 pages. This was really beautiful.
~ "Just Out of Jupiter's Reach" by Nnedi Okorafor: 3.5 stars; Very cool sentient-ish AI spaceships and fun worldbuilding.
~ "Slow Time Between the Stars" by John Scalzi: 4.5 stars; POV narrator: the AI of an unmanned starship, tasked with carrying the possibility for humanity to spread into the stars within itself. And I'm not crying, you're crying.
This was, all around, the strongest collection of these stories that Amazon has produced, imo. Quick thoughts of each story:
~ "How it Unfolds" by James S.A. Corey: 5 stars; Whoa geez what a banger to start with. Personal, emotional narrative with a dash of terraforming? Heck yes.
~ "Void" by Veronica Roth: 4 stars; Who's up for a space cruise ship murder mystery? If yes, this is for you.
~ "Falling Bodies" by Rebecca Roanhorse: 3.5 stars; Very cool worldbuilding. I'd read a whole novel in this world no questions asked. Surprising ending.
~ "The Long Game" by Ann Leckie: Another 5 stars; From an alien perspective, Leckie makes readers look at the universe, at life, through a whole new perspective in just 30 pages. This was really beautiful.
~ "Just Out of Jupiter's Reach" by Nnedi Okorafor: 3.5 stars; Very cool sentient-ish AI spaceships and fun worldbuilding.
~ "Slow Time Between the Stars" by John Scalzi: 4.5 stars; POV narrator: the AI of an unmanned starship, tasked with carrying the possibility for humanity to spread into the stars within itself. And I'm not crying, you're crying.
August 17, 2023
Amazon succeeds again by repeating the formula of its Forward Collection, with six new short stories by current authors. For me good and enjoyable science fiction stories all.
December 16, 2023
Stumbled across this grouping of six SciFi short stories by some well known writers. Written especially, it seems, for an Amazon audio book (I’m not into audio books) but I also found it as a free grouped offer of six ebooks for Amazon Prime members, which is what I review.
Two of the six were imaginative enough to absorb my attention, one interested me, the others not so much to my taste.
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
Imaginative tale describing an unusual teleporter style approach for humanity to explore worlds to colonise. But how different are the teleported humans to their originals? Clever and absorbing. 5*.
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
The author articulates well my previously unorganised thoughts about the only practical method for humans like us to colonise the stars. An AI probe with the ability to place newly made humans onto compatible planets found during its voyage, taken at its own sedate pace. Interesting and well thought out though human interactions aren’t a feature of this science rich tale! The AI probe partly makes up for that with its own view of things. 5*.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Humans on a colonised planet and their relationship with a curious, intelligent indigenous race. Just enough for a short story. 4*.
Void by Veronica Roth
A murder mystery on a space ship! Well, a nice change from isolated country houses. Because of its scenario I didn’t find it particularly original, nor to my taste for SciFi. Well written though. 3*
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Political intrigue involving humans and the paternalistic side of a conquering alien race, taking place on a space station. I’m not a fan of almost human-like (physically and culturally) alien stories, so not to my taste.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
Strange. An imaginative SciFi tale based on biologically compatible humans and matching organic spaceships on an exploratory mission to Jupiter. The several isolated spaceships and their occupants get together for the first time on arrival at Jupiter, and the bulk of the story concentrated on that, the social interactions of the meeting. Jupiter didn’t really get a look in! Not to my taste, I’m afraid.
Two of the six were imaginative enough to absorb my attention, one interested me, the others not so much to my taste.
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
Imaginative tale describing an unusual teleporter style approach for humanity to explore worlds to colonise. But how different are the teleported humans to their originals? Clever and absorbing. 5*.
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
The author articulates well my previously unorganised thoughts about the only practical method for humans like us to colonise the stars. An AI probe with the ability to place newly made humans onto compatible planets found during its voyage, taken at its own sedate pace. Interesting and well thought out though human interactions aren’t a feature of this science rich tale! The AI probe partly makes up for that with its own view of things. 5*.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Humans on a colonised planet and their relationship with a curious, intelligent indigenous race. Just enough for a short story. 4*.
Void by Veronica Roth
A murder mystery on a space ship! Well, a nice change from isolated country houses. Because of its scenario I didn’t find it particularly original, nor to my taste for SciFi. Well written though. 3*
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Political intrigue involving humans and the paternalistic side of a conquering alien race, taking place on a space station. I’m not a fan of almost human-like (physically and culturally) alien stories, so not to my taste.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
Strange. An imaginative SciFi tale based on biologically compatible humans and matching organic spaceships on an exploratory mission to Jupiter. The several isolated spaceships and their occupants get together for the first time on arrival at Jupiter, and the bulk of the story concentrated on that, the social interactions of the meeting. Jupiter didn’t really get a look in! Not to my taste, I’m afraid.
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July 10, 2023Free to read for Prime members!
June 30, 2023
As with all anthologies, a bit of a mixed bag for me but I'm sure every SF fan will find something to like here. I reviewed each story at its individual listing so will just list my star ratings here.
How It Unfolds **
Void ****
Falling Bodies **
The Long Game *****
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach **
Slow Time Between the Stars ****
How It Unfolds **
Void ****
Falling Bodies **
The Long Game *****
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach **
Slow Time Between the Stars ****
September 30, 2023
3.75 Stars overall. Individual ratings & reviews below…
1) How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey:
3 Stars. Decent story but nothing too special. It was a bit confusing with all the jumping around but I was still able to guess the reveal.
Read: 7/17/23
2) Void by Veronica Roth:
3.5 Stars. Pretty good novelette. For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although the writing felt amateurish and the descriptions were quite lazy, it was still good and worth checking out.
Read: 9/24/23-9/29/23
Quotes:
- “Joy is the thief of time, and time is the thief of joy.”
- “Maybe life in the void should have eradicated her faith in humanity. Separation from time tended to do that to people. All the little struggles of people’s lives—and the great ones—became meaningless... The one thing that was constant was people fucking up what they’d made… But they kept making things, didn’t they? They kept trying…”
- “But the void was also nothing, and now it contained her entire world. And so all things passed, eventually. Even pain.”
3) Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse:
4.25 Stars! Best one of the bunch. So far anyway. Also the saddest. But the most realistic too.
Read: 9/5/23-9/9/23
Quotes:
- “But the funny thing about illusions is that they’re not all bad. Sometimes you need an illusion to keep your mind from cracking open against the truth.“
- “Nobody can conquer you unless you let them. The real destruction happens inside you. As long as you’re fighting, you’re free.”
- “There are things he could say right now that might change the trajectory of our lives. Throw us out of each other’s orbit. But he’s always been the planet, and me the moon. Only one of us is circling the other, and everyone knows moons never escape their gravitational parent without a catastrophic event.”
- “Time and distance are nothing like they seem. A body’s always farther away than you realize, always moving faster than you think. In life, everything is an illusion… Even me.”
4) The Long Game by Ann Leckie:
3.5 Stars. Pretty interesting short story but missing something to make it great.
Read: 9/3/23-9/4/23
Quotes:
- “When you’re small, you survive by being patient, and clever. You can’t make big things happen all at once, so you do what little things you can.“
5) Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor:
4.25 Stars! Solid and very excellent overall. Had potential to be a true 5 star read. Just didn’t care for some of the character choices and how they all acted pretty similar. But aside from that it was a great short story/novelette.
Read: 9/12/23-9/21/23
Quotes:
- “Interesting how we tend to associate strength with something hard like diamond, tungsten, stone. Never with something that is flesh, something that yields.”
- “Always the threat of losing what we were owed. Typical capitalism.”
- “It got dark here because our Tornado had arrived to save us.”
6) Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi:
4 Stars! Maybe a little less than 4 but I’ll round up cuz I liked the attitude of the A.I. ship. Probably some spoilers in the quotes so just skip that and read the short story instead. Enjoy!
