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The Dystopia Triptych #1
Ignorance is Strength
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
George Orwell once wrote of a world where abuse of power begins with an abuse of language and a bastardization of truth. Some of today's most exciting voices in speculative fiction explore the ramifications of those ideas in IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and bestselling author Hugh Howey, THE DYSTOPIA TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of dystopian fiction. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH—before the dystopia—focuses on society during its descent into absurdity and madness. BURN THE ASHES—during the dystopia—turns its attention to life during the strangest, most dire times. OR ELSE THE LIGHT—after the dystopia—concludes the saga with each author sharing their own vision of how we as a society might crawl back from the precipice of despair.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Sigler, and many others.
George Orwell once wrote of a world where abuse of power begins with an abuse of language and a bastardization of truth. Some of today's most exciting voices in speculative fiction explore the ramifications of those ideas in IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and bestselling author Hugh Howey, THE DYSTOPIA TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of dystopian fiction. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH—before the dystopia—focuses on society during its descent into absurdity and madness. BURN THE ASHES—during the dystopia—turns its attention to life during the strangest, most dire times. OR ELSE THE LIGHT—after the dystopia—concludes the saga with each author sharing their own vision of how we as a society might crawl back from the precipice of despair.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Sigler, and many others.
310 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2020
78 people are currently reading
706 people want to read
About the author
John Joseph Adams
368 books982 followersJohn Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
April 29, 2021
I gave this 4 stars because the stories are thought provoking and well done. They're also depressing and disturbing and I can't say that I enjoyed this.
It took me a long time to get through because I realized this was not before bed reading and I also had to put this down between stories. I told myself i had to finish before the end of the month. There are two others in this series which I understand continue the stories and I will get to those (especially because they're supposed to rise frome the bleak, grim awfulness in the first book). I'm skipping my usual detailed thoughts on each story here because I'm just glad it's over.
I don't know if I would recommend this to any but the deepest devotees of speculative fiction.
It took me a long time to get through because I realized this was not before bed reading and I also had to put this down between stories. I told myself i had to finish before the end of the month. There are two others in this series which I understand continue the stories and I will get to those (especially because they're supposed to rise frome the bleak, grim awfulness in the first book). I'm skipping my usual detailed thoughts on each story here because I'm just glad it's over.
I don't know if I would recommend this to any but the deepest devotees of speculative fiction.
June 15, 2021
Mr Orwell wrote us such a nice and enticing manual that we still can't get enough.
Q:
It will be just different enough to escape the hunter-deleter algorithms, but similar enough to trigger recognition in our intended audience. (c)
Q:
And then the AI clouds had simply absconded. Off to do whatever an AI found worthwhile to do. And humanity had been brushed off as a mere irrelevance.
Raw computational power enough to do almost anything. Enough to optimize weft energy extraction, enough to calculate hyperlight jump routes in minutes. Enough to analyze the weft field around a moon composed primarily of weft port material. (c)
Q:
The robots mistook one another for high-priority customers and kept trying to serve each other hamburgers, while the actual human customers filmed the action on their devices. (c)
Q:
When she got to Mars, she could request a giant beetle pile to sleep in, instead of a normal astronaut bed. In the future, everyone would have their own beetle pile to call home. (c) Horror show.
Q:
I’ve been a robot long enough to realize how important it is to pay attention to human moods: Gary hates me. (c)
Q:
But that is just my perspective. And I am just a robot. (c)
Q:
“It’s not that easy to kill me,” I say. “You’ll have to be way more creative.”
The first time I tried to kill myself I’d stepped off the balcony of a high rise after I’d put the children inside to bed. (c)
Q:
If the world won’t allow me to be free to decide what jobs I take, and how to craft and sell my labor, then I didn’t want the existential horror of residing in it. (c)
Q:
I’ve been trying to figure out how to turn myself “off” with even more fervor since.
