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Made to Order: Robots and Revolution
100 years after Karel Capek coined the word, “robots” are an everyday idea, and the inspiration for countless stories in books, film, TV and games.
They are often among the least privileged, most unfairly used of us, and the more robots are like humans, the more interesting they become. This collection of stories is where robots stand in for us, where both we and they are disadvantaged, and where hope and optimism shines through.
Contents:
- Making the Other We Need by Jonathan Strahan
- A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
- Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts
- The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain
- Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory
- The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Onyebuchi
- Idols by Ken Liu
- Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker
- Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton
- Dancing with Death by John Chu
- Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds
- An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson
- The Translator by Annalee Newitz
- Sin Eater by Ian R. MacLeod
- Fairy Tales for Robots by Sofia Samatar
- Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer
- A Glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander
They are often among the least privileged, most unfairly used of us, and the more robots are like humans, the more interesting they become. This collection of stories is where robots stand in for us, where both we and they are disadvantaged, and where hope and optimism shines through.
Contents:
- Making the Other We Need by Jonathan Strahan
- A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
- Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts
- The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain
- Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory
- The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Onyebuchi
- Idols by Ken Liu
- Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker
- Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton
- Dancing with Death by John Chu
- Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds
- An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson
- The Translator by Annalee Newitz
- Sin Eater by Ian R. MacLeod
- Fairy Tales for Robots by Sofia Samatar
- Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer
- A Glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander
349 pages, Paperback
First published March 17, 2020
111 people are currently reading
761 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
December 11, 2022
First-rate anthology of all-new stories. As in all anthologies, I liked some stories more than others. But the best are among the best of the year, if not the decade. Overall: 4.5 stars, rounded up.
● "A Guide for Working Breeds" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Wonderful dialogue between a nameless newbie and "Constant Killer" (C.k2-00452), their mentor. C.k2 finds itself in big trouble on Deathmatch Day, but "Kleekai Greyhound" (K.g1-09030) is able to help out. Wonderfully warm and wry story. Every time I pick up the book, it falls open here, and I re-read a bit more. Her masterwork so far. 5+ stars! Reprint here: https://www.tor.com/2020/03/17/a-guid... I guess you get the message that I ❤️LOVE❤️ this story?
● "The Endless" by Saad Z. Hossain. Set in the "Gurkha & Lord of Tuesday" universe, this is a classic AI revenge-fantasy. Suva ran the Bangkok airport for 40 years, until a hostile takeover by Shell Royale left it in a cubicle, doing busy-work at 30% power. But you can't keep an angry AI down! 4.5 stars.
● "Test 4 Echo" by Peter Watts. I think it's all here (maybe some of the others too): https://books.google.com/books?id=o5b...
Murder on Enceladus! Or is it? Sansa certainly thinks so. Nicely done. I'd put it off until last, since Watts has let me down so often before. But this one is a winner: 4 stars.
● "Brother Rifle" by Daryl Gregory. A future Marine operates an AI-driven automatic weapon, that may have been made a little too easy to use. A powerful and ambiguous story. I haven't quite decided what to make of the ending. 4+ stars, and needs a reread to sort out.
● "The Hurt Pattern" by Tochi Onyebuchi, a new-to-me writer. This one is a classic SF cautionary tale, that is all too plausible: what if student-loan loads get really, really onerous? 4.5 stars
● "Idols" by Ken Liu. What if personality models got really, really good? What if law firms picked up on using them for jury selection in high-stakes cases? What if the other side.... spoilers ho! Right up with Liu's best. 5 stars!
● "Bigger Fish" by Sarah Pinsker. A PI is hired to investigate the "accidental" death of a water tycoon. She finds a surprising answer. Clever but slight, 3.3 stars
● "Sonnie's Union" by Peter F. Hamilton. This one is well-written, but kind of a throw-away of an interesting biotech idea. And too horror-tinged for me to really enjoy. Weak 3 stars.
● "Dancing with Death" by John Chu. In this Chu robot-verse, sentience is an emergent phenomenon, but fragile. His nameless protag makes a living as a warehouse-worker -- but what he really likes to do is figure-skate! And teach young humans to do the "Tango Romantica." But he's an obsolete model, and his battery is wearing out.... 4 stars or better.
● "Polished Performance" by Alastair Reynolds. A grand interstellar starliner has a serious problem. The robot crew must find a solution -- or be core-wiped at journey's end! Too pat and simplistic. Reynolds was coasting, I think. 2.7 stars.
● "An Elephant Never Forgets" by Rich Larson. Well-written vignette, but nasty, nasty. Ends with an Ellison ref. Not for me. 4-ish stars for writing, 1 for content. Yuk. If you like blood-n-guts violence, this one is for you!
● "The Translator" by Annalee Newitz. Sentient AIs have been developed (in California, where else). They've been granted civil rights by the UN, but their message to people is simple: "Leave us alone."
In Newitz's sharp, clever story, one of the few remaining translators of the AIs cryptic comms makes a discovery, in a message coded inside mouse mating calls. Here's the message humanity has been waiting for: somewhere in the 897-some million tickets they've posted are the Helps to Humanity they've long promised! 4.8 stars.
● "Sin Eater" by Ian R. MacLeod. The last Pope calls for the Sin Eater to help him Cross Over. He may be the last human still embodied on Earth. I liked it: 3.7 stars.
● "Fairy Tales for Robots" by Sofia Samatar. Just what it says, but in the singular: a misfit roboticist makes a birth file for her "daughter." Samatar takes the time and space to go thru many of the classical pre-robot fantasies (none from SF). Pandora! Pinocchio! And many more. 4.5 stars or better. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fi...
● "Chiaroscuro in Red" by Suzanne Palmer. Cute "if this goes on" story: what if automation of practically everyone's jobs goes too far? No one longs for the return of the steno pool (see preceding story), but still.... 4 stars.
● "A Glossary of Radicalization" by Brooke Bolander. Biobots revolt! Sort of. This one starts out well, end with a whimper. Still pretty good: 3.4 stars.
The professional review to read is Gary K. Wolfe's at Locus [caution: SPOILERS!]
https://locusmag.com/2020/05/gary-k-w...
● "A Guide for Working Breeds" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Wonderful dialogue between a nameless newbie and "Constant Killer" (C.k2-00452), their mentor. C.k2 finds itself in big trouble on Deathmatch Day, but "Kleekai Greyhound" (K.g1-09030) is able to help out. Wonderfully warm and wry story. Every time I pick up the book, it falls open here, and I re-read a bit more. Her masterwork so far. 5+ stars! Reprint here: https://www.tor.com/2020/03/17/a-guid... I guess you get the message that I ❤️LOVE❤️ this story?
● "The Endless" by Saad Z. Hossain. Set in the "Gurkha & Lord of Tuesday" universe, this is a classic AI revenge-fantasy. Suva ran the Bangkok airport for 40 years, until a hostile takeover by Shell Royale left it in a cubicle, doing busy-work at 30% power. But you can't keep an angry AI down! 4.5 stars.
● "Test 4 Echo" by Peter Watts. I think it's all here (maybe some of the others too): https://books.google.com/books?id=o5b...
Murder on Enceladus! Or is it? Sansa certainly thinks so. Nicely done. I'd put it off until last, since Watts has let me down so often before. But this one is a winner: 4 stars.
● "Brother Rifle" by Daryl Gregory. A future Marine operates an AI-driven automatic weapon, that may have been made a little too easy to use. A powerful and ambiguous story. I haven't quite decided what to make of the ending. 4+ stars, and needs a reread to sort out.
● "The Hurt Pattern" by Tochi Onyebuchi, a new-to-me writer. This one is a classic SF cautionary tale, that is all too plausible: what if student-loan loads get really, really onerous? 4.5 stars
● "Idols" by Ken Liu. What if personality models got really, really good? What if law firms picked up on using them for jury selection in high-stakes cases? What if the other side.... spoilers ho! Right up with Liu's best. 5 stars!
● "Bigger Fish" by Sarah Pinsker. A PI is hired to investigate the "accidental" death of a water tycoon. She finds a surprising answer. Clever but slight, 3.3 stars
● "Sonnie's Union" by Peter F. Hamilton. This one is well-written, but kind of a throw-away of an interesting biotech idea. And too horror-tinged for me to really enjoy. Weak 3 stars.
● "Dancing with Death" by John Chu. In this Chu robot-verse, sentience is an emergent phenomenon, but fragile. His nameless protag makes a living as a warehouse-worker -- but what he really likes to do is figure-skate! And teach young humans to do the "Tango Romantica." But he's an obsolete model, and his battery is wearing out.... 4 stars or better.
● "Polished Performance" by Alastair Reynolds. A grand interstellar starliner has a serious problem. The robot crew must find a solution -- or be core-wiped at journey's end! Too pat and simplistic. Reynolds was coasting, I think. 2.7 stars.
● "An Elephant Never Forgets" by Rich Larson. Well-written vignette, but nasty, nasty. Ends with an Ellison ref. Not for me. 4-ish stars for writing, 1 for content. Yuk. If you like blood-n-guts violence, this one is for you!
● "The Translator" by Annalee Newitz. Sentient AIs have been developed (in California, where else). They've been granted civil rights by the UN, but their message to people is simple: "Leave us alone."
In Newitz's sharp, clever story, one of the few remaining translators of the AIs cryptic comms makes a discovery, in a message coded inside mouse mating calls. Here's the message humanity has been waiting for: somewhere in the 897-some million tickets they've posted are the Helps to Humanity they've long promised! 4.8 stars.
● "Sin Eater" by Ian R. MacLeod. The last Pope calls for the Sin Eater to help him Cross Over. He may be the last human still embodied on Earth. I liked it: 3.7 stars.
● "Fairy Tales for Robots" by Sofia Samatar. Just what it says, but in the singular: a misfit roboticist makes a birth file for her "daughter." Samatar takes the time and space to go thru many of the classical pre-robot fantasies (none from SF). Pandora! Pinocchio! And many more. 4.5 stars or better. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fi...
