Experience the world and characters of the hit video game franchise!
When alien forces invade with an army of Machines, the remnants of humanity must depend on Androids of their own design—the placid 2B and the excitable 9S—to survive.
From Pod 153, to fans of NieR Automata [ref & a Short Story Long]
What is a novel?
It is hypothesized that this book is “interesting.”
“Interest” is an internal incentive that allows humans to practice tolerance.
To purchase both existing novel forms.
From Pod 153 to 042: Affirmative. We have also concluded executing additional advertisement duties.
------
The book features 8 novellas: The Flame of Prometheus, YoRHa—VER. 1.05, Memory Cage, Orbital Bunker Observation Diary, Small Flowers, A Much Too Silent Sea, Memory Thorn, and Recollections of Emil.
To get the most out of this if you will need to have knowledge of both of the games in the Nier series. As a fan of both the original Nier game (I lovingly refer to it as a beautiful disaster since the story and characters are amazing but it's some hardcore early PS3 clunky gameplay) and Nier:Automata I was really satisfied with this book. The first and last stories especially have a lot more impact if you played the first game.
I really liked that this was a collection of short stories since it gives you a lot of different perspectives on the universe of Nier that you didn't get in the games.
I loved that Yoko Taro wrote 2 of the stories in this. The first story literally made me sad on the first page when I realized who the story was about.
I will say I did notice a few typos/translation errors. For instance in one of the short stories they translated "glory to mankind" into "glory to humans" which was kind of funny.
I'm also super happy that Emil finally got mentioned in this one. His story made me tear up at the end.
The art in this book is also great as well.
Overall if you're a fan of the series, this is a great short story collection. You get stories from main characters, side characters, as well as characters you never meet in the games.
The short stories were fun, but nothing amazing. Unfortunately in a lot of them, especially the second one, typos, grammatical issues, and other translation problems REALLY made reading a chore. But the two stories by Yoko Taro stand out overall in my opinion.
The Flame of Prometheus - 4/5 YoRHa ver. 1.05 - 1/5 Memory Cage - 4/5 Orbital Bunker Observation Diary - 3/5 Small Flowers - 5/5 A Much Too Silent Sea - 4/5 Memory Thorn - 4/5 Recollections of Emil - 3/5*
*Has Easter eggs that could be more interesting to specific readers.
Starting this review 60 pages into the book. The editing is SO BAD. Worse than the first one. This is why it's taken me so long to get to it after having finished the first. Firstly, the typos. The beginning mission takes place on Earh (which is like Earth, but tea is banned or something, haha funny pun). Shion, or Shine, or Shoin is a character introduced fairly early on who apparently can't decide what her name is. Punctuation? Haven't heard of her. And the formatting is absolutely TERRIBLE. Characters will be speaking, and at the end of their sentence, it's a different character that's made the statement. Paragraphs begin and end however they feel like. No rhyme or reason. Not like there are standard rules to sentence and paragraph breaks.
I realize the book is translated from Japanese, but COME ON. This was put out by VIZ! One of the top translation/westernizing companies! Could they really not hire an editor or proofreader to fix these blatant errors?
--After finishing:
Going into this book, I didn't realize that it was a collection of short stories. I should have been tipped off since it opens with The Flame of Prometheus which has been around since (I believe) 2011 or so. I thought they might have repurposed it as a prologue or something.
Knowing that it's a collection of short stories, several of them having been translated by fans prior to this book's release, I urge you to search up the fan translations rather than attempting to get through this poorly translated and edited garbage. The stories themselves aren't bad; some are very interesting (A Much too Silent Sea was my favorite), but they are NOT worth reading in this state.
I saw that some of the stories have better translations in the Nier Automata guide books. Do yourselves a favor and go there or to the fan websites.
This book was an impulse buy at B&N. I saw it on the table and was captured by the unique description and liked the fact that it was a short story collection. I bought it having no idea whatsoever that it was based off a video game. I've never heard of or played the game, but I really enjoyed this book of short stories!
The stories in this book are so well crafted. They're emotional, intriguing, full of twists and turns, and always have "punchy" endings that leave you feeling amazed. I enjoyed the stories in this book so much that I wish the book was longer! Definitely worth a read, even if you have no knowledge of the video game or the universe in it. The stories in the book told me everything I needed to know about the world to enjoy the stories, just like good stories should!
While typos still riddled this book throughout, occasionally bringing me out of the story to attempt to decipher what had actually happened- see 9S standing to stab... 9S?- I enjoyed reading this far more than Long Story Short. The stories being new to me, I think, really helped with the enjoyment of the story. Overall, a good read. I specifically enjoyed Memory Cage, Memory Thorn, and YoRHa- Ver. 1.05.
A collection of short stories from the NieR: Automata world that take place prior to the game's story, I thoroughly enjoyed the read. The translation is a bit clunky here and there, but otherwise, oof. I love the story, concepts, questions, and ideas behind NieR: Automata, and I'm not sure this could have disappointed me at all regardless. So, Bias. Yes. But good nonetheless.