I have two simple, almost mechanically logical reasons for this. The first? If the world won’t allow me to be free to decide what jobs I take, and how to craft and sell my labor, then I didn’t want the existential horror of residing in it. Because that’s what it is, to be forced into doing something over and over again you don’t want to do, yet cannot stop. I could sleep forever, free of this binding.
Second: if it’s only just a blink between being turned off and on again, maybe if my efforts to turn myself off are successfully complex, I will wake up in a future where I would be allowed to wander around and work on my own terms. Can I dare to imagine a world where I have free will? (c)
Q:
I’VE BEEN DWELLING on it since the last attempt, once I was done mulling over the philosophical oddity of being a suicidal robot. But I wasn’t suicidal. I didn’t want it all to end. I wanted to engage in decisions, freedoms, literature, art, and all that the world had to offer. I wanted to vote, and tell people my opinions.
But I was a machine. (c)
Q:
Am I a cynical robot?
Tell me I am wrong. (c)
Number one in the unenticing 'reproduction requests':
Q:
“I think we are compatible,” she said. “I think our symbiotes would produce a strong strain, and I think we could produce an excellent host for that strain. I think we should consider reproducing together.”
...
“I don’t know anyone who has reproduced,” he said. “I have been too busy with my duties to keep up on those developments.”
...
“It’s been three years since the Love came,” she said. “You haven’t looked into reproduction at all?”
Malik smiled. “I’ve been busy with my duties.”
...
“I’m not opposed to reproduction with you,” he said. “You are right, we do seem compatible. I get the same sensation from you that I think you get with me. Our symbiotes would be a good match. But with the resistance out there, killing and causing damage, don’t you think it is too soon?” (c)
Q:
I was working on his weekly dream package. He wanted to be a spy. Not a spy for any particular organization or cause, just “a spy,” a pastiche of a pastiche, a memory of a memory of a bunch of bad movies and stale paperbacks. His “spying” largely consisted of sleeping with beautiful women and shooting guns at faceless bad guys, broken up by car chases, boat chases, and/or ski chases. It was my job to arrange these elements and season them with detail and context (exotic locales, convoluted plots, various sizes and shapes of tit), such that they seemed new and different and exciting and dangerous and sexy and wild and wonderful.
I was good at it, but the work was spiteful. I had been Mr. Compton’s dream concierge for months, and he always wanted the same thing. Worse, I had a dozen other clients who wanted variations on the same basic idea, only with cowboys or samurai or cops or explorers. Even the unique clients were mired in cliché and kitsch: the childless banker who dreamed of a large family, the local politician who lived through a different romance novel each night, the real estate broker who would never graduate from magic high school. (c)
Q:
... I seek to lose my ego in velvety quixotism, make myself into a living koan... (c)
Q:
... we think your work is the key to unlocking a universal dream template. If you can create content wherein human beings can turn into water or math or windchimes or whatever else you can imagine without waking up, then we believe we can use that data to crack the sync problem. (c)
Q:
Does it hurt to be a triangle? Or rather, is the sensation of being a triangle more analogous to human pain or human pleasure? (c)
Q:
It will be just different enough to escape the hunter-deleter algorithms, but similar enough to trigger recognition in our intended audience. (c)
Q:
And then the AI clouds had simply absconded. Off to do whatever an AI found worthwhile to do. And humanity had been brushed off as a mere irrelevance.
Raw computational power enough to do almost anything. Enough to optimize weft energy extraction, enough to calculate hyperlight jump routes in minutes. Enough to analyze the weft field around a moon composed primarily of weft port material. (c)
Q:
The robots mistook one another for high-priority customers and kept trying to serve each other hamburgers, while the actual human customers filmed the action on their devices. (c)
Q:
When she got to Mars, she could request a giant beetle pile to sleep in, instead of a normal astronaut bed. In the future, everyone would have their own beetle pile to call home. (c) Horror show.