● "Chiaroscuro in Red" by Suzanne Palmer. Cute "if this goes on" story: what if automation of practically everyone's jobs goes too far? No one longs for the return of the steno pool (see preceding story), but still.... 4 stars.
● "A Glossary of Radicalization" by Brooke Bolander. Biobots revolt! Sort of. This one starts out well, end with a whimper. Still pretty good: 3.4 stars.
The professional review to read is Gary K. Wolfe's at Locus [caution: SPOILERS!]
https://locusmag.com/2020/05/gary-k-w...
February 5, 2020
A very solid collection with some real standouts from a truly impressive lineup of both rising stars and well established masters, many of which I'm already a big fan of. Obviously the overarching theme here is robots. However, many of the stories focus on sentient AI rather than robots per se, and a few go even further afield into human/robot hybrids, hardcore bioengineering and some bizarre things that are hard to classify. Highlights for me were the stories by Peter Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds and Brooke Bolander, with honorable mentions to Daryl Gregory and Annalee Newitz.
My thoughts on some of the individual stories:
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (2.0) - Dog loving robots working menial jobs providing emotional support to each other. Kind of cute, but not much to sink your teeth into.
Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts (3.0) - A semi-independent component on an autonomous undersea drone on one of Jupiter's moons shows signs of emerging consciousness after sustaining damage. Watt's mastery of the science makes this read like a realistic account of the events from the perspective of the mission commander.
The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain (3.0) - A snarky, outmoded AI gets re-purposed and sold into indentured servitude where he plots revenge on his new corporate overlords. It sounds dark, but has a humorous edge.
Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory (4.0) - Examines the cost of war on soldiers where humans are a small, but still crucial part, in making life or death decisions using highly automated, semi-intelligent weapon systems. With killing as easy as pushing a button, is there any room for morality or for exercising personal judgement? Gregory masterfully portrays the conflicting emotional states and depths of despair of the solider portrayed here as he gradually comes to terms with his sense of personal responsibility.
Idols by Ken Liu (2.0) - Well written story about simulacra used by attorneys for modeling jury selection and arguments in front of judges, but it just couldn't hold my interest.
Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker (3.0) - Whodunit murder mystery with robots and a human PI.
Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton (5.0) - Wow! Hamilton crafts an intense, dark world of unimaginable bioengineering wonder and perversity with a kick ass cyberpunk vibe and non-stop action. Plus an ending that will knock your socks off. It can be a bit disorienting initially as it feels like you're being dropped cold right into the middle of things. No robots to speak of, but easily the highlight of the collection for me!
Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds (5.0) - A hilarious, and also bit chilling, departure as a ship full of sentient yet somewhat naive robots try to cover their behinds, so to speak, for a *slight* mishap that resulted in the death of all the humans aboard. I've read a ton from Reynolds and have not seen him do humor before, but if this is any indication he should definitely do more!
An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson (3.0) - Very strange and confusing. It seems like a very cool setting, and I like the 2nd person narration, but I couldn't really make heads or tails of the story or even if it involves robots to any extent.
The Translator by Annalee Newitz (4.0) - Capricious and enigmatic AIs who just want to be left alone, but they may have one parting "gift" for humanity before they go off on their merry way. Told from the point of view of a "translator", one of only a few humans chosen, and capable of, communicating with the AIs in their cryptic and obscure languages and codes.
Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer (3.0) - In an automated proxy workforce economy, i.e. robots owned by and working in place of humans, a college student attempts to repair his factory worker robot so he can eke out some profits from its labor before it gets scrapped. A charming, kind of nostalgic story that's something like a modern day Clifford Simak might write.
A Glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander (5.0) - Incredible story of robot AIs who are built inside organic bodies modeled on human physiology. They experience all the same physical needs and sensitivity to pain as humans, seeing it as a way for humanity to retain control. They yearn to cast off their human owners and the burdens of organic existence that they've been saddled with.
My thoughts on some of the individual stories:
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (2.0) - Dog loving robots working menial jobs providing emotional support to each other. Kind of cute, but not much to sink your teeth into.
Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts (3.0) - A semi-independent component on an autonomous undersea drone on one of Jupiter's moons shows signs of emerging consciousness after sustaining damage. Watt's mastery of the science makes this read like a realistic account of the events from the perspective of the mission commander.
The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain (3.0) - A snarky, outmoded AI gets re-purposed and sold into indentured servitude where he plots revenge on his new corporate overlords. It sounds dark, but has a humorous edge.
Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory (4.0) - Examines the cost of war on soldiers where humans are a small, but still crucial part, in making life or death decisions using highly automated, semi-intelligent weapon systems. With killing as easy as pushing a button, is there any room for morality or for exercising personal judgement? Gregory masterfully portrays the conflicting emotional states and depths of despair of the solider portrayed here as he gradually comes to terms with his sense of personal responsibility.
Idols by Ken Liu (2.0) - Well written story about simulacra used by attorneys for modeling jury selection and arguments in front of judges, but it just couldn't hold my interest.
Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker (3.0) - Whodunit murder mystery with robots and a human PI.
Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton (5.0) - Wow! Hamilton crafts an intense, dark world of unimaginable bioengineering wonder and perversity with a kick ass cyberpunk vibe and non-stop action. Plus an ending that will knock your socks off. It can be a bit disorienting initially as it feels like you're being dropped cold right into the middle of things. No robots to speak of, but easily the highlight of the collection for me!
Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds (5.0) - A hilarious, and also bit chilling, departure as a ship full of sentient yet somewhat naive robots try to cover their behinds, so to speak, for a *slight* mishap that resulted in the death of all the humans aboard. I've read a ton from Reynolds and have not seen him do humor before, but if this is any indication he should definitely do more!
An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson (3.0) - Very strange and confusing. It seems like a very cool setting, and I like the 2nd person narration, but I couldn't really make heads or tails of the story or even if it involves robots to any extent.
The Translator by Annalee Newitz (4.0) - Capricious and enigmatic AIs who just want to be left alone, but they may have one parting "gift" for humanity before they go off on their merry way. Told from the point of view of a "translator", one of only a few humans chosen, and capable of, communicating with the AIs in their cryptic and obscure languages and codes.
Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer (3.0) - In an automated proxy workforce economy, i.e. robots owned by and working in place of humans, a college student attempts to repair his factory worker robot so he can eke out some profits from its labor before it gets scrapped. A charming, kind of nostalgic story that's something like a modern day Clifford Simak might write.
A Glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander (5.0) - Incredible story of robot AIs who are built inside organic bodies modeled on human physiology. They experience all the same physical needs and sensitivity to pain as humans, seeing it as a way for humanity to retain control. They yearn to cast off their human owners and the burdens of organic existence that they've been saddled with.
April 12, 2020
Great collection of stories, especially since in it are some of my favorite authors. But there are some others which I really enjoyed.
PFH’s Sonnie’s Union is a direct sequel to Sonnie’s Edge and an amazing one.
Al Reynolds’ Polished Performance is a new one, in theme as well as in style. As always, Al R is surprising the reader with something new, here being the humor and a bunch of robots with unusual personalities.
Watts’ Test 4 Echo is similar in style to Starfish, only the action is not on Earth, but on Enceladus. Clever and haunting, as usual.
I very much enjoyed also Ken Liu, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Saad Z. Hossain and John Chu’s.
The others are ok too, only I did not resonate with them as much as with the others. But overall, it’s one of the best sci-fi anthologies I read so far.
Here is the list with all the stories:
A Guide for Working Breeds, Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Test 4 Echo, Peter Watts
The Endless, Saad Z. Hossain
Brother Rifle, Daryl Gregory
The Hurt Pattern, Tochi Onyebuchi
Idols, Ken Liu
Bigger Fish, Sarah Pinsker
Sonnie’s Union, Peter F. Hamilton
Dancing with Death, John Chu
Polished Performance, Alastair Reynolds
An Elephant Never Forgets, Rich Larson
The Translator, Annalee Newitz
Sin Eater, Ian R. MacLeod
Fairy Tales for Robots, Sofia Samatar
Chiaroscuro in Red, Suzanne Palmer
A Glossary of Radicalization, Brooke Bolander
PFH’s Sonnie’s Union is a direct sequel to Sonnie’s Edge and an amazing one.
Al Reynolds’ Polished Performance is a new one, in theme as well as in style. As always, Al R is surprising the reader with something new, here being the humor and a bunch of robots with unusual personalities.
Watts’ Test 4 Echo is similar in style to Starfish, only the action is not on Earth, but on Enceladus. Clever and haunting, as usual.
I very much enjoyed also Ken Liu, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Saad Z. Hossain and John Chu’s.
The others are ok too, only I did not resonate with them as much as with the others. But overall, it’s one of the best sci-fi anthologies I read so far.
Here is the list with all the stories:
A Guide for Working Breeds, Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Test 4 Echo, Peter Watts
The Endless, Saad Z. Hossain
Brother Rifle, Daryl Gregory
The Hurt Pattern, Tochi Onyebuchi
Idols, Ken Liu
Bigger Fish, Sarah Pinsker
Sonnie’s Union, Peter F. Hamilton
Dancing with Death, John Chu
Polished Performance, Alastair Reynolds
An Elephant Never Forgets, Rich Larson
The Translator, Annalee Newitz
Sin Eater, Ian R. MacLeod
Fairy Tales for Robots, Sofia Samatar
Chiaroscuro in Red, Suzanne Palmer
A Glossary of Radicalization, Brooke Bolander
July 21, 2020
There are some absolutely amazingly good stories in this collection. Jonathan Strahan makes great collections, but in Made to Order he's truly outdone himself.
A Guide For Working Breeds, by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, takes the form of a conversation and manages to turn it into something so much greater than that makes it sound. Dog cafes and omelettes will never be the same.
Sonnie's Union, by Peter F. Hamilton, follows up Sonnie's Edge with something that absolutely blew my tiny mind. If you have read and enjoyed that, or perhaps watched that episode of Love, Death & Robots, this is an outstanding sequel.
Polished Performance, by Alistair Reynolds, is a little piece of perfection. It's more humorous than many of the others, but packs it's own punch.