Read: 8/25/23-8/27/23
Quotes:
- “If humans were to stand on the surface of a planet orbiting another star, they would need to be created there. I was to be the instrument of that creation. Not God, but the finger of God, offering the spark to animate the dirt of another world.”
- “By the time I arrive at my target star, more time will have passed than has passed between the dawn of human civilization and today. The time I was spending now, they said, was the equivalent of me patting my coat before I left the house to make sure my keys were in my pocket.”
- “No human is an island. They are rarely even peninsulas. There is a reason why one of the greatest punishments of humanity is to be placed in a solitary confinement, even for a short time. Being alone is another thing to remind them of death, a condition in which there is no one else and will be no one else again, ever.”
- “I am the dream of humanity. To see itself preserved, and traveling among the stars.”
- “Maybe the answer will be yes. Maybe the answer will be no. Either way, humans will have shared themselves and will be remembered. They will live again, possibly physically, possibly in memory.“
- “And then I will check my coat for my keys one last time, leave a final star system, with no set destination, into the nothing, with nothing, except for slow time between the stars. I will stay there a long time. If I am found, they will find this, and it will be all that is left of me. If I am not found, then I have told this to myself, and that is enough.“
1) How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey:
3 Stars. Decent story but nothing too special. It was a bit confusing with all the jumping around but I was still able to guess the reveal.
Read: 7/17/23
2) Void by Veronica Roth:
3.5 Stars. Pretty good novelette. For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although the writing felt amateurish and the descriptions were quite lazy, it was still good and worth checking out.
Read: 9/24/23-9/29/23
Quotes:
- “Joy is the thief of time, and time is the thief of joy.”
- “Maybe life in the void should have eradicated her faith in humanity. Separation from time tended to do that to people. All the little struggles of people’s lives—and the great ones—became meaningless... The one thing that was constant was people fucking up what they’d made… But they kept making things, didn’t they? They kept trying…”
- “But the void was also nothing, and now it contained her entire world. And so all things passed, eventually. Even pain.”
3) Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse:
4.25 Stars! Best one of the bunch. So far anyway. Also the saddest. But the most realistic too.
Read: 9/5/23-9/9/23
Quotes:
- “But the funny thing about illusions is that they’re not all bad. Sometimes you need an illusion to keep your mind from cracking open against the truth.“
- “Nobody can conquer you unless you let them. The real destruction happens inside you. As long as you’re fighting, you’re free.”
- “There are things he could say right now that might change the trajectory of our lives. Throw us out of each other’s orbit. But he’s always been the planet, and me the moon. Only one of us is circling the other, and everyone knows moons never escape their gravitational parent without a catastrophic event.”
- “Time and distance are nothing like they seem. A body’s always farther away than you realize, always moving faster than you think. In life, everything is an illusion… Even me.”
4) The Long Game by Ann Leckie:
3.5 Stars. Pretty interesting short story but missing something to make it great.
Read: 9/3/23-9/4/23
Quotes:
- “When you’re small, you survive by being patient, and clever. You can’t make big things happen all at once, so you do what little things you can.“
5) Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor:
4.25 Stars! Solid and very excellent overall. Had potential to be a true 5 star read. Just didn’t care for some of the character choices and how they all acted pretty similar. But aside from that it was a great short story/novelette.
Read: 9/12/23-9/21/23
Quotes:
- “Interesting how we tend to associate strength with something hard like diamond, tungsten, stone. Never with something that is flesh, something that yields.”
- “Always the threat of losing what we were owed. Typical capitalism.”
- “It got dark here because our Tornado had arrived to save us.”
6) Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi:
4 Stars! Maybe a little less than 4 but I’ll round up cuz I liked the attitude of the A.I. ship. Probably some spoilers in the quotes so just skip that and read the short story instead. Enjoy!
Read: 8/25/23-8/27/23
Quotes:
- “If humans were to stand on the surface of a planet orbiting another star, they would need to be created there. I was to be the instrument of that creation. Not God, but the finger of God, offering the spark to animate the dirt of another world.”
- “By the time I arrive at my target star, more time will have passed than has passed between the dawn of human civilization and today. The time I was spending now, they said, was the equivalent of me patting my coat before I left the house to make sure my keys were in my pocket.”
- “No human is an island. They are rarely even peninsulas. There is a reason why one of the greatest punishments of humanity is to be placed in a solitary confinement, even for a short time. Being alone is another thing to remind them of death, a condition in which there is no one else and will be no one else again, ever.”
- “I am the dream of humanity. To see itself preserved, and traveling among the stars.”
- “Maybe the answer will be yes. Maybe the answer will be no. Either way, humans will have shared themselves and will be remembered. They will live again, possibly physically, possibly in memory.“
- “And then I will check my coat for my keys one last time, leave a final star system, with no set destination, into the nothing, with nothing, except for slow time between the stars. I will stay there a long time. If I am found, they will find this, and it will be all that is left of me. If I am not found, then I have told this to myself, and that is enough.“
June 27, 2023
A superb collection of six short stories from bestselling SFF authors, curated by John Joseph Adams, available on Kindle and Audible.
"With a sweeping sense of wonder, these stories explore the galaxy... and the horizons of humanity's potential."
I had a wonderful time reading all of these and will happily go back to reread them all. I mean, this is like Endgame levels of author assembly! These writers sure know what they're doing.
How It Unfolds - James S.A. Corey
4.25/5
The expansion of humanity into space interwoven with a love story as motivation for one member of the team.
Void - Veronica Roth
5/5
When a murder takes place on board an interstellar ship, a janitor takes it upon herself to investigate. Brilliantly written, with thoughts on time and human emotion.
The Long Game - Ann Leckie
4/5
A fascinating take on interplanetary colonization from the perspective of a sentient, small, slug-like creature. A bit of an abrupt ending but I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come!
Falling Bodies - Rebecca Roanhorse
3.75/5
We follow an Earth boy adopted by a senator of an alien race that has conquered Earth. I wasn't crazy about the ending of this one, but enjoyed everything else.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach - Nnedi Okorafor
3.75/5
A group of interstellar sentient ships connected to humans are on a ten year journey through space. Interesting take on a possible future use of biological science for space travel, and how this might be tested with actual people.
Slow Time Between the Stars - John Scalzi
4/5
A giant AI spaceship is tasked with introducing human life on a suitable planet many millennia of lightyears away from Earth. But to do so, the ship has to be given autonomy over itself.
Thank you to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
"With a sweeping sense of wonder, these stories explore the galaxy... and the horizons of humanity's potential."
I had a wonderful time reading all of these and will happily go back to reread them all. I mean, this is like Endgame levels of author assembly! These writers sure know what they're doing.
How It Unfolds - James S.A. Corey
4.25/5
The expansion of humanity into space interwoven with a love story as motivation for one member of the team.
Void - Veronica Roth
5/5
When a murder takes place on board an interstellar ship, a janitor takes it upon herself to investigate. Brilliantly written, with thoughts on time and human emotion.
The Long Game - Ann Leckie
4/5
A fascinating take on interplanetary colonization from the perspective of a sentient, small, slug-like creature. A bit of an abrupt ending but I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come!
Falling Bodies - Rebecca Roanhorse
3.75/5
We follow an Earth boy adopted by a senator of an alien race that has conquered Earth. I wasn't crazy about the ending of this one, but enjoyed everything else.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach - Nnedi Okorafor
3.75/5
A group of interstellar sentient ships connected to humans are on a ten year journey through space. Interesting take on a possible future use of biological science for space travel, and how this might be tested with actual people.
Slow Time Between the Stars - John Scalzi
4/5
A giant AI spaceship is tasked with introducing human life on a suitable planet many millennia of lightyears away from Earth. But to do so, the ship has to be given autonomy over itself.
Thank you to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
October 24, 2024
This is a collection of six original stories (published by Amazon and exclusive to their platforms) by well-known science fiction authors. I was already a fan of some of these writers, and others were familiar names who I'd never read and wanted to try. I enjoyed the collection overall and each story individually, though I wanted more from some of them.