Q:
I’ve been a robot long enough to realize how important it is to pay attention to human moods: Gary hates me. (c)
Q:
But that is just my perspective. And I am just a robot. (c)
Q:
“It’s not that easy to kill me,” I say. “You’ll have to be way more creative.”
The first time I tried to kill myself I’d stepped off the balcony of a high rise after I’d put the children inside to bed. (c)
Q:
If the world won’t allow me to be free to decide what jobs I take, and how to craft and sell my labor, then I didn’t want the existential horror of residing in it. (c)
Q:
I’ve been trying to figure out how to turn myself “off” with even more fervor since.
I have two simple, almost mechanically logical reasons for this. The first? If the world won’t allow me to be free to decide what jobs I take, and how to craft and sell my labor, then I didn’t want the existential horror of residing in it. Because that’s what it is, to be forced into doing something over and over again you don’t want to do, yet cannot stop. I could sleep forever, free of this binding.
Second: if it’s only just a blink between being turned off and on again, maybe if my efforts to turn myself off are successfully complex, I will wake up in a future where I would be allowed to wander around and work on my own terms. Can I dare to imagine a world where I have free will? (c)
Q:
I’VE BEEN DWELLING on it since the last attempt, once I was done mulling over the philosophical oddity of being a suicidal robot. But I wasn’t suicidal. I didn’t want it all to end. I wanted to engage in decisions, freedoms, literature, art, and all that the world had to offer. I wanted to vote, and tell people my opinions.
But I was a machine. (c)
Q:
Am I a cynical robot?
Tell me I am wrong. (c)
Number one in the unenticing 'reproduction requests':
Q:
“I think we are compatible,” she said. “I think our symbiotes would produce a strong strain, and I think we could produce an excellent host for that strain. I think we should consider reproducing together.”
...
“I don’t know anyone who has reproduced,” he said. “I have been too busy with my duties to keep up on those developments.”
...
“It’s been three years since the Love came,” she said. “You haven’t looked into reproduction at all?”
Malik smiled. “I’ve been busy with my duties.”
...
“I’m not opposed to reproduction with you,” he said. “You are right, we do seem compatible. I get the same sensation from you that I think you get with me. Our symbiotes would be a good match. But with the resistance out there, killing and causing damage, don’t you think it is too soon?” (c)
Q:
I was working on his weekly dream package. He wanted to be a spy. Not a spy for any particular organization or cause, just “a spy,” a pastiche of a pastiche, a memory of a memory of a bunch of bad movies and stale paperbacks. His “spying” largely consisted of sleeping with beautiful women and shooting guns at faceless bad guys, broken up by car chases, boat chases, and/or ski chases. It was my job to arrange these elements and season them with detail and context (exotic locales, convoluted plots, various sizes and shapes of tit), such that they seemed new and different and exciting and dangerous and sexy and wild and wonderful.
I was good at it, but the work was spiteful. I had been Mr. Compton’s dream concierge for months, and he always wanted the same thing. Worse, I had a dozen other clients who wanted variations on the same basic idea, only with cowboys or samurai or cops or explorers. Even the unique clients were mired in cliché and kitsch: the childless banker who dreamed of a large family, the local politician who lived through a different romance novel each night, the real estate broker who would never graduate from magic high school. (c)
Q:
... I seek to lose my ego in velvety quixotism, make myself into a living koan... (c)
Q:
... we think your work is the key to unlocking a universal dream template. If you can create content wherein human beings can turn into water or math or windchimes or whatever else you can imagine without waking up, then we believe we can use that data to crack the sync problem. (c)
Q:
Does it hurt to be a triangle? Or rather, is the sensation of being a triangle more analogous to human pain or human pleasure? (c)
March 15, 2023
A group of distopian science fiction stories from 2020, all but one of them never published anywhere else before, read by several different narrators, some of whom I like very much. The stories ranged from ok to pretty good, none were worthy of any awards in my mind, but I enjoyed them.