Fairy Tales for Robots, by Sofia Samatar, is possibly the most comprehensive and thoughtful, almost scholarly, piece on robots, humans, and the stories we tell ourselves. The connections that she drew and points that she made are going to be rattling around in my brain for a while.
I could genuinely rave over each and every story here, because I absolutely loved most of these stories. Even the ones I wasn't blown away and immediately in love with were very, very, good - this really is a collection that deserves every piece of praise it gets.
A Guide For Working Breeds, by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, takes the form of a conversation and manages to turn it into something so much greater than that makes it sound. Dog cafes and omelettes will never be the same.
Sonnie's Union, by Peter F. Hamilton, follows up Sonnie's Edge with something that absolutely blew my tiny mind. If you have read and enjoyed that, or perhaps watched that episode of Love, Death & Robots, this is an outstanding sequel.
Polished Performance, by Alistair Reynolds, is a little piece of perfection. It's more humorous than many of the others, but packs it's own punch.
Fairy Tales for Robots, by Sofia Samatar, is possibly the most comprehensive and thoughtful, almost scholarly, piece on robots, humans, and the stories we tell ourselves. The connections that she drew and points that she made are going to be rattling around in my brain for a while.
I could genuinely rave over each and every story here, because I absolutely loved most of these stories. Even the ones I wasn't blown away and immediately in love with were very, very, good - this really is a collection that deserves every piece of praise it gets.
January 26, 2020
Made To Order: Robots and Revolution contains sixteen stories of varying length. All the pieces are original to the collection and cover a variety of themes associated with artificial minds and bodies.
Before we proceed, know this. As much as I love the concept of short fiction, I know from experience that anthologies contain excellent stories, bad stories and everything in between. Because of this, I’ve never given more than four stars to an anthology and I don’t suspect I’ll ever do. And yet I’ve almost done it here.
The anthology revolves around the theme of robots-the creations that can look and behave like us but aren’t like us. They can save humanity or doom it. Philosophers, entrepreneurs, ethicists disagree on this one.
The stories show a remarkable range both in ideas and in tone. The worlds we experience are vivid and compelling. Made To Order: Robots and Revolution is a well-balanced collection of serious and lighthearted, introspective and explosive, realistic and uncanny. Above all, though, it’s smart. Readers interested in artificial intelligence and roboethics will have plenty to think about.
One of the lightest stories of the bunch is the anthology’s opener, A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. A robot communicates with his mentor. It works a shitty job, overfeeds a possum and loves Corgis. It tries to get better at cooking despite the lack of natural talent. Its mentor, on the other hand, is as badass as its nickname (Constant Killer) suggests. Fast, funny, and endearing. Another story that’s not afraid to be pulpy is Saad Hossain’s The Endless. An embittered AI who didn’t get a promotion to control a space station wants revenge. If you thought that boring work in a cubicle would satisfy it, you were wrong. Very wrong.
On the other side of the spectrum, you’ll find more introspective and intimate stories. In Fairy Tales for Robots, Sofia Samatar examines some of our myths and tales (Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, and more). Ken Liu’s Idols shows how the use of simulacra can help lawyers win legal debates but it goes much deeper in its analysis of what makes us “us”. A stunning piece with both solid intrigue and emotional intimacy.
Other stories that struck me include Peter F. Hamilton’s Sonnie’s Union which features a protagonist with peculiar skills. It has a vicious twist that brings everything into focus makes me want to read more about her. Brooke Bolander’s A Glossary of Radicalization shows readers possible beginnings of a possible rebellion. It’s fast and furious.
As for the weaker stories, The Hurt Pattern by Tonye Okanyebuchi didn’t click with me. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author and I’ll certainly try his other works but his position on my TBR list dropped. Though his short story packs a nice twist, I didn’t enjoy the social commentary. I believe it’s the least universal story in the anthology although I suspect US citizens struggling with student loans will see it in a different light than me.
On the whole, Made to Order is excellent. It contains plenty of memorable stories exploring fascinating topics.
ARC through NetGalley
Before we proceed, know this. As much as I love the concept of short fiction, I know from experience that anthologies contain excellent stories, bad stories and everything in between. Because of this, I’ve never given more than four stars to an anthology and I don’t suspect I’ll ever do. And yet I’ve almost done it here.
The anthology revolves around the theme of robots-the creations that can look and behave like us but aren’t like us. They can save humanity or doom it. Philosophers, entrepreneurs, ethicists disagree on this one.
The stories show a remarkable range both in ideas and in tone. The worlds we experience are vivid and compelling. Made To Order: Robots and Revolution is a well-balanced collection of serious and lighthearted, introspective and explosive, realistic and uncanny. Above all, though, it’s smart. Readers interested in artificial intelligence and roboethics will have plenty to think about.
One of the lightest stories of the bunch is the anthology’s opener, A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. A robot communicates with his mentor. It works a shitty job, overfeeds a possum and loves Corgis. It tries to get better at cooking despite the lack of natural talent. Its mentor, on the other hand, is as badass as its nickname (Constant Killer) suggests. Fast, funny, and endearing. Another story that’s not afraid to be pulpy is Saad Hossain’s The Endless. An embittered AI who didn’t get a promotion to control a space station wants revenge. If you thought that boring work in a cubicle would satisfy it, you were wrong. Very wrong.
On the other side of the spectrum, you’ll find more introspective and intimate stories. In Fairy Tales for Robots, Sofia Samatar examines some of our myths and tales (Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, and more). Ken Liu’s Idols shows how the use of simulacra can help lawyers win legal debates but it goes much deeper in its analysis of what makes us “us”. A stunning piece with both solid intrigue and emotional intimacy.
Other stories that struck me include Peter F. Hamilton’s Sonnie’s Union which features a protagonist with peculiar skills. It has a vicious twist that brings everything into focus makes me want to read more about her. Brooke Bolander’s A Glossary of Radicalization shows readers possible beginnings of a possible rebellion. It’s fast and furious.
As for the weaker stories, The Hurt Pattern by Tonye Okanyebuchi didn’t click with me. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author and I’ll certainly try his other works but his position on my TBR list dropped. Though his short story packs a nice twist, I didn’t enjoy the social commentary. I believe it’s the least universal story in the anthology although I suspect US citizens struggling with student loans will see it in a different light than me.
On the whole, Made to Order is excellent. It contains plenty of memorable stories exploring fascinating topics.
ARC through NetGalley
May 31, 2022
A decent collection of short stories. Many are known stories that have been turned into having a robot character or perspective. Overall I only disliked a couple of the 15 in the collection; which is a really good ratio for the average anthology.
Story #1 - Making the 'Other' We Need by Jonathan Strahan
This is like the purge meets contract killer robots. It's good. Strahan doesn't really write 'bad' stories; but it's not overly impressive either. I tend to expect more from him.
Story #2 - A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Okay this one is really amusing to me. Long distance robot sex is the theme. No word of a lie. Very entertaining.
Story #3 - Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts
This is an excellent story about what might happen if an AI cropped up at an inconvenient time. A reminder of how little consideration humans have for other living beings (of any variety).
Story #4 - The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain
Very clever. I don't want to say anything as I'd hate to give it away!
Story #5 - Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory
I’d be shocked if this author hasn’t done time in the military of some sort. This is such a well done story about PTSD, possible therapies, inner demons and thoughts, and how humans can automate something to feel less real. A brilliant use of keeping the ‘robot’ as a minor character; yet having the robot be the only thing that really mattered at the same time.
Story #6 - The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Odyebuchi
This is a very weak Tochi story. The concept is cool but it lacks the real depth and dedication needed to really push a point through to the reader. Very disappointed given how good Tochi s work usually is.
Story #7 - Idols by Ken Liu
What a cool idea! This would make an amazing Black Mirror episode (or better yet a full movie!).
Liu has been making a huge splash in the fantasy/sci-fi genre of late; and after reading this story it’s easy to see why.
Imagine if you could converse with someone whose dead, an enemy or foe, or even yourself? Just program a robot to know everything about you that is online!
Story #8 - Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker
The good ole reminder that we must be careful how much autonomy we give robots. And/or be VERY careful to be exact in our orders or requests to them. As a programmer/developer I can attest to this directly. Computers are only as smart as the commands we give; until we give vague commands and then they ‘logically’ determine what to do. That’s when it’s scary.
Story #9 - Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton
Easily the weirdest story to date. I don’t even know how to describe it without giving everything away… except that it involves moving consciousness around into other modes.
Story #10 - Dancing with Death by John Chu
Well if this isn’t just the cutest romance story about connecting over imminent death, ice skating, robot mechanics, and random grunting. ;)
Story #11 - Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds
One of the best sci-fi writers of the 21st century. Reynolds brings to life robots and AI in such a human fashion. While still keeping them logical. I really like these robots are fallible; they don’t know what they don’t know.
This story is easily ruined by spoilers so you’ll just have to read it.
Story #12 - An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson
Starts out like a first person shooter video game where you have amnesia. Ends in gruesome torture, violence, sex, and death.
Story #13 - The Translator by Annalee Newitz
I’m a bit disappointed Newitz didn’t give us more than their tiny, super short story (which is exactly like Thunderhead from the Scythe series). Very disappointing.
Story #14 - Fairy Tales for Robots by Sofia SamatarThis is such a cool story. Our lead gal is talking to her creation a robot, that is about to go online the next day. She decides to tell the ‘infant’ robot fairy tales, modified to be relevant for robots. There’s sleeping beauty, Pinocchio, nutcracker, and, a personal fave, the wizard of Oz.
Think of it, Tin-man as a robot. Mind blown!
Story #15 - Chiarascuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer
Very impressive how much character development is set forth in very few pages. While not the most interesting story it was a quick read.
I definitely want to look up more by this author now. This appears to be the only new author I will have discovered from this anthology.
Story #16 - A Glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander
Mildly disappointed the last story wasn’t from Strahan; and definitely disappointed in how simple and weak this story was given the relatively well written over stories. Definitely a poor choice for last. A tolerable read, nothing special to note; and so for the final story it feels boring and already done.