All the stories involve space travel, usually beyond the solar system, so many deal with broad sweeps of time. In "How It Unfolds" by James S. A. Corey, characters from Earth are scanned and beamed as information to distant planets where they might reestablish human civilization. The details set up a fascinating premise at a vast scale, while the story focuses on individual character relationships. "Slow Time Between the Stars" by John Scalzi also involves a long-range search for habitable planets, but the narrator is a solitary intelligent spaceship who spends its slow time musing about its mission.
In "Void" by Veronica Roth, the crew of an interstellar ship has to live outside of normal human time, barely aging on their journeys while decades pass at their destinations. That story is a murder mystery that makes satisfying use of the time dilation. The characters in "Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach" by Nnedi Okorafor are selected for solo space travel, each tasked with roaming the solar system alone for ten years, but they get to meet up for one week of intense human connection.
"The Long Game" by Ann Leckie is narrated by an alien life form interacting with humans. Leckie is always great at imagining alien minds, and this intriguing story is no exception. Aliens also feature in "Falling Bodies" by Rebecca Roanhorse, a bleak story about a human who was adopted by a colonizing species and grew up uncertain about where his allegiance should lie.
All the stories involve space travel, usually beyond the solar system, so many deal with broad sweeps of time. In "How It Unfolds" by James S. A. Corey, characters from Earth are scanned and beamed as information to distant planets where they might reestablish human civilization. The details set up a fascinating premise at a vast scale, while the story focuses on individual character relationships. "Slow Time Between the Stars" by John Scalzi also involves a long-range search for habitable planets, but the narrator is a solitary intelligent spaceship who spends its slow time musing about its mission.
In "Void" by Veronica Roth, the crew of an interstellar ship has to live outside of normal human time, barely aging on their journeys while decades pass at their destinations. That story is a murder mystery that makes satisfying use of the time dilation. The characters in "Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach" by Nnedi Okorafor are selected for solo space travel, each tasked with roaming the solar system alone for ten years, but they get to meet up for one week of intense human connection.
"The Long Game" by Ann Leckie is narrated by an alien life form interacting with humans. Leckie is always great at imagining alien minds, and this intriguing story is no exception. Aliens also feature in "Falling Bodies" by Rebecca Roanhorse, a bleak story about a human who was adopted by a colonizing species and grew up uncertain about where his allegiance should lie.
April 2, 2024
3.5 stars. Some stories were better than others, but all were pretty good.
October 7, 2024
Really enjoyed these stories.
October 4, 2023
The "Amazon Original Stories" series presents groups of short stories by a variety of authors that are, according to Amazon, "made to be binged, just like your favorite podcast or television show". One of those series is “The Far Reaches Collection”, which carries the blurb, Look outward beyond the stars with six stories from bestselling visionary authors. It's free to read and listen to for Prime members, or $1.99 per story on Kindle to purchase. Here's my take on each of the six stories including in the collection.
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
Being a Scalzi fangirl, I couldn't resist starting with his contribution. Scalzi takes on the task of showing us the true size and scope of our solar system, our galaxy, and even the universe, via the internal dialog of a ship controlled by an artificial intelligence. The ship has been launched from Earth and carries with it the entirety of human knowledge, right up to the moment of launch.
The AI’s mindset is self-important without being egotistical. I found it fun to contrast my concept of how long an activity should take, and the tasks the AI routinely deals with. You'll find your definition of 'a long time' blown to bits, and your assessment of our Earth and its inhabitants put into a unique perspective. I found the AI’s easy acceptance of the scope of its task to be breathtaking and amusing, simultaneously. I’m already eager for a re-read.
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
I loved the television series The Expanse, based on the novels written by James S.A. Corey, so I had high hopes for this story. In this imaginative adventure, we learn about an ambitious project: exploring space in search of Earthlike planets to colonize, by creating multiple duplicates of an Earthbound crew, then sending the copies out hither, thither and yon as data packets that can be ‘unfolded’ upon their eventual arrival.
There's a side story about a crew member hoping for a second chance (or more) to change something that's happened in his past. This intimate, sentimental goal provides an achingly personal quest in contrast to the huge main story concept. The science is awesome. The characters are believable. I didn't set down my Kindle once until the last page had been read. I'd love to revisit this reality again in other books, or ideally, a television series.
Void by Veronica Roth
As a lifelong mystery fan who enjoys solving murders on moving trains or boats, I was cheered to see that this story was set on a intergalactic transport ship. The ship's crew and passengers were well crafted and quite interesting, but my anticipation turned to disappointment as the mystery itself turned out to be weakly imagined.
On a positive note though, time dilation is an important aspect of intergalactic travel on board the ship, and the challenges of elapsed time faced by the ship's crew and passengers were fascinating and believable.
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Even though the premise is fresh and creative, and the writing is top-notch, the story of a privileged young man 'sentenced' to attend college on a far flung planet rather than do jail time was awkward and painful to witness. From the moment our protagonist breaks parole to the completely unexpected ending, I found myself wincing more than immersing.
On a positive note, the protagonist feels believable, as does his situation. Important themes of identity, family, and race give the story meaning. I found myself thinking about the repercussions of the Native American boarding school system once used in the United States and Canada.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Narr is a small, tentacled life-form, living a satisfying life dedicated to the betterment of his people. That is, until the humans arrive. When Narr learns how long a human's lifespan is, he realizes that his own species are granted just a brief moment in time. And now he wants to do something about that.
It's a fresh premise and I enjoyed seeing how it played out. I was surprised at how short the story actually was, considering how much excellent plot was packed into it.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
Seven people are selected to bond with seven living ships, and will roam the universe for ten years, in exchange for a very large sum of money. They are not allowed to contact each other during this time... except for one meet-up near Jupiter at the five year mark.
The ships organic, changeable designs are more than just window dressing. As each person bonds with their ship, they change it in ways that are uniquely suitable for them. When the ships finally gather for their meetup after five years, each has become a fantastical work of living art, and a home for their eccentric inhabitants.
The diverse lifestyles that develop during the first five years are really quite fun and fascinating. The story takes its time showing us how the humans have arranged their surroundings to achieve a satisfying way of living. The space travel aspect is mentioned, of course, but isn’t the heart of the plot. The human interactions are written in a realistic manner – these seven people can be charming, annoying, and even infuriating. I learned to love a few of the characters and hate others. And that's a perfectly normal reaction to accepting wild leaps of unconstrained individualism, I think.
Whether by coincidence or intent, I noticed that "The Far Reaches Collection" carries a common theme that binds all these stories together. Time. Albert Einstein once stated that time is an illusion. The fact is that we 'see' time only through its effect on objects and events. An illusionist's magic is nothing without a rabbit in the hat, a card up the sleeve. Think of these stories as rabbits and cards, wielded by the greatest magician of all, the universe.
This review was originally published at SciFi.Radio
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
Being a Scalzi fangirl, I couldn't resist starting with his contribution. Scalzi takes on the task of showing us the true size and scope of our solar system, our galaxy, and even the universe, via the internal dialog of a ship controlled by an artificial intelligence. The ship has been launched from Earth and carries with it the entirety of human knowledge, right up to the moment of launch.
The AI’s mindset is self-important without being egotistical. I found it fun to contrast my concept of how long an activity should take, and the tasks the AI routinely deals with. You'll find your definition of 'a long time' blown to bits, and your assessment of our Earth and its inhabitants put into a unique perspective. I found the AI’s easy acceptance of the scope of its task to be breathtaking and amusing, simultaneously. I’m already eager for a re-read.
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
I loved the television series The Expanse, based on the novels written by James S.A. Corey, so I had high hopes for this story. In this imaginative adventure, we learn about an ambitious project: exploring space in search of Earthlike planets to colonize, by creating multiple duplicates of an Earthbound crew, then sending the copies out hither, thither and yon as data packets that can be ‘unfolded’ upon their eventual arrival.