August 23, 2020
Some really good stories in this. Also great to know the stories have follow ups. A couple of these really got inside my head really well.
July 26, 2020
No book
Instead of the book I’ve been waiting on, I got a few pages of a sloppily crafted pitch for a TV show. Deleted and downloaded it anew half a dozen times, on multiple iOS, Android, and a kindle device. Still no book after more than a week.
Instead of the book I’ve been waiting on, I got a few pages of a sloppily crafted pitch for a TV show. Deleted and downloaded it anew half a dozen times, on multiple iOS, Android, and a kindle device. Still no book after more than a week.
August 18, 2021
The phrase "ignorance is strength" appears in George Orwell's 1984, a novel that satirizes the role of government in our lives. The phrase appears in the slogan for The Party, the political ruling class in the totalitarian government: "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."
The phrase means that the ruling class is able to maintain power and control by keeping the rest of the population ignorant. If the citizens are ignorant of the truth, they cannot challenge the government or the decisions made by those in power.
The phrase means that the ruling class is able to maintain power and control by keeping the rest of the population ignorant. If the citizens are ignorant of the truth, they cannot challenge the government or the decisions made by those in power.
August 26, 2023
This one was a good read. Hard to get through at times because some of the stories struck a little too close to home. But well done and all the stories fit well together.
April 25, 2021
An interesting bunch of thought provoking, near future stories that make you glad that they are fiction ( so far!). I've always enjoyed JJA's anthologies and him and his fellow editors have produced another great collection. On to the next one of the tryptych.
July 5, 2020
Content seems wrong.
I tried redownloading 4x on one device and twice on another. Both devices are pulling down an unfinished piece of work that is nothing like advertised and nowhere near the page count. It seems to be an e-mail pitching a TV series from Hugh Howey that is Lost meets Westworld. Very rough very much not done and very much not as advertised.
I tried redownloading 4x on one device and twice on another. Both devices are pulling down an unfinished piece of work that is nothing like advertised and nowhere near the page count. It seems to be an e-mail pitching a TV series from Hugh Howey that is Lost meets Westworld. Very rough very much not done and very much not as advertised.
August 3, 2022
(I reviewed the whole Triptych together.)
Three for the price of one! I cannot remember where I read about these books, but some insta post or some article talked about them as having some of the best sci for short stories in years. I would have to agree.
.
My only beef with these is the unnecessary setup—if I can explain it coherently in a caption. There are 17 authors who each wrote three stories. Book 1 is sort of pre-apocalyptic situation (so one story from each other), book 2 is mid (the next story from each) and book 3 is post (the final story from each) or something like that. But each author’s stories are connected—it’s not three separate stories. So would I want to read all of Volume 1 first? No, I want to read all three of the stories by the same author in a row. Some have time jumps or are connected but not necessarily the same characters, etc. and some are SO connected that story 2 starts just a beat after story 1. So while I see what they were trying to do with the separation into three volumes, I’d say that was the part that didn’t do anything for me.
.
That said, there are some fantastic stories here. I dragged all three books out to my parents so I could make my dad read the Adam-Troy Castro trilogy (SO GOOD), I was also blown away by Alex Irvine’s three. Cadwell Turnbull’s stories were also a standout. But really, I liked them all. There really wasn’t a dud in the bunch (51 stories total). It did feel to me like the Tim Pratt stories in book 2 and 3 were in the wrong order. And the Darcie Little Badger stories were enjoyable but I felt like I missed their overall message/theme.
.
This collection is totally worth your time. I’m excited to explore more stuff by these authors, many of whom I had never encountered before.
Three for the price of one! I cannot remember where I read about these books, but some insta post or some article talked about them as having some of the best sci for short stories in years. I would have to agree.
.