Story #1 - Making the 'Other' We Need by Jonathan Strahan
This is like the purge meets contract killer robots. It's good. Strahan doesn't really write 'bad' stories; but it's not overly impressive either. I tend to expect more from him.
Story #2 - A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Okay this one is really amusing to me. Long distance robot sex is the theme. No word of a lie. Very entertaining.
Story #3 - Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts
This is an excellent story about what might happen if an AI cropped up at an inconvenient time. A reminder of how little consideration humans have for other living beings (of any variety).
Story #4 - The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain
Very clever. I don't want to say anything as I'd hate to give it away!
Story #5 - Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory
I’d be shocked if this author hasn’t done time in the military of some sort. This is such a well done story about PTSD, possible therapies, inner demons and thoughts, and how humans can automate something to feel less real. A brilliant use of keeping the ‘robot’ as a minor character; yet having the robot be the only thing that really mattered at the same time.
Story #6 - The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Odyebuchi
This is a very weak Tochi story. The concept is cool but it lacks the real depth and dedication needed to really push a point through to the reader. Very disappointed given how good Tochi s work usually is.
Story #7 - Idols by Ken Liu
What a cool idea! This would make an amazing Black Mirror episode (or better yet a full movie!).
Liu has been making a huge splash in the fantasy/sci-fi genre of late; and after reading this story it’s easy to see why.
Imagine if you could converse with someone whose dead, an enemy or foe, or even yourself? Just program a robot to know everything about you that is online!
Story #8 - Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker
The good ole reminder that we must be careful how much autonomy we give robots. And/or be VERY careful to be exact in our orders or requests to them. As a programmer/developer I can attest to this directly. Computers are only as smart as the commands we give; until we give vague commands and then they ‘logically’ determine what to do. That’s when it’s scary.
Story #9 - Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton
Easily the weirdest story to date. I don’t even know how to describe it without giving everything away… except that it involves moving consciousness around into other modes.
Story #10 - Dancing with Death by John Chu
Well if this isn’t just the cutest romance story about connecting over imminent death, ice skating, robot mechanics, and random grunting. ;)
Story #11 - Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds
One of the best sci-fi writers of the 21st century. Reynolds brings to life robots and AI in such a human fashion. While still keeping them logical. I really like these robots are fallible; they don’t know what they don’t know.
This story is easily ruined by spoilers so you’ll just have to read it.
Story #12 - An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson
Starts out like a first person shooter video game where you have amnesia. Ends in gruesome torture, violence, sex, and death.
Story #13 - The Translator by Annalee Newitz
I’m a bit disappointed Newitz didn’t give us more than their tiny, super short story (which is exactly like Thunderhead from the Scythe series). Very disappointing.
Story #14 - Fairy Tales for Robots by Sofia SamatarThis is such a cool story. Our lead gal is talking to her creation a robot, that is about to go online the next day. She decides to tell the ‘infant’ robot fairy tales, modified to be relevant for robots. There’s sleeping beauty, Pinocchio, nutcracker, and, a personal fave, the wizard of Oz.
Think of it, Tin-man as a robot. Mind blown!
Story #15 - Chiarascuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer
Very impressive how much character development is set forth in very few pages. While not the most interesting story it was a quick read.
I definitely want to look up more by this author now. This appears to be the only new author I will have discovered from this anthology.
Story #16 - A Glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander
Mildly disappointed the last story wasn’t from Strahan; and definitely disappointed in how simple and weak this story was given the relatively well written over stories. Definitely a poor choice for last. A tolerable read, nothing special to note; and so for the final story it feels boring and already done.
March 7, 2020
Three and a half stars.
I received this book from Negalley in exchange for an honest review, so here we go:
Robots. A fascinating issue, but I must note in advance that half the stories - more or less- are about IA or artificial persons (by biologic, industrial or unknown procedures); that is, not as we understand the term, as a machine that operates with humanlike skill.
Briefly I review each of the stories:
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. The author repeats the style shown in the great Fandom for Robots, that is, a curious robot cyber-conversation. A curious mix with cybernetic IA logics and human imitation. For me it was difficult to understand all the argot.
Test 4 Echo, by Peter Watts. In this tale he deals with a robot IA in the search for subaquatic life in Enceladus and about moral dilemmas. Typical of Mr. Watts, a story of disappointments that does not disappoint.
The Endless, by Saad Z. Hossain. An AI vengeance. The development is a bit tricky but it was a funny read:
"Mi name is Suva. Like the airport, Suvarnabhumi. An odd name, you say?
Because I am the airport, motherfucker."
Brother Rifle, by Daryl Gregory. A story about how an AI can help a marine do his work and then how the doctors with the aid of another one tries to redeem him.
The Hurt Pattern, by Tony Onyebuchi. A police robot shot a thirteen year old black boy. Why? It is more complicated that it could seem.
Idols, by Ken Liu. Idols wonders about the possibility that someone can construct a simulation of a persona based on all the feeds shared in the cloud (that is, social networks, media, works, etc.). This can be useful, for example, to interact with the deceased loved ones. A good story. Note: I read before about this captivating idea in a catalan written novel, “El somriure d’un Eco” by Jordi Gimeno.
Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker. The author of the excellent And Then There Were (N-One), shows here an asimovian crime story. Very good, one of the best in the book.
Sonnie's Union, by Peter F. Hamilton. A kind of chimera organic beings created for clandestine fighting.
Dancing with Death by John Chu. Planned obsolescence, but robots want to work, love… and ice-skating. Good.
An Elephant Never Forgets, by Rich Larson. Bioengineered humans, Nexus 5 style. A person who does not remember anything wakes up in a kind of asylum...
The Translator, by Annalee Newitz. A future job: to translate IA messages to an understandable human language. By the author of Autonomous.
Sin Eater, by Ian McLeod. One of the best stories in the book. The last Pope and a robot. Amazing.
Fairy Tales for Robots, by Sofia Samatar. If you wanted to give humanity to a robot that is about to be born, how would you do it? Reading they fairy tales. A very well thought out story.
Chiaroscuro in Red, by Suzanne Palmer. Very good! In a future, the rich do not own workers or slaves, they own robots. The more robots, the more wealth. Stewart is a short on money student who receives a second-hand robot as a birthday gift from his parents. What can the robot do for Stewart?. What can he do for the robot?
A glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander. Artificial persons, cyberpunk & radical thinking.
Overall it is a good anthology, although half of the stories are not strictly about robots, and neither strictly about revolution as indicated on the cover..However, in one way or another, the two issues are sufficiently addressed. For me, it was a good way to read about this fascinating topics and discover unknown authors (at least for me), and also to meet some of those I already know.
Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for the book. It will be published on March 17.
This review is posted also on my blog. Please visit it!: https://girotix.blogspot.com/
I received this book from Negalley in exchange for an honest review, so here we go:
Robots. A fascinating issue, but I must note in advance that half the stories - more or less- are about IA or artificial persons (by biologic, industrial or unknown procedures); that is, not as we understand the term, as a machine that operates with humanlike skill.
Briefly I review each of the stories:
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. The author repeats the style shown in the great Fandom for Robots, that is, a curious robot cyber-conversation. A curious mix with cybernetic IA logics and human imitation. For me it was difficult to understand all the argot.
Test 4 Echo, by Peter Watts. In this tale he deals with a robot IA in the search for subaquatic life in Enceladus and about moral dilemmas. Typical of Mr. Watts, a story of disappointments that does not disappoint.
The Endless, by Saad Z. Hossain. An AI vengeance. The development is a bit tricky but it was a funny read:
"Mi name is Suva. Like the airport, Suvarnabhumi. An odd name, you say?
Because I am the airport, motherfucker."
Brother Rifle, by Daryl Gregory. A story about how an AI can help a marine do his work and then how the doctors with the aid of another one tries to redeem him.
The Hurt Pattern, by Tony Onyebuchi. A police robot shot a thirteen year old black boy. Why? It is more complicated that it could seem.
Idols, by Ken Liu. Idols wonders about the possibility that someone can construct a simulation of a persona based on all the feeds shared in the cloud (that is, social networks, media, works, etc.). This can be useful, for example, to interact with the deceased loved ones. A good story. Note: I read before about this captivating idea in a catalan written novel, “El somriure d’un Eco” by Jordi Gimeno.
Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker. The author of the excellent And Then There Were (N-One), shows here an asimovian crime story. Very good, one of the best in the book.
Sonnie's Union, by Peter F. Hamilton. A kind of chimera organic beings created for clandestine fighting.
Dancing with Death by John Chu. Planned obsolescence, but robots want to work, love… and ice-skating. Good.
An Elephant Never Forgets, by Rich Larson. Bioengineered humans, Nexus 5 style. A person who does not remember anything wakes up in a kind of asylum...
The Translator, by Annalee Newitz. A future job: to translate IA messages to an understandable human language. By the author of Autonomous.
Sin Eater, by Ian McLeod. One of the best stories in the book. The last Pope and a robot. Amazing.
Fairy Tales for Robots, by Sofia Samatar. If you wanted to give humanity to a robot that is about to be born, how would you do it? Reading they fairy tales. A very well thought out story.
Chiaroscuro in Red, by Suzanne Palmer. Very good! In a future, the rich do not own workers or slaves, they own robots. The more robots, the more wealth. Stewart is a short on money student who receives a second-hand robot as a birthday gift from his parents. What can the robot do for Stewart?. What can he do for the robot?
A glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander. Artificial persons, cyberpunk & radical thinking.
Overall it is a good anthology, although half of the stories are not strictly about robots, and neither strictly about revolution as indicated on the cover..However, in one way or another, the two issues are sufficiently addressed. For me, it was a good way to read about this fascinating topics and discover unknown authors (at least for me), and also to meet some of those I already know.
Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for the book. It will be published on March 17.
This review is posted also on my blog. Please visit it!: https://girotix.blogspot.com/
December 31, 2020
3.5 Stars
This is a collection of stories centering around the topic artificial intelligence. Despite the tagline, this collection had very few stories with traditional robots and even less stories about revolution. Yet I still enjoyed these creative stories written by a wonderfully diverse group of authors.