Some of the stories should be made into DLCs for the game. Most of them are available to read free on the game's wiki. I bought this to read the novelization of the YoRHa stage play which is excellent as are rest of the stories.
I absolutely loved this compilation of short stories in the NieR world! I just recently finished all endings of NieR Replicant, so reading this made me feel welcome back into this world that I love so much. Obviously, this book focuses almost exclusively on 2B and 9S, the main characters of NieR Automata — but the first and the last stories will have a lot more impact if you’ve played the first game.
You should read this book if you have played both games, or at least NieR Automata in its entirety. You will get to see characters that you love, that you might have cried over, that you have played or that you haven’t played, you get to know some additional details to their stories or get a different perspective on the events depicted.
I loved to read about Emil! 🥹 I also enjoyed A2's story with the other androids that were part of her team before she chose to go rogue, and all the stories with A2 and 9S involved. Even if I knew how it would end, part of me was still hoping it wouldn't end this way *heartbroken*. Will also mention that I really enjoyed the really short story about a machine and his flower.
Short Story Long enriches the Nier universe by means of eight short stories protagonized by no less than 2B, 9S, A2, Emil and some new characters that will get to our hearts and souls just as the characters from Nier and Nier Automata have done. Each of the stories have their own singularity and identity while resembling that characteristic hope(lessness) of the games and the universe of the genius Taro Yoko. I fell in love with all and each of the 8 tales, if you ask me for my favorite one, though, I'd probably have to say "A much too silent sea" and "Memory Thorn". Both of them are full of sadness yet hope in the hopelessness. "How's that?" you'd ask... And well, I can't really describe it without spoiling these two tales, so I really encourage you to read them... But it's like walking barefoot through a precarious, harsh road but knowing that in the end there's an oasis, with the most nourishable, recomforting, and delicious water ever to be tasted, and that's why you keep doing that hard, exhausting, and almost unjustifiable trip. Is that a lame metaphor?... Yes, probably it is, but it's what I can think at the moment to give you an idea of what I mean with "hope in the hopelessness". Anyway, if you played Nier:Automata to the very end of the game you'll understand what I'm saying. That said, I completely recommend this book as a whole, and even if the writing style is not the most complete and enjoyable, it does convey what it needs to and definitely impregnates you with the emotions Eishima Jun and Taro Yoko want you to feel.
Translations matters aside, now this I really liked. This is the content I was looking for, things that were only hinted at in the main story, but also new stories and characters. Of course, my favorites were Memory Cage & Memory Thorn, which develop further the complexity of 9S' character, and of course, 2B's. The parallel between those two short stories was great, and I also liked the one between Small Flowers and Recollections of Emil. A Much Too Silent Sea was amazing too. You can't help but root for this character, even though you know more than her... and that last line, jeez. I had a lot of "Oh, shit" moments, which is great and not easy to do when the reader is already acquainted with the big Hows and Whys.
One or two stories that weren't as interesting, but there are some great ones. yorha 1.5 is included, so you can read about a2's and anemones backstory if you want it. There is one with Emil that I really like. The two stories I loved most and I just absolutely adored were memory thorn and memory cage, they're so good! Definitely got a cry out of me, so heartfelt and so tragic and so good! They're about 9s and 2b and so worth it. I also really like the one about the h model, it was good as well. Overall some really great ones and a couple ones that aren't as good, just generally not as interesting but not really bad per se. I'd say it's worth it
This is a good book to read if you want to get more out of the NieR universe. It has short stories that have to do with both NieR and NieR Automata which is awesome. Some are definitely better than others but that's okay. Also there are some typos/weird grammar but they're pretty few and far between so yeah. I'm still giving it five stars though just because I'm biased and I have NieR nostalgia goggles welded to my head lmao.
Surprisingly I thought A2's story dragged a little and didn't quite capture me but the rest were very interesting and about as depressing as one would expect after having played the soul-destroying masterpiece that is NieR: Automata.
Minor mistranslations can be a bit irksome. "Glory to humans" just doesn't sound right if you've played the game in English.
god Yoko Taro knows how to make one suffer. I liked all the short stories about the androids... they gave you another look in how f*cked up command and the whole system was... I felt very sad for 2B9S, A2 and 10H (her pod was a pain in the butt) and having Emil retelling events you could also play in the last story... omg :( (Ending Y could be considered canon I guess)
It's fantastic IF you have knowledge (ideally, have played) the two games in the Nier series of video games. The world building is great and really fleshes out the overall story. I took off a star because honestly, as a stand-alone story with no background knowledge of the Nier world, it will be confusing and simply not mean as much. But if you're a Nier fan it's a must-read!
So far I've finished reading long story short, the Nier Replicant Files Vol. 1 and Yorha Boys and none of them were particulary good so I expected this one to be the same and while it does suffer from many of the same problems, I was pleasantly surprised by it and enjoyed it a lot!
Manche Kurzgeschichten sind echt gut, andere einfach nur langweilig. A2s Geschichte ist natürlich der Höhepunkt aber auch die anderen Geschichten bieten für Fans sicherlich gute Momente. Aber manchmal hab ich mich einfach nur gefragt, was das alles soll. Müsst ihr wissen.