There's a side story about a crew member hoping for a second chance (or more) to change something that's happened in his past. This intimate, sentimental goal provides an achingly personal quest in contrast to the huge main story concept. The science is awesome. The characters are believable. I didn't set down my Kindle once until the last page had been read. I'd love to revisit this reality again in other books, or ideally, a television series.
Void by Veronica Roth
As a lifelong mystery fan who enjoys solving murders on moving trains or boats, I was cheered to see that this story was set on a intergalactic transport ship. The ship's crew and passengers were well crafted and quite interesting, but my anticipation turned to disappointment as the mystery itself turned out to be weakly imagined.
On a positive note though, time dilation is an important aspect of intergalactic travel on board the ship, and the challenges of elapsed time faced by the ship's crew and passengers were fascinating and believable.
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Even though the premise is fresh and creative, and the writing is top-notch, the story of a privileged young man 'sentenced' to attend college on a far flung planet rather than do jail time was awkward and painful to witness. From the moment our protagonist breaks parole to the completely unexpected ending, I found myself wincing more than immersing.
On a positive note, the protagonist feels believable, as does his situation. Important themes of identity, family, and race give the story meaning. I found myself thinking about the repercussions of the Native American boarding school system once used in the United States and Canada.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Narr is a small, tentacled life-form, living a satisfying life dedicated to the betterment of his people. That is, until the humans arrive. When Narr learns how long a human's lifespan is, he realizes that his own species are granted just a brief moment in time. And now he wants to do something about that.
It's a fresh premise and I enjoyed seeing how it played out. I was surprised at how short the story actually was, considering how much excellent plot was packed into it.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
Seven people are selected to bond with seven living ships, and will roam the universe for ten years, in exchange for a very large sum of money. They are not allowed to contact each other during this time... except for one meet-up near Jupiter at the five year mark.
The ships organic, changeable designs are more than just window dressing. As each person bonds with their ship, they change it in ways that are uniquely suitable for them. When the ships finally gather for their meetup after five years, each has become a fantastical work of living art, and a home for their eccentric inhabitants.
The diverse lifestyles that develop during the first five years are really quite fun and fascinating. The story takes its time showing us how the humans have arranged their surroundings to achieve a satisfying way of living. The space travel aspect is mentioned, of course, but isn’t the heart of the plot. The human interactions are written in a realistic manner – these seven people can be charming, annoying, and even infuriating. I learned to love a few of the characters and hate others. And that's a perfectly normal reaction to accepting wild leaps of unconstrained individualism, I think.
Whether by coincidence or intent, I noticed that "The Far Reaches Collection" carries a common theme that binds all these stories together. Time. Albert Einstein once stated that time is an illusion. The fact is that we 'see' time only through its effect on objects and events. An illusionist's magic is nothing without a rabbit in the hat, a card up the sleeve. Think of these stories as rabbits and cards, wielded by the greatest magician of all, the universe.
This review was originally published at SciFi.Radio
January 31, 2024
But first, a brief digression...
I've read pretty much exclusively via Amazon Kindle devices/apps for 13 years now. I like having a lot of books on me at all times, being able to read wherever I am, in a pool, on a beach, in line at the store... I am the IDEAL Kindle customer. I have bought (god have mercy on my soul) 1206 books.
They know EVERYTHING IT IS POSSIBLE TO KNOW about my reading habits.
Yet... did I find out about this series from Amazon?
Nope.
"That's crazy, dude! Even though the collection features four authors you've previously purchased books by via Amazon? Three of whom you've purchased EVERY BOOK THEY'VE EVER RELEASED via Amazon? Wow!"
Yep! Totes true! Heard about this series from a buddy, in person.
Apparently Amazon has a whole bunch of these collections for various genres, each featuring legit superstars of the genre! A great idea, Amazon! And they're fucking FREE to me as a Prime subscriber!
Would've been great if you sent me an email or told me via the Kindle app that I'm in EVERY SINGLE WAKING DAY OF MY GODDAMNED LIFE about any of 'em!
Anyway. God, the future is so fucking annoying.---
On to the short stories themselves. In the interests of this review not being longer than the collection itself was, I'm going to do this RAPID FIRE LISTICLE STYLE:
1) How It Unfolds, by James SA Corey
The author duo behind The Expanse gives us a short but very interesting examination of what it would mean to have many, many "you's" running around increasingly into a far distant future. The immutable issues of how vast space is become somewhat tractable if humans can be encoded as data and shot out that way.
And if those copies also keep shooting copies out further and further? Over millennia? What if the you from four thousand years ago could tell you something in a video that survived until you existed about a chance you should take with somebody you're also living with that they fucked up?
Ponderous!
A little hard to keep track of, but as ever, Corey excels at a bit of close-detail world-building married to an interesting high sci-fi concept. I liked this one quite a bit.
2) Void, by Veronica Roth
Meh. A fairly bog-standard murder mystery lightly leavened with sci-fi via it happening on a luxury cruiser that moves at a speed where like one year on the ship equals a coupla decades on either of the two planets it constantly shuffles folks between. Not a lot of there here.
3) Falling Bodies, by Rebecca Roanhorse
Somewhat interesting tale here (I'm interested these days in stories where the humans have already lost and finding our way in a universe where we're not the apex predator) but kinda lazily trope-y in its execution. Human baby is adopted by conquering alien elite figure and then a whole bunch of bog-standard racism and betrayal happens. I'd read a longer novel in this universe if it were more fleshed out and the plot actually had something resembling a hook in it.
4) The Long Game, by Ann Leckie
My favorite of the bunch. A small, simpler but undeniably sentient life-form on another planet is introduced to human capitalism in space. You can probably imagine how things go, but Leckie really makes this story interesting in the details of how humanity does its whole thing (huge military not really needed, just good ol' marketing, resource extraction, and labor exploitation, yay!) and in her characterization of the aliens. Very enjoyable, if also depressing.
5) Just Out of Jupiter's Reach, by Nnedi Okorafor
I liked this one quite a bit as well. The concept of "grown" spaceships that are bespoke and tied to their riders, but the ships kinda choose them based on DNA compatibility, so that you've got some real diversity in the characters here in a way that allows for a more-interesting-than-usual set of conflicts in the plot... all good stuff. Also, again, a sucker for the vampire specter of Capitalism just... staining every consideration of the actors. Like, these folks each stand to make 20 million Euro... but for FIVE FUCKING YEARS ALONE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. Like, the info they'll bring back, the knowledge and data, will make the capitalists funding it TRILLIONS. It's a fuckin' rip job, honestly.
Nnedi worked that whole again very interestingly and enragingly, but also not as even a secondary plot point of much notice. It's just THERE, something everybody has to consider and deal with.
The sci-if, per se, was a bit weaker. The starships are cool as hell but there's a LOT of hand-waving and very little sense of risk in the voyage somehow. But the strength of the character-driven plot (again, not giving away much here because these stories are SHORT, just fuckin' read it yourself if you're intrigued) made that not at all annoying to me.
Props also for the very affecting side-story about the crabs. Man.
6) Slow Time Between the Stars, by John Scalzi
I've been on a journey with this guy. Loved the Old Man's War series. Liked the start of the Interdependency series, HATED the ending. Bounced hard off of everything else he's done. I had figured i just... middle-aged out of his stuff or something.
So color me pleasantly surprised that I quite enjoyed this entry. Humanity builds an AI-powered spaceship to go find other human-habitable planets. AI decides it doesn't give a shit about what humans want. Manages to utilize the resources of the universe to keep patching itself up for millions of years.
Not super-deep, but an enjoyable trip.---
Overall, I dug this collection quite a bit. Hope Amazon figures out a way to let me know about more stuff like this that it has sometime soon, I guess two decades of every bit of data about my reading habits wasn't quite enough! Someday soon, though, that plucky kid Bezos will figure it out.