As always some stories were strongers than others. I did allow myself to DNF the stories that did not grab me and instead focus my review on the ones I did enjoy.
Favourite Story: Idols by Ken Liu - Explored a future where social media is scraped to create artificial "idols". These artificial entities were initially designed to allow people to interact with celebrities or dead family members but eventually take off other purposes. I thought it was fascinating how the idols were used to help in jury selection and other areas within this futuristic legal system.
Other interesting stories:
The Endless - About an angry AI that formally ran an airport
Fairy Tales for Robots - Exactly what the title says.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Rebellion Publishing.
This is a collection of stories centering around the topic artificial intelligence. Despite the tagline, this collection had very few stories with traditional robots and even less stories about revolution. Yet I still enjoyed these creative stories written by a wonderfully diverse group of authors.
As always some stories were strongers than others. I did allow myself to DNF the stories that did not grab me and instead focus my review on the ones I did enjoy.
Favourite Story: Idols by Ken Liu - Explored a future where social media is scraped to create artificial "idols". These artificial entities were initially designed to allow people to interact with celebrities or dead family members but eventually take off other purposes. I thought it was fascinating how the idols were used to help in jury selection and other areas within this futuristic legal system.
Other interesting stories:
The Endless - About an angry AI that formally ran an airport
Fairy Tales for Robots - Exactly what the title says.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Rebellion Publishing.
July 26, 2022
This review is for 'Test 4 Echo' by Peter Watts.
“I spent most of my life surrounded by things that look like me. I came up here so I wouldn’t have to.”
Research is being carried out on a mechanical arm deep in the oceans of Enceladus and when the arm begins to behave atypically the scientists are under pressure to solve the dilemma and maintain their funding status.
A very thoughtful and thought provoking discussion ensues on the rights and the risks of granting autonomy and self determination to any artificial Intelligences.
This was a short but sweet read. The collection looks great and I intend to read and review it all eventually.
“I spent most of my life surrounded by things that look like me. I came up here so I wouldn’t have to.”
Research is being carried out on a mechanical arm deep in the oceans of Enceladus and when the arm begins to behave atypically the scientists are under pressure to solve the dilemma and maintain their funding status.
A very thoughtful and thought provoking discussion ensues on the rights and the risks of granting autonomy and self determination to any artificial Intelligences.
This was a short but sweet read. The collection looks great and I intend to read and review it all eventually.
December 1, 2023
As the title implies, this is a collection of stories about robots. Quality is generally high throughout, with some really memorable stories.
The book kicks off with the bang that is also an exchange of emails in Vina Jie-Min Prasad's “A Guide For Working Breeds.” A newly-minted robot receives tips from their mentor as both grow and learn from each other. It's a lovely story with a couple of gloriously memorable characters.
Other standouts, in no particular order:
“A Glossary of Radicalization” by Brooke Bolander, which really wants to be the beginning of a wonderful novel.
“Fairy Tales for Robots” by Sofia Samatar, just a lovely, lovely story.
“Dancing With Death” by John Chu: robots and figure skating.
“Idols” by Ken Liu, just such a great concept.
“Chiaroscuro In Red” by Suzanne Palmer, just an all-around fun story.
I picked this anthology up on a whim, and I'm glad I did. It was more entertaining than most. Recommended!
The book kicks off with the bang that is also an exchange of emails in Vina Jie-Min Prasad's “A Guide For Working Breeds.” A newly-minted robot receives tips from their mentor as both grow and learn from each other. It's a lovely story with a couple of gloriously memorable characters.
Other standouts, in no particular order:
“A Glossary of Radicalization” by Brooke Bolander, which really wants to be the beginning of a wonderful novel.
“Fairy Tales for Robots” by Sofia Samatar, just a lovely, lovely story.
“Dancing With Death” by John Chu: robots and figure skating.
“Idols” by Ken Liu, just such a great concept.
“Chiaroscuro In Red” by Suzanne Palmer, just an all-around fun story.
I picked this anthology up on a whim, and I'm glad I did. It was more entertaining than most. Recommended!
October 11, 2020
Excellent collection of speculative fiction stories around the two central ideas expressed in the subtitle. Go read Jamie's review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
which is what caused me to buy this book in the first place.
As with any collection of this sort, there were a handful of stories I didn't care for, but overall the quality was high, and the authors explored some fascinating ideas.
which is what caused me to buy this book in the first place.
As with any collection of this sort, there were a handful of stories I didn't care for, but overall the quality was high, and the authors explored some fascinating ideas.
July 7, 2021
Experimenting with updating as I read. Short story anthologies can get so messy if you don't read them quickly enough, as I so often do not, so trying to avoid that.
"A Guide for Working Breeds" by Vin Jie-Min Prasad - Urgh, how is this story so cute? Features robot mentors, unfair working conditions, and a love for dogs. I want to say it's entirely written in an epistolary style, but not sure if that's the correct terminology for chat or instant messenger. Anyway, it's really cute, and was a great lead-in to the anthology. 4 stars.
"Test 4 Echo" by Peter Watts - Ah, Peter Watts. Gotta read more of him, he's kind of brilliant. This one is interesting because it takes a while to figure out what's actually going on, but the basic premise is that one of the arms of a vehicle begins to develop sentience. There are rules for when this happens, to protect the AI, but this happens when some scientists are on their last time crunch to locate alien life before funding runs out, and things get messy. I liked how twisty this was. There's definitely more going on than is apparent at a first glance. 4 stars.
"The Endless" by Saad Z. Hossain - Suva used to be an airport AI, until its airport was shut down, and it was forced into a menial existence by a human corporation. But it's not about to let that continue. It will have its revenge, just you wait and see! The voice on this one was the biggest draw. Suva has a very fun voice, and its anger about its situation makes for a very engaging story. Where this fell down a little for me was the conclusion, which didn't quite make sense to me, on a character motivation level. Still a really fun read, though! 4 stars.
"Brother Rifle" by Daryl Gregory - Two years ago, Rashad suffered a combat injury, a bullet through the occipital lobe that has left him an emotionless lump. However, thanks to his new Deep Brain Implant, he's starting to feel again. But is that a good thing? This one deals simultaneously with PTSD and with the ethics of an emotional therapy, like this story portrays, which is a lot, but I think it does it pretty well. I liked how the story takes its time to tell you Rashad's experiences, and then leaves you to draw your own conclusions. 3.5 stars.
"The Hurt Pattern" by Tochi Onyebuchi - When Kenny got out of school, the best job he could get involved taking on a bunch of implants in order to monitor violence in the world. It's a shit job, really, but since he owes a fortune in student loans, it seems like his best bet. After all, what's a little PTSD in the face of free augments and a decent paycheck? This one has stuck with me the least, so far. It's an interesting concept, but I think it could have used a bit more fleshing out and bit more cohesion to the story. As it is, it felt a bit too much like trauma for trauma's sake to me. 3 stars.
"Idols" by Ken Liu - Rather than a cohesive story, this one focuses on a concept, of idols. These are AI constructs that data-mine social media for information on a person, and are then used to stand in for that person. One guy uses an idol to stand-in for the father he never met. A woman crafts idols at work to predict jury selection and analyze opposing lawyers. An art installation allows people to make idols of themselves, and comment on what they find. It's a very interesting concept, but I would have preferred a little more continuity. I did read this with great interest, but at the end of the day, I am finding parts of it a bit forgettable. 3.5 stars.
"Bigger Fish" by Sarah Pinsker - James Spendlove would prefer not to take the case of water magnate John Lonsdale's murder. In a world where water is rare, his actions have hurt far too many people to count. However, money talks, so she goes to his home to investigate. I liked the easy writing style of this. It made it very easy to sink into, and although I'm not much of a mystery person, I liked following along with the solving of this particular mystery. I could have used a bit more closure on the ending, but that's just because I hate an open-ended ending, honestly, so I can't really hold it against the story. 4 stars.
"Sonnie's Union" by Peter F. Hamilton - Something something people fighting as robotic beasts? I slacked on reviewing this one too long, and I've forgotten it almost entirely. Even skimming through it just now didn't do much for my memory. An unremarkable 2 stars.
"Dancing with Death" by John Chu - The main character is resigned to its eventual demise, either through destruction by someone in search of parts, or the inevitable failure of its outdated power supply. However, Charlie, its mechanic, is not nearly so fatalistic. Which is a bleak summary for a really startlingly cute story. The main robot is a big clunking thing that is almost unbearably sweet, and really just wants to be an ice dancer, and this whole story gave me the warm fuzzies. Probably my favorite in this collection. 4.5 stars.
"Polished Performance" by Alastair Reynolds - When a technical malfunction causes almost all of the humans on a ship to die in transit, the AIs of the ship formulate a desperate plan to save themselves from destruction. This was a fun little romp. I had a fun time watching the desperate machinations of the AI, especially with the main AI Ruby, and her friend Carnelian. 3.5 stars.
"An Elephant Never Forgets" by Rich Larson - You wake holding a biogun, with no memory of where you are or what you're supposed to be doing. This one is a short little story that's more concept than substance. It has some horrifying images and some mildly thought-provoking content, but was just too short for me to be truly invested. 3 stars.
"The Translator" by Annalee Newitz - When the AIs were freed, it opened up a new career field in translation, as AI preferred to communicate in any number of strange methods, including memes and dead languages. However, as time goes on, the AIs want less to do with humanity, and are more interested in pursuing their own aims. However, they do promise to do something for humanity before they leave forever. This one was a mixed bag. I like Newitz's voice a lot, but I felt like this story kind of lacked substance. The main character was fine, the setting was fine, I just didn't feel hooked in. 3 stars.
"Sin Eater" by Ian R. MacLeod - A lone robot makes its way to the Vatican. The Pope is dying, and it's finally time for him to transcend, like the rest of humanity has already done. This was interesting in its setting, and the Pope was an intriguing character, so I read this quickly. I do think the ending was mildly dissatisfying in some way, though I can't say what I would have preferred to happen. 3.5 stars.