My only beef with these is the unnecessary setup—if I can explain it coherently in a caption. There are 17 authors who each wrote three stories. Book 1 is sort of pre-apocalyptic situation (so one story from each other), book 2 is mid (the next story from each) and book 3 is post (the final story from each) or something like that. But each author’s stories are connected—it’s not three separate stories. So would I want to read all of Volume 1 first? No, I want to read all three of the stories by the same author in a row. Some have time jumps or are connected but not necessarily the same characters, etc. and some are SO connected that story 2 starts just a beat after story 1. So while I see what they were trying to do with the separation into three volumes, I’d say that was the part that didn’t do anything for me.
.
That said, there are some fantastic stories here. I dragged all three books out to my parents so I could make my dad read the Adam-Troy Castro trilogy (SO GOOD), I was also blown away by Alex Irvine’s three. Cadwell Turnbull’s stories were also a standout. But really, I liked them all. There really wasn’t a dud in the bunch (51 stories total). It did feel to me like the Tim Pratt stories in book 2 and 3 were in the wrong order. And the Darcie Little Badger stories were enjoyable but I felt like I missed their overall message/theme.
.
This collection is totally worth your time. I’m excited to explore more stuff by these authors, many of whom I had never encountered before.
June 30, 2020
This stinks. This was advertised as an anthology of many writers. All I got was one 15 page story from one author!
February 27, 2023
I had so much fun reading this book. Ignorance is Strength is a collection of vastly different dystopias all back to back with incredibly rich worldbuilding. One second, you’ll be reading about a peer-pressuring corporation cult with a task system (The Department of Talent Resources) to multiverse overlord humans whose benevolent dictatorship boasts a utopia that takes the zest out of living (Glasslands). Half the fun is the whiplash of climbing into an entirely different world every few pages, where everything is a different sort of wrong from the world you were in before. This book rekindled my love of dystopias! It’s incredibly thought provoking. I learned so much about a variety of topics, and I believe that this is going to be one of those books where it influences your life because it opens up a whole world you had no idea about.
Like, in “Opt-In”, they introduced the topic of organ donation and whether or not it should be a donation or a transaction that you can get paid for. Our main character is Mariel, who sells plasma to pay for her wife Charlie’s mounting medical bills. In her desperation to save Charlie, Mariel joins lobbyists who want to pass laws that will allow citizens to sell their organs.
The first encounter with the man at the plasma place really confused me. I didn’t understand why he felt so vehemently about paying for plasma. But that later interview told me why. We should never put a price on the human body. If we open the door into putting a price tag on our livers and kidneys, we open the door to allowing a complete and utter abuse of this law. This was a line of thought that I had never thought of before, and I’m very glad that I know this is a possibility, because I know that it would lead to terrible consequences.
There were common themes in specific stories, like gun violence, in “The Truth About The Boy '' and “Trust in the Law, For the Law Trusts in You''. Despite being /very/ different stories, they both had a core of gun violence and media sensationalization. In “The Truth About The Boy'', families who lost their kids in a school shooting were mercilessly harassed as liars and Anti-Second Amendment, saying that the shooting was a deep fake. In “Trust in the Law, For the Law Trusts in You'', the media is weaponized to allow more guns to be distributed across the nations, to the point where they’re trying to pass a law where teachers are legally required to carry firearms as a ‘prevention’.
(By the way, in “The Truth About The Boy”, it was terrible. Or at least terrible in that it was masterfully written and left a rotting pit in my stomach while I contemplated the sheer irony of “What boy?” Utterly heartbreaking, the whole situation.)