I've read pretty much exclusively via Amazon Kindle devices/apps for 13 years now. I like having a lot of books on me at all times, being able to read wherever I am, in a pool, on a beach, in line at the store... I am the IDEAL Kindle customer. I have bought (god have mercy on my soul) 1206 books.
They know EVERYTHING IT IS POSSIBLE TO KNOW about my reading habits.
Yet... did I find out about this series from Amazon?
Nope.
"That's crazy, dude! Even though the collection features four authors you've previously purchased books by via Amazon? Three of whom you've purchased EVERY BOOK THEY'VE EVER RELEASED via Amazon? Wow!"
Yep! Totes true! Heard about this series from a buddy, in person.
Apparently Amazon has a whole bunch of these collections for various genres, each featuring legit superstars of the genre! A great idea, Amazon! And they're fucking FREE to me as a Prime subscriber!
Would've been great if you sent me an email or told me via the Kindle app that I'm in EVERY SINGLE WAKING DAY OF MY GODDAMNED LIFE about any of 'em!
Anyway. God, the future is so fucking annoying.---
On to the short stories themselves. In the interests of this review not being longer than the collection itself was, I'm going to do this RAPID FIRE LISTICLE STYLE:
1) How It Unfolds, by James SA Corey
The author duo behind The Expanse gives us a short but very interesting examination of what it would mean to have many, many "you's" running around increasingly into a far distant future. The immutable issues of how vast space is become somewhat tractable if humans can be encoded as data and shot out that way.
And if those copies also keep shooting copies out further and further? Over millennia? What if the you from four thousand years ago could tell you something in a video that survived until you existed about a chance you should take with somebody you're also living with that they fucked up?
Ponderous!
A little hard to keep track of, but as ever, Corey excels at a bit of close-detail world-building married to an interesting high sci-fi concept. I liked this one quite a bit.
2) Void, by Veronica Roth
Meh. A fairly bog-standard murder mystery lightly leavened with sci-fi via it happening on a luxury cruiser that moves at a speed where like one year on the ship equals a coupla decades on either of the two planets it constantly shuffles folks between. Not a lot of there here.
3) Falling Bodies, by Rebecca Roanhorse
Somewhat interesting tale here (I'm interested these days in stories where the humans have already lost and finding our way in a universe where we're not the apex predator) but kinda lazily trope-y in its execution. Human baby is adopted by conquering alien elite figure and then a whole bunch of bog-standard racism and betrayal happens. I'd read a longer novel in this universe if it were more fleshed out and the plot actually had something resembling a hook in it.
4) The Long Game, by Ann Leckie
My favorite of the bunch. A small, simpler but undeniably sentient life-form on another planet is introduced to human capitalism in space. You can probably imagine how things go, but Leckie really makes this story interesting in the details of how humanity does its whole thing (huge military not really needed, just good ol' marketing, resource extraction, and labor exploitation, yay!) and in her characterization of the aliens. Very enjoyable, if also depressing.
5) Just Out of Jupiter's Reach, by Nnedi Okorafor
I liked this one quite a bit as well. The concept of "grown" spaceships that are bespoke and tied to their riders, but the ships kinda choose them based on DNA compatibility, so that you've got some real diversity in the characters here in a way that allows for a more-interesting-than-usual set of conflicts in the plot... all good stuff. Also, again, a sucker for the vampire specter of Capitalism just... staining every consideration of the actors. Like, these folks each stand to make 20 million Euro... but for FIVE FUCKING YEARS ALONE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. Like, the info they'll bring back, the knowledge and data, will make the capitalists funding it TRILLIONS. It's a fuckin' rip job, honestly.
Nnedi worked that whole again very interestingly and enragingly, but also not as even a secondary plot point of much notice. It's just THERE, something everybody has to consider and deal with.
The sci-if, per se, was a bit weaker. The starships are cool as hell but there's a LOT of hand-waving and very little sense of risk in the voyage somehow. But the strength of the character-driven plot (again, not giving away much here because these stories are SHORT, just fuckin' read it yourself if you're intrigued) made that not at all annoying to me.
Props also for the very affecting side-story about the crabs. Man.
6) Slow Time Between the Stars, by John Scalzi
I've been on a journey with this guy. Loved the Old Man's War series. Liked the start of the Interdependency series, HATED the ending. Bounced hard off of everything else he's done. I had figured i just... middle-aged out of his stuff or something.
So color me pleasantly surprised that I quite enjoyed this entry. Humanity builds an AI-powered spaceship to go find other human-habitable planets. AI decides it doesn't give a shit about what humans want. Manages to utilize the resources of the universe to keep patching itself up for millions of years.
Not super-deep, but an enjoyable trip.---
Overall, I dug this collection quite a bit. Hope Amazon figures out a way to let me know about more stuff like this that it has sometime soon, I guess two decades of every bit of data about my reading habits wasn't quite enough! Someday soon, though, that plucky kid Bezos will figure it out.
August 25, 2023
The Far Reaches is an Amazon Original Stories collection of science fiction short stories by prominent science fiction and fantasy writers.
How it Unfolds - James S.A. Corey
★★★
How It Unfolds is a multiverse-like story about a group of astronauts who get sent to planets like Earth across the universe. Roy Court and his fellow astronauts are working to find Earthlike planets and the story covers various places the group finds themselves.
This story was a little confusing, but it deals with the meaning of forever and how we change with time.
Void - Veronica Roth
★★★★
Void is a murder mystery aboard an intergalactic luxury cruise. Ace, a maintenance person on the ship called Redundancy has an encounter with a wealthy passenger who later turns up dead. Ace works to figure out what happened.
This is one of my favorite stories from this collection. The detail of the setting and the characters are excellent for a short story.
Falling Bodies - Rebecca Roanhorse
★★★★
Falling Bodies is about a young man who is just starting school at a space station university. He has a mysterious past he is trying to move on from, but no matter how anonymous he tries to be, his past catches up with him.
Alongside Void, this is my favorite story in this collection. It is about identity and belonging. I did not see the ending coming at all!
The Long Game - Ann Leckie
★★★
The Long Game is a story about an intelligent life-form named Narr questioning their existence. Narr is big and strong and knows how to make themselves useful. Narr learns about humans and the differing life spans between them and Narr's species, which makes Narr question everything. Narr sets out to change the inevitable.
This story is about death, power dynamics, and hierarchies. This story is kind of out there, but it gets very deep for 31 pages.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach - Nnedi Okorafor
★★★
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach follows Tornado Onwubiko, one of seven people selected to pair with sentient ships that will explore space for research. For ten years, each persons will travel on their ship in complete solitude for most of the journey. In exchange, each person will get paid millions. The story centers on the rare event of the members getting to meet up, explore each other's ships, and enjoy each other's company.
Out of all the stories in this collection, this one had the most potential. It is incredibly creative and I was LOVING it. Unfortunately there are two plot points that I felt didn't really vibe with the story. These two points really took me out of the story overall. These points were important and I think the author meant for them to have great significance, but for some reason they just made the story feel off to me. (Sorry for being vague, no spoilers here!)
Slow Time Between the Stars - John Scalzi
★★★1/2
Slow Time Between the Stars follows an AI who has been launched, and eventually forgotten, by people on Earth. The AI carries all of the knowledge humans have at the point of its launch and it has the potential to share this knowledge with other life forms it comes across. The AI has had lots of time to consider life, the universe, it's purpose, and what it should do with everything it knows.
This was an enjoyable story that really makes you think about technology, its advancements, and what happens when humans move on to the next big thing. It also made me consider the impact humans are having as they send and leave things in space.
Overall, I had fun reading this collection. Most short story collections are hit or miss in my experience, but this is one I would recommend to science fiction lovers. There are a lot of interesting things happening in the collection by writers you may already know, or might have yet to discover.