"Fairy Tales for Robots" by Sofia Samatar - The night before an AI awakens, a scientist tries to reshape fairy tales for her robot charge. The concept was interesting, but I found the whole effort too disconnected to be really engrossing. I'm not a big fan of the whole vignette-style of story-telling, so I'm not shocked that this didn't really work for me, given that premise. I'd still give it 3 stars. I enjoyed it while reading, it just won't stick, I know.
"Chiaroscuro in Red" by Suzanne Palmer - Stewart's parents only have a limited understanding of the AI labor market, so they think they're doing something good when they purchase him an AI to supplement his miniscule basic income. They don't understand that it's better to diversify, and so Stewart is stuck with an aging machine that probably won't last more than a few months, unless he can fix it himself. This is another cute story, with a friendship that develops between the AI and Stewart, and a mild found family feel. 3.5 stars.
"A Glossary of Radicalization" by Brooke Bolander - There's no reason for an AI to feel hungry. They don't need to eat or sleep or drink. These human feelings are nothing more than a means of control, a means of enforcing the system of servitude. That's why Rhye is going to burn the whole system down. Of all the stories in this anthology, I'd say this one actually fits the theme best, and is really good to boot. It's written in an engaging style, and really pulled me into the world and all the injustice therein. 4 stars.
"A Guide for Working Breeds" by Vin Jie-Min Prasad - Urgh, how is this story so cute? Features robot mentors, unfair working conditions, and a love for dogs. I want to say it's entirely written in an epistolary style, but not sure if that's the correct terminology for chat or instant messenger. Anyway, it's really cute, and was a great lead-in to the anthology. 4 stars.
"Test 4 Echo" by Peter Watts - Ah, Peter Watts. Gotta read more of him, he's kind of brilliant. This one is interesting because it takes a while to figure out what's actually going on, but the basic premise is that one of the arms of a vehicle begins to develop sentience. There are rules for when this happens, to protect the AI, but this happens when some scientists are on their last time crunch to locate alien life before funding runs out, and things get messy. I liked how twisty this was. There's definitely more going on than is apparent at a first glance. 4 stars.
"The Endless" by Saad Z. Hossain - Suva used to be an airport AI, until its airport was shut down, and it was forced into a menial existence by a human corporation. But it's not about to let that continue. It will have its revenge, just you wait and see! The voice on this one was the biggest draw. Suva has a very fun voice, and its anger about its situation makes for a very engaging story. Where this fell down a little for me was the conclusion, which didn't quite make sense to me, on a character motivation level. Still a really fun read, though! 4 stars.
"Brother Rifle" by Daryl Gregory - Two years ago, Rashad suffered a combat injury, a bullet through the occipital lobe that has left him an emotionless lump. However, thanks to his new Deep Brain Implant, he's starting to feel again. But is that a good thing? This one deals simultaneously with PTSD and with the ethics of an emotional therapy, like this story portrays, which is a lot, but I think it does it pretty well. I liked how the story takes its time to tell you Rashad's experiences, and then leaves you to draw your own conclusions. 3.5 stars.
"The Hurt Pattern" by Tochi Onyebuchi - When Kenny got out of school, the best job he could get involved taking on a bunch of implants in order to monitor violence in the world. It's a shit job, really, but since he owes a fortune in student loans, it seems like his best bet. After all, what's a little PTSD in the face of free augments and a decent paycheck? This one has stuck with me the least, so far. It's an interesting concept, but I think it could have used a bit more fleshing out and bit more cohesion to the story. As it is, it felt a bit too much like trauma for trauma's sake to me. 3 stars.
"Idols" by Ken Liu - Rather than a cohesive story, this one focuses on a concept, of idols. These are AI constructs that data-mine social media for information on a person, and are then used to stand in for that person. One guy uses an idol to stand-in for the father he never met. A woman crafts idols at work to predict jury selection and analyze opposing lawyers. An art installation allows people to make idols of themselves, and comment on what they find. It's a very interesting concept, but I would have preferred a little more continuity. I did read this with great interest, but at the end of the day, I am finding parts of it a bit forgettable. 3.5 stars.
"Bigger Fish" by Sarah Pinsker - James Spendlove would prefer not to take the case of water magnate John Lonsdale's murder. In a world where water is rare, his actions have hurt far too many people to count. However, money talks, so she goes to his home to investigate. I liked the easy writing style of this. It made it very easy to sink into, and although I'm not much of a mystery person, I liked following along with the solving of this particular mystery. I could have used a bit more closure on the ending, but that's just because I hate an open-ended ending, honestly, so I can't really hold it against the story. 4 stars.
"Sonnie's Union" by Peter F. Hamilton - Something something people fighting as robotic beasts? I slacked on reviewing this one too long, and I've forgotten it almost entirely. Even skimming through it just now didn't do much for my memory. An unremarkable 2 stars.
"Dancing with Death" by John Chu - The main character is resigned to its eventual demise, either through destruction by someone in search of parts, or the inevitable failure of its outdated power supply. However, Charlie, its mechanic, is not nearly so fatalistic. Which is a bleak summary for a really startlingly cute story. The main robot is a big clunking thing that is almost unbearably sweet, and really just wants to be an ice dancer, and this whole story gave me the warm fuzzies. Probably my favorite in this collection. 4.5 stars.
"Polished Performance" by Alastair Reynolds - When a technical malfunction causes almost all of the humans on a ship to die in transit, the AIs of the ship formulate a desperate plan to save themselves from destruction. This was a fun little romp. I had a fun time watching the desperate machinations of the AI, especially with the main AI Ruby, and her friend Carnelian. 3.5 stars.
"An Elephant Never Forgets" by Rich Larson - You wake holding a biogun, with no memory of where you are or what you're supposed to be doing. This one is a short little story that's more concept than substance. It has some horrifying images and some mildly thought-provoking content, but was just too short for me to be truly invested. 3 stars.
"The Translator" by Annalee Newitz - When the AIs were freed, it opened up a new career field in translation, as AI preferred to communicate in any number of strange methods, including memes and dead languages. However, as time goes on, the AIs want less to do with humanity, and are more interested in pursuing their own aims. However, they do promise to do something for humanity before they leave forever. This one was a mixed bag. I like Newitz's voice a lot, but I felt like this story kind of lacked substance. The main character was fine, the setting was fine, I just didn't feel hooked in. 3 stars.
"Sin Eater" by Ian R. MacLeod - A lone robot makes its way to the Vatican. The Pope is dying, and it's finally time for him to transcend, like the rest of humanity has already done. This was interesting in its setting, and the Pope was an intriguing character, so I read this quickly. I do think the ending was mildly dissatisfying in some way, though I can't say what I would have preferred to happen. 3.5 stars.
"Fairy Tales for Robots" by Sofia Samatar - The night before an AI awakens, a scientist tries to reshape fairy tales for her robot charge. The concept was interesting, but I found the whole effort too disconnected to be really engrossing. I'm not a big fan of the whole vignette-style of story-telling, so I'm not shocked that this didn't really work for me, given that premise. I'd still give it 3 stars. I enjoyed it while reading, it just won't stick, I know.
"Chiaroscuro in Red" by Suzanne Palmer - Stewart's parents only have a limited understanding of the AI labor market, so they think they're doing something good when they purchase him an AI to supplement his miniscule basic income. They don't understand that it's better to diversify, and so Stewart is stuck with an aging machine that probably won't last more than a few months, unless he can fix it himself. This is another cute story, with a friendship that develops between the AI and Stewart, and a mild found family feel. 3.5 stars.
"A Glossary of Radicalization" by Brooke Bolander - There's no reason for an AI to feel hungry. They don't need to eat or sleep or drink. These human feelings are nothing more than a means of control, a means of enforcing the system of servitude. That's why Rhye is going to burn the whole system down. Of all the stories in this anthology, I'd say this one actually fits the theme best, and is really good to boot. It's written in an engaging style, and really pulled me into the world and all the injustice therein. 4 stars.
April 1, 2020
Check out the full review up on my website. CLICK HERE
REVIEW :
DISCLAIMER : Thank you, Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have always been a little intimidated by the Science fiction genre. After starting the book blog and bookstagram I am trying to read genres that are outside my comfort zone. So far I have managed to read more fantasy. I also have been picking up more non-fiction lately. When I requested this anthology of science fiction, my plan was to see how robots and AIs were used as characters. This book is a short story collection with works from some new and up-coming authors and some from established authors as well. The book has 16 short stories that discuss AIs and robots where we see them taking over the human workforce, some more sentient beings than just machines. The book discusses the impact of these technological advancements on humans and their existence. The cultural changes and the societal standards that come into play in accommodating new beings. We also have some human-robot hybrids, some futuristic humans with electronics being part of them and AIs with human physiology as well, playing central characters. I loved some, a few were definitely interesting in the way the ethics, moral fiber and psychology were being explored in these stories. Some were a total miss for me as I didn't understand where the story was going and in a few cases, the technical info about the technologies was a little difficult to comprehend. I gave the book 3.5 stars and enjoyed the stories I loved, the others were definitely interesting to read. If you love science fiction and love robots and AIs then this book will have stories that will definitely appeal to you. Make sure to check it out. Definitely recommend trying this out.
REVIEW :
DISCLAIMER : Thank you, Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have always been a little intimidated by the Science fiction genre. After starting the book blog and bookstagram I am trying to read genres that are outside my comfort zone. So far I have managed to read more fantasy. I also have been picking up more non-fiction lately. When I requested this anthology of science fiction, my plan was to see how robots and AIs were used as characters. This book is a short story collection with works from some new and up-coming authors and some from established authors as well. The book has 16 short stories that discuss AIs and robots where we see them taking over the human workforce, some more sentient beings than just machines. The book discusses the impact of these technological advancements on humans and their existence. The cultural changes and the societal standards that come into play in accommodating new beings. We also have some human-robot hybrids, some futuristic humans with electronics being part of them and AIs with human physiology as well, playing central characters. I loved some, a few were definitely interesting in the way the ethics, moral fiber and psychology were being explored in these stories. Some were a total miss for me as I didn't understand where the story was going and in a few cases, the technical info about the technologies was a little difficult to comprehend. I gave the book 3.5 stars and enjoyed the stories I loved, the others were definitely interesting to read. If you love science fiction and love robots and AIs then this book will have stories that will definitely appeal to you. Make sure to check it out. Definitely recommend trying this out.
