As far as short story collections go, this is a strong one. Though, as usual, the ones that were a bit of a miss end up pulling down my overall impression. I’m not sure there’s a short story collection that has managed to get a full five stars from me, ever.

In the end, around three of them have lasting impressions for me and the rest vaguely wrung a bell. Short fiction just doesn’t resonate with me as strongly.

Now this is a great coda. I wasn’t a fan of the ending of the ninth book, it didn’t really add anything, for me. This, though, is elegant and mollified one of my gripes with the series: What happened to Naomi’s son, though?

What begins as something I feared would be just some distant struggle on a biome, becomes a nuanced snapshot of trauma and a question that is at the heart of the series, which sometimes gets lost amongst the action. Where are we going, as a species. Our survival hardcoded helps sometimes, but also hinders us. What happens here can be viewed in two different ways. Is the outcome predetermined by trauma, and it was the ‘wrong’ thing to do? Or, was it an action that might actually give the settlement a better shot, and the others just do not have the viewpoint to know that.

In a way, it makes me even more annoyed at the epilogue from the main book, because this is simply a much, much better ending.

This is a solid collection that really enhances the main series. Sometimes serving as a means of fostering anticipation for a new character or a plot hook. They’re worth reading in the publication order, between the books. I’m glad they’re collected physically, rather than just the few I had on my kindle.

I’m glad to know this continues on still, because every time we get to be with previous characters, it just always turns out to be a fun and good time. This does have a different “voice”, signalled by the divergence in cover art, I suppose (I had wondered what was up with that).

It’s got all Gladstone’s hallmarks, though: rich diction, cool setting ideas, and a good plot set at a good pace. If this series proves anything it’s that he is a reliable and consistent voice that also manages to be unique; something all too rare in this genre, ironically.

Bourne’s trauma causing a sort of dual personality is still interesting in the sequel, but the premise is less interesting in this one. Marie is kidnapped by the government in order to force a psychological break and get Bourne back, bringing him back into the fold to take on an assassin who is claiming to be Bourne.

The problem is that it’s also a tour of China that, while clearly well researched, still feels like it’s reductive and a monoculture experience. Which is actually ironic considering there are times when people talk about little people understand about China being composed of many different cultures. Later on, Bourne keeps claiming he knows “the oriental mind” (like 12 times) and can therefor predict the actions and thoughts of any given person he needs to handle. It’s inconsistent and baffling.

Where the book shines though, is the trade craft and it’s implementation. There’s some good action and really inventive obstacles that are circumvented in really interesting ways. Overall liked it, but not as much as the first where the psychology and more complex questions were interwoven into the premise.

This collection of essays is pretty invaluable for people who are really interested in digging into the genre.

Throughout it, there are numerous perspectives ranging from academia publications that are really quite dense, but worth reading. To more conversational pieces that I preferred overall.

All of them, I thought, were excellent. They first define the genre and its tropes, motifs, and themes. Then move forward until reaching post-cyberpunk works. I added a few more books to my to read list and came away with an increased knowledge of the genre.

I found all of the essays to be valuable, but particularly enjoyed the one on the Altered Carbon series, perhaps one of my most favourite post-cyberpunk stories. I've read other essays on feminism in cyberpunk as well, but the one included, which also yielded the most books to my Amazon cart.

Totally worth getting, even with the expensive price tag of academia published gate-keeping works.

Having a fighter who’s a self proclaimed rapist coupled with him being a violent criminal because he was shot in the head is a bad look. Why would the Karate Team accept him, just because he fought well? He’s a RAPIST. Constant doing perverted things.

It would have been alright volume if not for that crap.

I think it's pretty good, as I wrote it. =)