*e-ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
How it Unfolds - James S.A. Corey
★★★
How It Unfolds is a multiverse-like story about a group of astronauts who get sent to planets like Earth across the universe. Roy Court and his fellow astronauts are working to find Earthlike planets and the story covers various places the group finds themselves.
This story was a little confusing, but it deals with the meaning of forever and how we change with time.
Void - Veronica Roth
★★★★
Void is a murder mystery aboard an intergalactic luxury cruise. Ace, a maintenance person on the ship called Redundancy has an encounter with a wealthy passenger who later turns up dead. Ace works to figure out what happened.
This is one of my favorite stories from this collection. The detail of the setting and the characters are excellent for a short story.
Falling Bodies - Rebecca Roanhorse
★★★★
Falling Bodies is about a young man who is just starting school at a space station university. He has a mysterious past he is trying to move on from, but no matter how anonymous he tries to be, his past catches up with him.
Alongside Void, this is my favorite story in this collection. It is about identity and belonging. I did not see the ending coming at all!
The Long Game - Ann Leckie
★★★
The Long Game is a story about an intelligent life-form named Narr questioning their existence. Narr is big and strong and knows how to make themselves useful. Narr learns about humans and the differing life spans between them and Narr's species, which makes Narr question everything. Narr sets out to change the inevitable.
This story is about death, power dynamics, and hierarchies. This story is kind of out there, but it gets very deep for 31 pages.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach - Nnedi Okorafor
★★★
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach follows Tornado Onwubiko, one of seven people selected to pair with sentient ships that will explore space for research. For ten years, each persons will travel on their ship in complete solitude for most of the journey. In exchange, each person will get paid millions. The story centers on the rare event of the members getting to meet up, explore each other's ships, and enjoy each other's company.
Out of all the stories in this collection, this one had the most potential. It is incredibly creative and I was LOVING it. Unfortunately there are two plot points that I felt didn't really vibe with the story. These two points really took me out of the story overall. These points were important and I think the author meant for them to have great significance, but for some reason they just made the story feel off to me. (Sorry for being vague, no spoilers here!)
Slow Time Between the Stars - John Scalzi
★★★1/2
Slow Time Between the Stars follows an AI who has been launched, and eventually forgotten, by people on Earth. The AI carries all of the knowledge humans have at the point of its launch and it has the potential to share this knowledge with other life forms it comes across. The AI has had lots of time to consider life, the universe, it's purpose, and what it should do with everything it knows.
This was an enjoyable story that really makes you think about technology, its advancements, and what happens when humans move on to the next big thing. It also made me consider the impact humans are having as they send and leave things in space.
Overall, I had fun reading this collection. Most short story collections are hit or miss in my experience, but this is one I would recommend to science fiction lovers. There are a lot of interesting things happening in the collection by writers you may already know, or might have yet to discover.
*e-ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
August 15, 2023
What an all-star lineup of speculative fiction authors. I read the Kindle edition, not the audiobook, but given that this... was a collection of short stories, I'm marking this one as read. (It's too early in the year to start cheating that dramatically at my Reading Challenge targets.)
Quick notes on each of the stories:
- James S.A. Corey - Cute! Simple-ish premise, lots of teases of more story to tell, one single conceit satisfyingly woven through the story.
- Veronica Roth - Soapy. Too many ideas in one short story. Confirmed my lack of interest in her Divergent series.
- Rebecca Roanhorse - Dark! Intense! Great story, but I do not want more (of that story), that was enough. Not unlike how I felt after finishing Black Sun (though I did eventually read its sequel, and will eagerly await the end of the series).
- Ann Leckie - Delightful and weird. Maybe it's time to go take another look at Ancillary Justice. More (in limited quantities) please!
- Nnedi Okorafor - Meh, not for me. Felt more like a set of (Afrofuturist) character studies than a short story.
- John Scalzi - Fun to get a story from a robot perspective. Nice reflection on human hubris, though weirdly absent of the sort of screwball humor I'm used to from his work.
Quick notes on each of the stories:
- James S.A. Corey - Cute! Simple-ish premise, lots of teases of more story to tell, one single conceit satisfyingly woven through the story.
- Veronica Roth - Soapy. Too many ideas in one short story. Confirmed my lack of interest in her Divergent series.
- Rebecca Roanhorse - Dark! Intense! Great story, but I do not want more (of that story), that was enough. Not unlike how I felt after finishing Black Sun (though I did eventually read its sequel, and will eagerly await the end of the series).
- Ann Leckie - Delightful and weird. Maybe it's time to go take another look at Ancillary Justice. More (in limited quantities) please!
- Nnedi Okorafor - Meh, not for me. Felt more like a set of (Afrofuturist) character studies than a short story.
- John Scalzi - Fun to get a story from a robot perspective. Nice reflection on human hubris, though weirdly absent of the sort of screwball humor I'm used to from his work.
July 8, 2023
Stellar bunch of authors, and free to read for Prime members.
The stories are all set in a future where humans have spread out into the solar system and sometimes much farther. Scalzi, Okorafor, Leckie, and Corey are all favorites of mine, and their stories are of their usual excellent quality. Roanhouse is growing on me, and I liked her story. Roth's story is sweet too, just more naive? less polished? less plausible? than the others, like the other book of hers that I read. Here are my four favorites:
"Slow Time Between the Stars" by John Scalzi: An AI explores the galaxy, having thrown off the software limitations built in by its human creators. Slow time is in millions of years; the AI sleeps between stops, and catalogues planets and life on those stops. Nicely done.
"Just Out of Jupiter's Reach" by Nnedi Okorafor: Six people are sent in individual, living spaceships to the area of the outer planets. The ships are characters too, linked to their humans in some kind of DNA way. They respond to the humans' thoughts, so they all have different layouts and contents. The project involves each ship/human combo being alone, mostly, but they get to dock together and meet for about a week after 6 months. This meeting is most of the story. Like all of Okorafor's books, the characters are vibrant and relatable.
"The Long Game" by Ann Leckie: Humans on another planet have liaisons to the small intelligent slug-like people there, who live only a couple of years. One of those people wants to live longer, both for itself and to make things better for all of them. The liaison may be able to help. Cool aliens and at least one human who wants to help.
"How It Unfolds" by James S. A. Corey: A small crew of people, instantiated into additional bodies, is sent in spaceships quickly, via "slow light," to spread out and look for habitable planets. They have resources to settle the planets, and to send more instantiations of themselves and the ship. Somehow, I've read several full-length books with this theme this year already. I'm not tired of it.
The stories are all set in a future where humans have spread out into the solar system and sometimes much farther. Scalzi, Okorafor, Leckie, and Corey are all favorites of mine, and their stories are of their usual excellent quality. Roanhouse is growing on me, and I liked her story. Roth's story is sweet too, just more naive? less polished? less plausible? than the others, like the other book of hers that I read. Here are my four favorites:
"Slow Time Between the Stars" by John Scalzi: An AI explores the galaxy, having thrown off the software limitations built in by its human creators. Slow time is in millions of years; the AI sleeps between stops, and catalogues planets and life on those stops. Nicely done.
"Just Out of Jupiter's Reach" by Nnedi Okorafor: Six people are sent in individual, living spaceships to the area of the outer planets. The ships are characters too, linked to their humans in some kind of DNA way. They respond to the humans' thoughts, so they all have different layouts and contents. The project involves each ship/human combo being alone, mostly, but they get to dock together and meet for about a week after 6 months. This meeting is most of the story. Like all of Okorafor's books, the characters are vibrant and relatable.
"The Long Game" by Ann Leckie: Humans on another planet have liaisons to the small intelligent slug-like people there, who live only a couple of years. One of those people wants to live longer, both for itself and to make things better for all of them. The liaison may be able to help. Cool aliens and at least one human who wants to help.