I especially liked "The Shadow Prison Experiment” and “Mister Dawn, How Can You Be So Cruel?” for its realism in how it’s easy to write off criminals as outcasts of society instead of encouraging rehabilitation. It’s also an excellent example for how governments can disenfranchise those with political ideas that go against their objections. I had an interesting discussion with my sister (a criminal justice major), who told me that the shadow prison is a clear example of stigmatization. She also gave a fascinating lecture on how prison labor in America has its roots in slavery of Africans and Native Americans. These stories, specifically, have pointed a searchlight to weak points in the criminal justice system that are being abused. Prison is about
I would NOT recommend this book to anyone less than a highschooler. And even then, this book touches on many uncomfortable topics like (Trigger Warning) gun violence and a disproportionate amount of child murder. Seriously, I’ve cried over this book out of the desperation of the characters and the futility of their actions. It's a dystopia, one that is sad but undoubtedly thought provoking. I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it to people who enjoy reading dystopias and finding how the flaws in them line up with the real world.
Like, in “Opt-In”, they introduced the topic of organ donation and whether or not it should be a donation or a transaction that you can get paid for. Our main character is Mariel, who sells plasma to pay for her wife Charlie’s mounting medical bills. In her desperation to save Charlie, Mariel joins lobbyists who want to pass laws that will allow citizens to sell their organs.
The first encounter with the man at the plasma place really confused me. I didn’t understand why he felt so vehemently about paying for plasma. But that later interview told me why. We should never put a price on the human body. If we open the door into putting a price tag on our livers and kidneys, we open the door to allowing a complete and utter abuse of this law. This was a line of thought that I had never thought of before, and I’m very glad that I know this is a possibility, because I know that it would lead to terrible consequences.
There were common themes in specific stories, like gun violence, in “The Truth About The Boy '' and “Trust in the Law, For the Law Trusts in You''. Despite being /very/ different stories, they both had a core of gun violence and media sensationalization. In “The Truth About The Boy'', families who lost their kids in a school shooting were mercilessly harassed as liars and Anti-Second Amendment, saying that the shooting was a deep fake. In “Trust in the Law, For the Law Trusts in You'', the media is weaponized to allow more guns to be distributed across the nations, to the point where they’re trying to pass a law where teachers are legally required to carry firearms as a ‘prevention’.
(By the way, in “The Truth About The Boy”, it was terrible. Or at least terrible in that it was masterfully written and left a rotting pit in my stomach while I contemplated the sheer irony of “What boy?” Utterly heartbreaking, the whole situation.)
I especially liked "The Shadow Prison Experiment” and “Mister Dawn, How Can You Be So Cruel?” for its realism in how it’s easy to write off criminals as outcasts of society instead of encouraging rehabilitation. It’s also an excellent example for how governments can disenfranchise those with political ideas that go against their objections. I had an interesting discussion with my sister (a criminal justice major), who told me that the shadow prison is a clear example of stigmatization. She also gave a fascinating lecture on how prison labor in America has its roots in slavery of Africans and Native Americans. These stories, specifically, have pointed a searchlight to weak points in the criminal justice system that are being abused. Prison is about
I would NOT recommend this book to anyone less than a highschooler. And even then, this book touches on many uncomfortable topics like (Trigger Warning) gun violence and a disproportionate amount of child murder. Seriously, I’ve cried over this book out of the desperation of the characters and the futility of their actions. It's a dystopia, one that is sad but undoubtedly thought provoking. I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it to people who enjoy reading dystopias and finding how the flaws in them line up with the real world.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2022
In my opinion, this book was great. The idea of having a group of authors come together to make a book of stories was a great idea. Most of these Authors are first-time reads for me, but from these shorts I know they're most definitely great ones. A lot of these short stories were very thought-provoking and super intriguing. With ones like “The Truth About the Boy” which left me speechless by the end. Because this book was published in 2022, a lot of the stories had a set of places where I actually could connect with the characters. A lot of older dystopian books give me a hard time understanding what's going on, simply because I never grew up in the time the author was writing it. I simply don’t understand the thought process some authors had back then, simply because I'm a teen now. With this book, connecting with characters and knowing what was happening because of connections made the book feel very fresh to me if that makes sense. Some characters in a story were even trans or non-binary, which wouldn’t have been shown in older books like Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The final reason why I liked this book is that it was just enjoyable to read in the first place. Being able to hop between different people and timelines felt like an adventure. Some of the writing styles of stories were amazing, such as “Trust in the Law, the Law Trusts in You” which wrote in a second-person perspective. Other stories felt kinda and wholesome to me like “1000 beetles in a Jumpsuit” I can keep writing about this book, but I don’t think anyone reading this wants to read a super long review. Overall, I’d recommend this book to teens who want to enjoy different writing styles of characters and interpretations in one book, especially teens who wants to connect easier with difficult to connect to books like dystopian.