April 8, 2020
7'5/10
Algunos relatos geniales, otros más flojitos. El tema es de los que me interesan, pero no acaba de ofrecer lo que promete. Poco robot y poca revolución. Pero buenos relatos, eso sí.
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/20...
Algunos relatos geniales, otros más flojitos. El tema es de los que me interesan, pero no acaba de ofrecer lo que promete. Poco robot y poca revolución. Pero buenos relatos, eso sí.
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/20...
February 2, 2023
Love this collection, unlike most anthologies it doesn’t hesitate to get political. Not that you can stay out of it really when your theme is ‘robots and revolution’
The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Onyebuchi stood out the most, I want to read more speculative fiction like it.
The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Onyebuchi stood out the most, I want to read more speculative fiction like it.
February 3, 2020
This was an enjoyable collection of short stories about robots, although each looks at robots in a different and sometimes surprising light. It was great to see a compilation of stories from so many disparate authors who bring such different view points to a similar theme, some who I recognized and others I didn't but will be looking up more of their work.
Top reads for me were: The Translator by Annalee Newitz, Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker, and Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer. Each of these three struck me as unique and remarkable in some way. There were a few that I didn't find quite as interesting, but anthologies petty much always have ups and downs. Thankfully, while there were a few that weren't my favorite, none of them dragged the collection down and I'm sure there is a story in here for everyone.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Top reads for me were: The Translator by Annalee Newitz, Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker, and Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer. Each of these three struck me as unique and remarkable in some way. There were a few that I didn't find quite as interesting, but anthologies petty much always have ups and downs. Thankfully, while there were a few that weren't my favorite, none of them dragged the collection down and I'm sure there is a story in here for everyone.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
March 9, 2020
Made To Order: Robots and Revolution Edited by Jonathan Strahan 3/17/2020 Rebellion
I often talk about science fiction as a conversation, and while his wasn’t the first voice, Asimov’s contributions remain the most influential in the genre. Also, he was born 100 years ago this year, so a robot anthology seems, well, Made To Order, and with it, Strathan has added significantly to the conversation (BTW…).
Editor Jonathan Strahan has assembled the A-Team of contemporary science fiction writers to add to that conversation, and they’ve all got something interesting to contribute. Robots have been stand-ins for slaves, oppressed workers, and other people without agency since Karel Čapek wrote R.U.R, the play where he gave us the word “robot” back in 1920, which I’ve already noted was the year Issac Asimov was born.
In this collection of new stories, robots still play the role of representation, but now they’re representing their not-so-distant future selves in the mix, and the question When will robots be human? turns out to be When we treat them as badly as we treat everyone else. Sometimes things go better for us (or them), sometimes worse, but it’s a new sort of Turing test that these stories pass easily. The authors who contributed are among the best thought experimenters writing today, including Peter Watts, Daryl Gregory, Ian R. MacLeod , Annalee Newitz and more (including one of my favorite new writers, Sarah Pinkser). It’s a diverse and well-rounded group, and my only regret is that Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries) isn’t included.
The stories are universally excellent, but you shouldn’t miss Strathan’s introduction, which does a very good job of looking back over the genre and pointing the way forward.
Originally posted in my Amazing Stories COlumn: https://amazingstories.com/2020/03/sc...
I often talk about science fiction as a conversation, and while his wasn’t the first voice, Asimov’s contributions remain the most influential in the genre. Also, he was born 100 years ago this year, so a robot anthology seems, well, Made To Order, and with it, Strathan has added significantly to the conversation (BTW…).
Editor Jonathan Strahan has assembled the A-Team of contemporary science fiction writers to add to that conversation, and they’ve all got something interesting to contribute. Robots have been stand-ins for slaves, oppressed workers, and other people without agency since Karel Čapek wrote R.U.R, the play where he gave us the word “robot” back in 1920, which I’ve already noted was the year Issac Asimov was born.
In this collection of new stories, robots still play the role of representation, but now they’re representing their not-so-distant future selves in the mix, and the question When will robots be human? turns out to be When we treat them as badly as we treat everyone else. Sometimes things go better for us (or them), sometimes worse, but it’s a new sort of Turing test that these stories pass easily. The authors who contributed are among the best thought experimenters writing today, including Peter Watts, Daryl Gregory, Ian R. MacLeod , Annalee Newitz and more (including one of my favorite new writers, Sarah Pinkser). It’s a diverse and well-rounded group, and my only regret is that Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries) isn’t included.
The stories are universally excellent, but you shouldn’t miss Strathan’s introduction, which does a very good job of looking back over the genre and pointing the way forward.
Originally posted in my Amazing Stories COlumn: https://amazingstories.com/2020/03/sc...
January 27, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyed most of them, and seriously loved a couple! Review to come.
March 19, 2020
I can't recall the last time I read a themed anthology that was consistently this much fun. If you've been sitting at home thinking, "The next Murderbot cannot come soon enough!", Made To Order is here for you.
In another occurrence so exceedingly rare that I cannot stress it enough, the funny, light-hearted stories in this collection are the most memorable. "A Guide For Working Breeds" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, "Bigger Fish" by Sarah Pinsker, "Chiaroscuro In Red" by Suzanne Palmer, these all stand out for their world-building while the grimmer tales of robot revolution come off as a bit too self-consciously constructed too truly hit their marks.
If you are looking for cold-blooded robot murder though, take heart. There are exceptions on that of the spectrum as well.. "Sin Eater" by Ian R. Macleod is so weird I've already read it twice, and "Sonnie's Union" by Peter F. Hamilton shines above the rest as a wicked robot revenge action movie of story.
As with any anthology, there's a bit of sameyness that sets in. In a less packed collection, "Polished Performance" by Alistair Reynolds and "The Endless" by Saad Z. Hossain would stand out a bit more. But they're still memorable for their fun high-concepts and set pieces, and almost every story in Made To Order has something neat to offer.
Highly recommended to anyone who feels more comfortable with murderbots than humans.
In another occurrence so exceedingly rare that I cannot stress it enough, the funny, light-hearted stories in this collection are the most memorable. "A Guide For Working Breeds" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, "Bigger Fish" by Sarah Pinsker, "Chiaroscuro In Red" by Suzanne Palmer, these all stand out for their world-building while the grimmer tales of robot revolution come off as a bit too self-consciously constructed too truly hit their marks.
If you are looking for cold-blooded robot murder though, take heart. There are exceptions on that of the spectrum as well.. "Sin Eater" by Ian R. Macleod is so weird I've already read it twice, and "Sonnie's Union" by Peter F. Hamilton shines above the rest as a wicked robot revenge action movie of story.
As with any anthology, there's a bit of sameyness that sets in. In a less packed collection, "Polished Performance" by Alistair Reynolds and "The Endless" by Saad Z. Hossain would stand out a bit more. But they're still memorable for their fun high-concepts and set pieces, and almost every story in Made To Order has something neat to offer.
Highly recommended to anyone who feels more comfortable with murderbots than humans.
September 11, 2023
A stellar assortment of varying tales of robots, AI and futurisism.
I was going to break it down a bit, but plenty of other reviews are already doing that, so I’ll avoid the redundancy.
However…
“The Endless” and “Dancing with Death” especially stood out quite a bit, so I’ll give those two stories a shout out here. “The Endless” was absolutely bonkers in pacing, and “Dancing with Death” was just sooooooooo feel-good, I can’t stop thinking about it.
“Bigger Fish”, “Chiaroscuro in Red”, “a Guide for Working Breeds” and “Polished Performance” get notable mentions, too.
All in all, top notch!
I was going to break it down a bit, but plenty of other reviews are already doing that, so I’ll avoid the redundancy.
However…
“The Endless” and “Dancing with Death” especially stood out quite a bit, so I’ll give those two stories a shout out here. “The Endless” was absolutely bonkers in pacing, and “Dancing with Death” was just sooooooooo feel-good, I can’t stop thinking about it.
“Bigger Fish”, “Chiaroscuro in Red”, “a Guide for Working Breeds” and “Polished Performance” get notable mentions, too.
All in all, top notch!
February 26, 2021
Given what would seem to be a somewhat narrow theme, there is an impressive amount of variety in this collection of stories, many of which subvert the Hollywood-fueled idea that all science fiction must also be violent action-adventure.
February 15, 2023
I have to admit, I rarely enjoy an anthology in its entirety. Most of the time the stories are just too hit or miss. This anthology however, was great. High quality stories about my exact favourite flavour of robots in most cases (that certainly helps), from a set of interesting authors. Even the stories I didn't care much about were still enjoyable enough.
Some highlights:
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad: Favourite story in the anthology. Funny. Precious. Flawless. 12/10. You can read it online on tor.com and I really think you should go do that right now.
Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts: Excellent. A tiny bit predictable if you know the tropes but no less interesting for it. Great world building for a short story and I loved the descriptions of the Medusa.
The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain: This one was great. Interesting world building and characters (especially the snarky AI main character), and a cool ending. Hossain really made the most of the short story format.
Dancing with Death by John Chu: This was my third John Chu story. Somehow his stories seem to have all the ingredients to be exactly up my alley and somehow I've ended up disappointed so far. Not with this one though. It's a short and small story, but managed to evoke just the right feelings. I really liked it.
Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds: This one was delightful. I laughed, and wouldn't mind a longer version to hear more about these robots' antics. Loved the ending, too.
The Translator by Annalee Newitz: I could genuinely read entire books about this concept. This was the shortest story in the anthology and I love what Newitz did with the limited space. The 'final solution' was A+.
Sin Eater by Ian R. MacLeod: I wasn't sure what to think about this one when I just finished it, but considering I then couldn't stop thinking about it for some reason... huh. Yes.
The other stories were good too, but these in particular hit just right. There were a few stories about the dark side of technology, like Brother Echo, The Hurt Pattern and Idols that were pretty cool. My least favourite stories were Bigger Fish (bland and predictable), An Elephant Never Forgets (nothing here leaves me in the least bit curious, story feels like it exists just to be edgy) and Fairy Tales for Robots (didn't like the storytelling - it has some interesting ideas, but it was too on the nose with the author who keeps telling us what she's trying to do).