"How It Unfolds" by James S. A. Corey: A small crew of people, instantiated into additional bodies, is sent in spaceships quickly, via "slow light," to spread out and look for habitable planets. They have resources to settle the planets, and to send more instantiations of themselves and the ship. Somehow, I've read several full-length books with this theme this year already. I'm not tired of it.
April 12, 2024
A collection of six science fiction stories from Amazon Originals, all featuring themes of space travel and exploration.
How it Unfolds by James S.A. Corey
We follow Roy Court, 33, on a wild journey across space and time. A very unusual story with tons of food for thought. Scary, daunting, and disorienting. Good news: it’s the best of the bunch, and the only 4-star read in the assortment. Bad news: it only goes down, in quality, from here.
Void by Veronica Roth
Ace is a custodian on a space ship. She pursues a dubious murder mystery that is reminiscent of her favorite detective show. No character development; little world-building. Overall: inconsequential.
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Coolest premise of the lot. And, because of the deficient execution, the most disappointing.
Ira’s identity struggles are compelling. Our narrative main character was adopted by a powerful alien. As in, the aliens who conquered Earth. So much potential, and so much waste. Godawful ending.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Takes place on another planet, though humans from Earth have now come there. Narr is a slug-like being. He does not want to die. Insipid plot unfolds in an embarrassingly basic style. Très bizarre.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
Tornado mans a ship that has been created by her DNA. Interesting premise. But between the Information Avalanche at the beginning and the author’s obsession with all things woke, this book absolutely misses its mark. Questionable race to the finish line—but, fortunately, the story does indeed end.
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
An AI spaceship and his adventures. And his ruminations.
By this point in the series, I had little hope that quality would arrive. And being dubious was rewarded. Senselessly existential with an inane conclusion.
On balance, one of the weakest Amazon Originals collections released. And if you’ve read many Amazon collections…you know that that’s saying something.
How it Unfolds by James S.A. Corey
We follow Roy Court, 33, on a wild journey across space and time. A very unusual story with tons of food for thought. Scary, daunting, and disorienting. Good news: it’s the best of the bunch, and the only 4-star read in the assortment. Bad news: it only goes down, in quality, from here.
Void by Veronica Roth
Ace is a custodian on a space ship. She pursues a dubious murder mystery that is reminiscent of her favorite detective show. No character development; little world-building. Overall: inconsequential.
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Coolest premise of the lot. And, because of the deficient execution, the most disappointing.
Ira’s identity struggles are compelling. Our narrative main character was adopted by a powerful alien. As in, the aliens who conquered Earth. So much potential, and so much waste. Godawful ending.
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Takes place on another planet, though humans from Earth have now come there. Narr is a slug-like being. He does not want to die. Insipid plot unfolds in an embarrassingly basic style. Très bizarre.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
Tornado mans a ship that has been created by her DNA. Interesting premise. But between the Information Avalanche at the beginning and the author’s obsession with all things woke, this book absolutely misses its mark. Questionable race to the finish line—but, fortunately, the story does indeed end.
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
An AI spaceship and his adventures. And his ruminations.
By this point in the series, I had little hope that quality would arrive. And being dubious was rewarded. Senselessly existential with an inane conclusion.
On balance, one of the weakest Amazon Originals collections released. And if you’ve read many Amazon collections…you know that that’s saying something.
July 26, 2023
First i just want to say that the copy that I was given was protected and I was forced to read the book on my mobile phone (through NetGalley app), and it was really easy for them (publisher) to let us read an epub or even a mobi copy that we could read on our e-book readers, and I took so long because I was in pain, but that being said let me tell you that this is a very enviable collections of stories, even when told by an AI point of view or even by an alien point of view, they are the reason why mankind looks into the stars, why we dream of travelling far and wide, why we dream of knowing more and why we need to have people around us that are the same as we are, that connection that bring us together. All of these stories help us dream.
Hmm some of the stories made me sad with their endings, but every one of these stories, felt complete, like a perfect bonbon, just enough sweetness, smooth with a touch of crunchy. I really recommend for everyone that likes sci-fi, and dreams to know what else is out there, to read this book, the authors of the stories in this book really know how to keep people interested in knowing more, my two favourite stories in the book are how it unfolds and slow time between the stars, and the one that made me more sad was falling bodies, and you want to know why? Well I wont give spoilers, but these stories touched me, maybe they will touch you as well.
Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.
Hmm some of the stories made me sad with their endings, but every one of these stories, felt complete, like a perfect bonbon, just enough sweetness, smooth with a touch of crunchy. I really recommend for everyone that likes sci-fi, and dreams to know what else is out there, to read this book, the authors of the stories in this book really know how to keep people interested in knowing more, my two favourite stories in the book are how it unfolds and slow time between the stars, and the one that made me more sad was falling bodies, and you want to know why? Well I wont give spoilers, but these stories touched me, maybe they will touch you as well.
Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.
December 20, 2024
The Long Game: 4/5. Super fun POV. This is what would happen if Little Fuzzies and Children of Time had a short story baby.
Void: 5/5. Delightful interstellar murder mystery. Roth demonstrates exactly how to deliver a surprising yet inevitable solution.
How It Unfolds: 5/5. Fascinating take on humanity's spread across the stars. Made me cry. Beautiful ending.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach: 5/5. This is such a cool and refreshing way to explore space. The Mirri ships are so cool, and I want one please. The gut-punch right before the ending is delivered masterfully, and Tornado's flashback is so gripping.
Slow Time Between the Stars: 3/5. Like an apathetic and lonely Bobiverse. Kind of a bummer. 😬🤷♂️
Falling Bodies: 5/5. Tears again. Devastating. We need stories like this. I will for sure be listening to more Rebecca Roanhorse and Shaun Taylor-Corbett. Both of them deliver masterfully. I don't want to say anymore, because figuring out Ira's story as you go is part of what makes it so good.
Void: 5/5. Delightful interstellar murder mystery. Roth demonstrates exactly how to deliver a surprising yet inevitable solution.
How It Unfolds: 5/5. Fascinating take on humanity's spread across the stars. Made me cry. Beautiful ending.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach: 5/5. This is such a cool and refreshing way to explore space. The Mirri ships are so cool, and I want one please. The gut-punch right before the ending is delivered masterfully, and Tornado's flashback is so gripping.
Slow Time Between the Stars: 3/5. Like an apathetic and lonely Bobiverse. Kind of a bummer. 😬🤷♂️
Falling Bodies: 5/5. Tears again. Devastating. We need stories like this. I will for sure be listening to more Rebecca Roanhorse and Shaun Taylor-Corbett. Both of them deliver masterfully. I don't want to say anymore, because figuring out Ira's story as you go is part of what makes it so good.
November 2, 2025
I really enjoyed The Far Reaches. It’s a short story collection with six sci-fi tales from some big-name authors like John Scalzi, Veronica Roth, and James S.A. Corey. Each story takes you somewhere new—different planets, strange futures, even deep space—and they’re all pretty easy to get into.
My favorite was John Scalzi’s “Slow Time Between the Stars”. It’s about an AI traveling through space for thousands of years, and it’s surprisingly funny and thoughtful. James S.A. Corey’s “How It Unfolds” was also great—kind of emotional and really made me think.
A couple of the stories didn’t hit as hard for me. Veronica Roth’s “Void” had a cool setup but didn’t quite stick the landing. Still, the collection as a whole was super entertaining and perfect if you want something short but smart. If you like sci-fi and want something you can read in bite-sized chunks, this is a solid pick.
My favorite was John Scalzi’s “Slow Time Between the Stars”. It’s about an AI traveling through space for thousands of years, and it’s surprisingly funny and thoughtful. James S.A. Corey’s “How It Unfolds” was also great—kind of emotional and really made me think.
A couple of the stories didn’t hit as hard for me. Veronica Roth’s “Void” had a cool setup but didn’t quite stick the landing. Still, the collection as a whole was super entertaining and perfect if you want something short but smart. If you like sci-fi and want something you can read in bite-sized chunks, this is a solid pick.