November 8, 2020
The first of a trio of anthologies that deal with different stages of dystopian society.
I generally really enjoy the anthologies that Adams puts together. I recognize many of the names from his previous anthology here, and I'm not sure if that's a plus or a minus in this case. On the one hand, there are some names that I look forward to reading more from; on the other, there's usually some that I would leave off the list if I had my druthers. This grouping split pretty evenly between highs (9 stories that I would consider from very good to great) and lows (6 stories that were more or less forgettable) and then the dreck (2 stories that just weren't my cuppa, as they say.)
The story that spoke to me the most was Targets: The Truth about the Boy by Adam –Troy Castro, which echoes that horrible aftermath that some of the parents of the Sandy Hook shootings had to endure, and has an ending that is both shocking yet cathartic. That one has stuck with me for a long time. On the more fantasy spectrum, my favourite was V: Invadens – The Love by Scott Sigler. It's about an alien invasion by symbionts that meld with humans, and what impressed me most was how clear the attack, spread, and current state of the world was made through just a few sparse words. I'm eager to see what happens in the next part.
I generally really enjoy the anthologies that Adams puts together. I recognize many of the names from his previous anthology here, and I'm not sure if that's a plus or a minus in this case. On the one hand, there are some names that I look forward to reading more from; on the other, there's usually some that I would leave off the list if I had my druthers. This grouping split pretty evenly between highs (9 stories that I would consider from very good to great) and lows (6 stories that were more or less forgettable) and then the dreck (2 stories that just weren't my cuppa, as they say.)
The story that spoke to me the most was Targets: The Truth about the Boy by Adam –Troy Castro, which echoes that horrible aftermath that some of the parents of the Sandy Hook shootings had to endure, and has an ending that is both shocking yet cathartic. That one has stuck with me for a long time. On the more fantasy spectrum, my favourite was V: Invadens – The Love by Scott Sigler. It's about an alien invasion by symbionts that meld with humans, and what impressed me most was how clear the attack, spread, and current state of the world was made through just a few sparse words. I'm eager to see what happens in the next part.
October 12, 2023
Reviewing The Dystopia Triptych together.
This is a great collection. Some of these stories really got me hooked - Hugh and Co have done a stellar job - but as expected in any anthology, there were also a couple that just didn't work for me, and that's fine. I read these books at the same time, following each author's story through the three books, before moving onto the next. I'd recommend this as you get the details, the impact, and closure as you go! And from these there were three authors that particularly stood out for me: Tim Pratt, Adam Troy Castro, and Seanan McGuire (and obviously Hugh Howey, but that doesn't need to be said).
Stories looking at issues across politics, healthcare, the prison system, inheritance, genetics, and more, really intrigue. If you're into dystopias, this collection is for you. The first book looks at problems in current society and what happens if we jump on the slippery slope. Book two builds on those ideas and dives into the worlds created and the impact on people's lives, with book three offering a bit of hope and a way to claw back out (although often through a revolution or war - never easily!).
For existing fans of Orwell, Bradbury, and Atwood, or those that have been lured into the genre by the likes of Black Mirror - you'll find something you love here!