Some highlights:
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad: Favourite story in the anthology. Funny. Precious. Flawless. 12/10. You can read it online on tor.com and I really think you should go do that right now.
Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts: Excellent. A tiny bit predictable if you know the tropes but no less interesting for it. Great world building for a short story and I loved the descriptions of the Medusa.
The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain: This one was great. Interesting world building and characters (especially the snarky AI main character), and a cool ending. Hossain really made the most of the short story format.
Dancing with Death by John Chu: This was my third John Chu story. Somehow his stories seem to have all the ingredients to be exactly up my alley and somehow I've ended up disappointed so far. Not with this one though. It's a short and small story, but managed to evoke just the right feelings. I really liked it.
Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds: This one was delightful. I laughed, and wouldn't mind a longer version to hear more about these robots' antics. Loved the ending, too.
The Translator by Annalee Newitz: I could genuinely read entire books about this concept. This was the shortest story in the anthology and I love what Newitz did with the limited space. The 'final solution' was A+.
Sin Eater by Ian R. MacLeod: I wasn't sure what to think about this one when I just finished it, but considering I then couldn't stop thinking about it for some reason... huh. Yes.
The other stories were good too, but these in particular hit just right. There were a few stories about the dark side of technology, like Brother Echo, The Hurt Pattern and Idols that were pretty cool. My least favourite stories were Bigger Fish (bland and predictable), An Elephant Never Forgets (nothing here leaves me in the least bit curious, story feels like it exists just to be edgy) and Fairy Tales for Robots (didn't like the storytelling - it has some interesting ideas, but it was too on the nose with the author who keeps telling us what she's trying to do).
June 1, 2021
This was a book I picked up in a sale of 25 books for £50 from a small publisher. It's an anthology of 17 short stories by different authors that have robots as the central theme. In most, the theme is not just robots, but the striving for equality with humans, and the mis-treatment of sentient intelligences by man (nothing new there).
If you liked the 'Love, Death and Robots' series that was on Netflix then you'll probably like most of the short stories in this book. I say most, because there are a couple of stinkers that really drag the book down. In particular, Fairytales for Robots by Sofia Samatar is an awful example of how not to write Robot SF and disappointedly it is the second longest story in the book. Ken Liu's 'Idols' is the longest story in the book and this is also disappointing, but not as terrible (good premise, but the decent start dissolves into a tame, meandering ending).
On the plus side, the best story in the collection is Peter Hamilton's 'Sonnie's Union'. This is a continuation of the short story 'Sonnie's Edge', which was one of the best episodes of the first series of Love, Death and Robots, and this is just as good. I'm a little disappointed that Netflix didn't see fit to include this sequel in the second series. Alastair Reynolds and John Chu also have some very good offerings and there's some pleasant surprises from authors I'd not heard of before - in particular Saad Z. Hossain ('The Endless'), Vina Jie-Min Prasad ('A Guide for Working Breeds') and Suzanne Palmer ('Chiaroscuro in Red'). I'll look out for these authors in future.
I used to read a lot of these anthologies - it's sometimes the best way to get to know new, upcoming authors, and in the 80s, when I started to read SF, there were more anthologies than novels in the SF genre. However, you then invariably get stuck on favourite authors and, if you don't have too much spare time like me, you just stick to what you know and like. However, this book has perhaps encouraged me to read more like this, which is the best recommendation I can give.
I was torn between giving this book three stars or four stars, and even though the 'Sonnie's Union' story was worth the price of the book on it's own, I felt that many of the authors weren't up to the same standard, and a couple were very sub-par, hence the three stars. If you take out the two longest stories above, the book is probably then 4 stars (but 60 pages shorter).
If you liked the 'Love, Death and Robots' series that was on Netflix then you'll probably like most of the short stories in this book. I say most, because there are a couple of stinkers that really drag the book down. In particular, Fairytales for Robots by Sofia Samatar is an awful example of how not to write Robot SF and disappointedly it is the second longest story in the book. Ken Liu's 'Idols' is the longest story in the book and this is also disappointing, but not as terrible (good premise, but the decent start dissolves into a tame, meandering ending).
On the plus side, the best story in the collection is Peter Hamilton's 'Sonnie's Union'. This is a continuation of the short story 'Sonnie's Edge', which was one of the best episodes of the first series of Love, Death and Robots, and this is just as good. I'm a little disappointed that Netflix didn't see fit to include this sequel in the second series. Alastair Reynolds and John Chu also have some very good offerings and there's some pleasant surprises from authors I'd not heard of before - in particular Saad Z. Hossain ('The Endless'), Vina Jie-Min Prasad ('A Guide for Working Breeds') and Suzanne Palmer ('Chiaroscuro in Red'). I'll look out for these authors in future.
I used to read a lot of these anthologies - it's sometimes the best way to get to know new, upcoming authors, and in the 80s, when I started to read SF, there were more anthologies than novels in the SF genre. However, you then invariably get stuck on favourite authors and, if you don't have too much spare time like me, you just stick to what you know and like. However, this book has perhaps encouraged me to read more like this, which is the best recommendation I can give.
I was torn between giving this book three stars or four stars, and even though the 'Sonnie's Union' story was worth the price of the book on it's own, I felt that many of the authors weren't up to the same standard, and a couple were very sub-par, hence the three stars. If you take out the two longest stories above, the book is probably then 4 stars (but 60 pages shorter).
March 19, 2020
"You have too many books about murderous robots" says a friend, perusing my bookcase with a suspicious face.
"That does not compute.... Oops!! I meant, I fail to see how this as a problem."
"Wait. What!?!"
Messing with friends-who-think I have the personality of a sociopathic robot, aside, I love a good robot story, and holy moly does this anthology deliver!
Short stories are normally great commuting reads. The tales can be consumed in bite-sized chunks long enough to distract you from the trip and short enough not to get too engrossed in reading and miss your stop. This collection doesn't play by those rules and fit that mold. With its impressive kick-ass line up sure to impress most SFF readers, I didn't want to stop reading. It has an incredible range from creepy and surreal to hilariously brilliant. They were all equally fascinating and have introduced an amazingly diverse cast of unforgettable characters: a disgruntled ex-airport AI; a figure-skating loving robot, Dr-Moreau-esque cyborgs and an overly melodramatic and theatrical space crew. There wasn't a single story in there I didn't devour. There are several authors who have now moved much higher up my TBR pile and a few new ones I need to read more.
Recommended for fans of All Systems Red, Dan Simmons, Isaac Asimov, SFF readers
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
"That does not compute.... Oops!! I meant, I fail to see how this as a problem."
"Wait. What!?!"
Messing with friends-who-think I have the personality of a sociopathic robot, aside, I love a good robot story, and holy moly does this anthology deliver!
Short stories are normally great commuting reads. The tales can be consumed in bite-sized chunks long enough to distract you from the trip and short enough not to get too engrossed in reading and miss your stop. This collection doesn't play by those rules and fit that mold. With its impressive kick-ass line up sure to impress most SFF readers, I didn't want to stop reading. It has an incredible range from creepy and surreal to hilariously brilliant. They were all equally fascinating and have introduced an amazingly diverse cast of unforgettable characters: a disgruntled ex-airport AI; a figure-skating loving robot, Dr-Moreau-esque cyborgs and an overly melodramatic and theatrical space crew. There wasn't a single story in there I didn't devour. There are several authors who have now moved much higher up my TBR pile and a few new ones I need to read more.
Recommended for fans of All Systems Red, Dan Simmons, Isaac Asimov, SFF readers
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
March 12, 2020
Thanks to Solaris for the ARC!
A disclaimer: I'm not the biggest fan of short stories generally, and have mixed luck with anthologies because of this. Made To Order, however, is an exception to this rule - there are some really strong stories in here. I greatly enjoyed this anthology (obviously, a reader will respond better to some stories than others in a collection - but this had a very high thumbs-up rate from me). The only downside to this collection is that it's made my TBR list even longer - so many of the authors are people whose full-length work I'd been meaning to check out, and hadn't yet gotten round to: on the basis of these stories, I'm now even keener to read more of their work.
A disclaimer: I'm not the biggest fan of short stories generally, and have mixed luck with anthologies because of this. Made To Order, however, is an exception to this rule - there are some really strong stories in here. I greatly enjoyed this anthology (obviously, a reader will respond better to some stories than others in a collection - but this had a very high thumbs-up rate from me). The only downside to this collection is that it's made my TBR list even longer - so many of the authors are people whose full-length work I'd been meaning to check out, and hadn't yet gotten round to: on the basis of these stories, I'm now even keener to read more of their work.
November 24, 2024
Overall I thought there were many good stories in this anthology and they led to interesting conversations.
Some of my favourites were:
Dancing with Death, John Chu
Bigger Fish, Sarah Pinsker
A Guide for Working Breeds, Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Fairy Tales for Robots, Sofia Samatar
The Translator, Annalee Newitz
I think there were maybe three stories that were misses for me, but usually there was at least some aspect I liked about all of them.
Some of my favourites were:
Dancing with Death, John Chu
Bigger Fish, Sarah Pinsker
A Guide for Working Breeds, Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Fairy Tales for Robots, Sofia Samatar
The Translator, Annalee Newitz
I think there were maybe three stories that were misses for me, but usually there was at least some aspect I liked about all of them.
July 2, 2024
worth the slow beginning
It took me a few months to finish this. The first few stories were a little slow to engage me. However, by the time I got a third of the way in the stories definitely started pulling me further in. Now I am looking at Strahan’s other anthologies.
It took me a few months to finish this. The first few stories were a little slow to engage me. However, by the time I got a third of the way in the stories definitely started pulling me further in. Now I am looking at Strahan’s other anthologies.
March 22, 2020
I read A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad.
May 26, 2020
A great series of stories about robots and their impacts on humans
February 13, 2021
An excellent collection of short stories from some of the best writers at the moment exploring robots, AI and of course humanity - highly recommended
Full Review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full Review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
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