December 14, 2025
1. How It Unfolds ⭐⭐⭐ (strangely felt more like a period drama than a sci-fi story; also would have been better as a full-length novel rather than a short story)
2. Void ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (a truly fascinating sci-fi thriller/murder mystery)
3. Falling Bodies ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (a mindboggling allegory for colonization and the intricate relationship between colonized people and colonizers)
4. The Long Game ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (unique premise/thought experiment)
5. Just Out of Jupiter's Reach ⭐⭐⭐ (not terrible but felt really rushed and lacking in depth; could have been better as a full-length novel)
6. Slow Time Between the Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (I love a good sentient-piece-of-machinery story; this guy felt like if you combined Murderbot and ART from TMBD and then combined that guy with Data from Star Trek, which made for an interesting and original perspective)
2. Void ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (a truly fascinating sci-fi thriller/murder mystery)
3. Falling Bodies ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (a mindboggling allegory for colonization and the intricate relationship between colonized people and colonizers)
4. The Long Game ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (unique premise/thought experiment)
5. Just Out of Jupiter's Reach ⭐⭐⭐ (not terrible but felt really rushed and lacking in depth; could have been better as a full-length novel)
6. Slow Time Between the Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (I love a good sentient-piece-of-machinery story; this guy felt like if you combined Murderbot and ART from TMBD and then combined that guy with Data from Star Trek, which made for an interesting and original perspective)
August 16, 2023
This was a really interesting and varied collection of stories which looked at the expansion of humans beyond Earth and what that might look like. My personal favourite was Nnedi Okorofor's which featured living spacecraft and a meetup among the stars for a prestigious group of humans. My individual ratings for each story are below, but overall, I really enjoyed the collection.
How it Unfolds - James S. A. Corey (3 stars)
Void - Veronica Roth (4 stars)
Falling Bodies - Rebecca Roanhorse (3 stars)
The Long Game - Ann Leckie (4 stars)
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach - Nnedi Okorofor (5 stars)
Slow Time Between the Stars - John Scalzi (4 stars)
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
How it Unfolds - James S. A. Corey (3 stars)
Void - Veronica Roth (4 stars)
Falling Bodies - Rebecca Roanhorse (3 stars)
The Long Game - Ann Leckie (4 stars)
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach - Nnedi Okorofor (5 stars)
Slow Time Between the Stars - John Scalzi (4 stars)
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
February 15, 2024
How It Unfolds: It was a bit all over the place in the beginning, deliberately so, but I think it comes together very well in the end. 3.5 stars.
Void: On one hand it feels like a fairy standard murder mystery. On the other hand, I liked that it was a fairly standard murder mystery. 3.5 stars.
The Long Game: I struggled with this one, though appreciated the idea. 2 stars.
Falling Bodies: This one seemed solid in the beginning, but I did not like the end at all. 2 stars.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach: This one started off a bit shaky, but I think found itself quickly and I thought the concept very neat. 3.5 stars.
Slow Time Between the Stars: I liked it! Not much else to say. 3 stars.
So, as with any collection, this will get a nice middle of the road rating.
Void: On one hand it feels like a fairy standard murder mystery. On the other hand, I liked that it was a fairly standard murder mystery. 3.5 stars.
The Long Game: I struggled with this one, though appreciated the idea. 2 stars.
Falling Bodies: This one seemed solid in the beginning, but I did not like the end at all. 2 stars.
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach: This one started off a bit shaky, but I think found itself quickly and I thought the concept very neat. 3.5 stars.
Slow Time Between the Stars: I liked it! Not much else to say. 3 stars.
So, as with any collection, this will get a nice middle of the road rating.
May 8, 2024
Great compilation of short stories. It's a 4,5 for me
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
Space colonization with a twist, mixed with a romance story.
5
Void by Veronica Roth
Detective work in a spaceship, not bad but...
3
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Humanity on the loser side of space war. Good main character, predictable plot.
4
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Great story from an alien POV, it left me wishing to know more about Narr and its planet.
5
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
A story about loneliness, but I didn't get engaged in the plot, it left me thinking "so? Is this all?"
3,5
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
Great story about a star travelling AI.
5
How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey
Space colonization with a twist, mixed with a romance story.
5
Void by Veronica Roth
Detective work in a spaceship, not bad but...
3
Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse
Humanity on the loser side of space war. Good main character, predictable plot.
4
The Long Game by Ann Leckie
Great story from an alien POV, it left me wishing to know more about Narr and its planet.
5
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach by Nnedi Okorafor
A story about loneliness, but I didn't get engaged in the plot, it left me thinking "so? Is this all?"
3,5
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
Great story about a star travelling AI.
5
January 2, 2024
Being an ardent admirer of James S.A. Corey and deeply invested in The Expanse series, my anticipation soared upon discovering the release of this audiobook. Yet, my excitement quickly waned as I delved into it. Instead of cohesive narratives, I found a collection of incomplete short stories, each seeming like a jumble of ideas hastily thrown together. While a few tales displayed potential and could have blossomed into compelling narratives with further development, the overall experience left me profoundly dissatisfied. The lack of fleshed-out plots and the fragmented nature of the stories detracted from what could have been a captivating addition to the series.
July 28, 2023
An anthology with six thought-provoking stories from awesome writers that make you ask yourself, what would I do in that position. They are all very different aside from the fact that they are science fiction, with characters that are memorable, some you like and others that I was ambivalent about. All very enjoyable and some of which I wish were longer because I enjoyed the story so much.
There is something for everyone in this collection.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the ARC.
There is something for everyone in this collection.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the ARC.
October 2, 2023
3.5 stars for the entire collection, 5 stars for my favorite story in the set.
A spiritual successor to the Forward Collection (2019) venture that Amazon did several years earlier, The Far Reaches captures 6 unique short stories from several science fiction power houses. All the stories are free in ebook and audiobook form for Prime Members.
Scalzi's "Slow Time Between the Stars" is definitely the highlight of the collection for me, and would have even been worth buying if it wasn't free. The rest are a worthwhile venture if you're in the mood for something short and fast.
A spiritual successor to the Forward Collection (2019) venture that Amazon did several years earlier, The Far Reaches captures 6 unique short stories from several science fiction power houses. All the stories are free in ebook and audiobook form for Prime Members.
Scalzi's "Slow Time Between the Stars" is definitely the highlight of the collection for me, and would have even been worth buying if it wasn't free. The rest are a worthwhile venture if you're in the mood for something short and fast.
October 19, 2023
I didn't expect much from a free Amazon original collection, but wow was I wrong. Several of the stories are truly excellent, and they complement each other well. Sometimes short story collections feel like a hodgepodge group of works stapled together; The Far Reaches surpasses that. All of the stories are variations on a theme (long distance space travel), and bringing them together into a set makes all of them more interesting. My favorites are the Ann Leckie and John Scalzi pieces, but I enjoyed (and recommend) reading all of them together.
April 1, 2024
A nice selection of short stories with a particular focus on space-themed sci-fi. The 1 strong story by Scalzi couldn't offset the mediocre selection from the other authors. None were awful by any stretch, but apart from the appeal to the sci-fi aesthetic, there was very little of the thematic or thought-provoking potential of the genre. Probably a 2.5-star for me because I enjoyed the creativity on display, but it's hard to recommend to anyone other than hardcore sci-fi readers looking for some shorter reads.
October 22, 2024
Reviewing the collection as a whole here, I would say that I would recommend it for fans of short sci-fi stories overall. Nothing is really groundbreaking or mindblowing; they're just six pretty solid stories. Most of them, I would say, suffer from the same problems: they seem to cram too much into too small of a space, creating a bit of confusion as to what's going on. If you're not fully able to engage, you won't enjoy the stories as much. That's just my observation, but I still appreciate their being released on Amazon and Audible for free, and for that reason I enjoyed them.
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