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. I am a fan of the Yoko Taro works. NieR is a fantastic universe and Yokos vision guided me into a world that is fascinatic, philosophical, deep, and whimsical all at the same time.
This is a collection of short stories by Jun Eishima and Yoko Taro. Yokos stories have some more warmth to them, I feel. Whereas, the quality of the Jun Eishima stories varies a lot. Reviews say that this book apparently is riddled with mistakes and typos. Maybe I am an idiot, or I have a revised version. This did not bother me or even distract me.
I can't recommend this book to anyone not familiar with NieR: Automata. It's some fodder for fans of the franchise to dive into some additional stories. Nothing more and nothing less. What stands out and what I remember are the stories around Emil (because I love that character) and the stories that invoke thinking about men, machine and what that means to them and how they compare and strive to be more than what they are. The battle stories with the combat androids did not really catch me. NieR YoRHs boys did a much better job at that.
I had fun and was rarely bored. Only for fans that want to read more stories set in the universe.
Heute möchte ich euch den zweiten Band von NieR Automata: kurze Geschichte vorstellen. Dieser enthält mehrere Kurzgeschichten aus dem NieR-Universum, die zuvor meist nur auf Japanisch oder in Artbooks wie dem Word Guide verfügbar waren.
Die erste Geschichte erzählt die Vorgeschichte von A2 und ihrem Trupp. Sie entdecken das Geheimnis rund um die YoRHa-Einheit. Diese Story wurde zwar im Anime aufgegriffen, bekommt hier aber deutlich mehr Tiefe und Raum zur Entfaltung.
Natürlich gibt es auch ein Kapitel über 2B, 9S und ihr tragisches Schicksal - spannend, emotional und fesselnd wie immer.
Eine weitere Geschichte dreht sich um H10, die in einer Unterwasserstation lebt und versucht, die Wahrheit hinter ihrer Mission zu verstehen. Eine beklemmende, aber eindrucksvolle Erzählung!
Und am Ende hat mich vor allem die Geschichte über Emil, meinen absoluten Lieblingscharakter aus NieR, zutiefst berührt. Seine tragische Lebensgeschichte findet in NieR: Automata ihren Abschluss - und ja, ich hatte Tränen in den Augen.
Wie kann ein Charakter nur so schmerzhaft schön geschrieben sein? Ich liebe einfach die ganze Truppe aus NieR Replicant.
A bit sloppy, mostly from the perspective of copyediting and accuracy (ex. "glory to mankind" was replaced with "glory to man" in this book). "Memory Cage" and "Memory Thorn" could easily have been one story, just told differently. I enjoyed "A Much Too Silent Sea" for what it added to the background info of Nier: Automata but was a bit let down by the ending, which just repeats what those familiar with the game already know about the human server on the moon. A lot of these felt like rehashes and only slight expansions of things that were already known from the game, so this book is probably better for those who haven't/aren't planning to play the game, which means stories like the last one about Emil will summarize that quest/narrative arc for them. The only one that I feel like was near-perfect was "Small Flowers," which gave a glimpse into a different side of machines that is somewhere between good and evil, simply interested in learning from the world.
Most of the stories were really great and expanded the Automata universe very lovingly. Many typos should have been caught by an editor.
My one hesitation is on the longest story YoRHa VER 1.05, which seemed like they tried to cram too much in a short period. They also introduced too many characters and tried to get you to sympathize with them and have each one have a distinct personality, which is just impossible to accomplish in such few pages. It would have been more effective with fewer characters. It's also the one hardest to read, perhaps due to translation issues?
My favorite is definitely A Much Too Silent Sea because it's the best written and features a different perspective not seen in the game!
Hard for me to say how much of my enjoyment is because of my love of the source Nier: Automata. But perhaps that is a accolade as well; this book faithfully evokes the mood of the game's writing.
A series of short stories that flesh out the world of Nier: Automaton. The four most significant ones, perhaps, are the two that extend 2B and 9S' relationship, the one that fills in Emil's history, and the one that fills in A2's backstory.
None of them reveal close to the whole picture, of course; but what they do is extend the emotions and feelings these characters and situations evoke in slightly more revealing circumstances.
The author does a really good job of bringing new stories to the table about the post human world of NieR and they aren’t interrupted once by an exposition dump for anyone unfamiliar to the world.
To me, this is definitely a book written for the fans who want more beyond the game itself and it isn’t poorly written either. That said, not every science fiction book gives you any information about the world it is set in either and figuring out the world as you go is all part of the fun.
I guess I’m trying to say its fun read and I want to make it annual reading material until the book falls apart.
With three simple words my entire still beating heart was ripped out of my chest like I was in Indy Jones and the temple of doom:
“Welcome back, Emil.”
I AM A WOMAN OF TEARS.
Yoko Taro’s stories in this collection were 5 ⭐️’s completely, the others took a moment to grow on me especially because the first one, Memory Cage, left an icky taste in my mouth at first, but I appreciated it more and what it was doing in connection with Memory Thorn. All were so original and compelling and in a universe I love, even if I didn’t always jell with the writing style. I had a great time