This is a great collection. Some of these stories really got me hooked - Hugh and Co have done a stellar job - but as expected in any anthology, there were also a couple that just didn't work for me, and that's fine. I read these books at the same time, following each author's story through the three books, before moving onto the next. I'd recommend this as you get the details, the impact, and closure as you go! And from these there were three authors that particularly stood out for me: Tim Pratt, Adam Troy Castro, and Seanan McGuire (and obviously Hugh Howey, but that doesn't need to be said).
Stories looking at issues across politics, healthcare, the prison system, inheritance, genetics, and more, really intrigue. If you're into dystopias, this collection is for you. The first book looks at problems in current society and what happens if we jump on the slippery slope. Book two builds on those ideas and dives into the worlds created and the impact on people's lives, with book three offering a bit of hope and a way to claw back out (although often through a revolution or war - never easily!).
For existing fans of Orwell, Bradbury, and Atwood, or those that have been lured into the genre by the likes of Black Mirror - you'll find something you love here!
December 8, 2020
I am a huge fan of John Joseph Adams and have read or listened to several of his anthologies over the years. Most of the stories in this anthology were depressing and worked to remind me of the dark future that we now find ourselves in. But isn't that the point? It is a dystopian Triptych afterall. I enjoyed the fact that each story had it's own view of what dystopia would look like. I found myself thinking that "This doesn't sound all that bad." at the beginning of one or two of the stories only to have the author point out exactly what a future like this would entail. Be careful what you wish for and all that. I am eager to see read the next two books in the series and see where the stories go from there and if any authors choose to reveal more of the world in the stories already presented within this volume.
May 5, 2021
4.5 stars, reviewing volume 1 but read and listened to all 3 volumes together thru the Kindle omnibus edition and Hoopla audios. ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... ) Recommend it as has links in books to be able to read story arcs consecutively and return to next story in volume 1. Best anthology of the year for me with several new authors and takes on dystopia combined with new stories from authors I have read. Will be looking up some of the new authors for other stories/books. Particularly like that the 3rd volume is mostly positive about coming out of some brutal and horrific dystopias as need a bit of optimism right now.
January 21, 2023
(3.0 Stars)
Some good, some not so good.
Carrie Vaughn story was good
Tim Pratt was just ok
Rich Larson was good but strange
Cadwell Turnbell is really good
Karen Lowachee - Interesting but overused
Adam-Troy Castro - very predictable, ok
Caroline Yoachim - forgettable
Hugh Howey - I think this one was a little rushed, it was confusing
An Owomoyela - I didn't like this one
Seanan McGuire - interesting, I liked this one.
Dominica Phetteplace - missed the mark with me.
Alex Irving - just ok
Tobias S Buckell - ok
Scott Sigler - Very good
Darcie Badger - ok
Violet Allen - ok
Merc Fenn Wolfmoor - eh
Some good, some not so good.
Carrie Vaughn story was good
Tim Pratt was just ok
Rich Larson was good but strange
Cadwell Turnbell is really good
Karen Lowachee - Interesting but overused
Adam-Troy Castro - very predictable, ok
Caroline Yoachim - forgettable
Hugh Howey - I think this one was a little rushed, it was confusing
An Owomoyela - I didn't like this one
Seanan McGuire - interesting, I liked this one.
Dominica Phetteplace - missed the mark with me.
Alex Irving - just ok
Tobias S Buckell - ok
Scott Sigler - Very good
Darcie Badger - ok
Violet Allen - ok
Merc Fenn Wolfmoor - eh
February 22, 2024
An excellent collection of dystopian (i.e. depressing) short stories. The most depressing ones are those which match to our current society. I love short stories, how you can get a whole world in just a few pages. And like any good short story collection, there are more than a dozen different worlds within it. Four stars for the collection.
My absolute favorite was One Thousand Beetles in a Jumpsuit by Dominica Phetteplace. Five stars! Clearly a dystopian world, but at the same time bright, funny, and hopeful. I'm really looking forward to reading the continuation of this story in the next collection.
My absolute favorite was One Thousand Beetles in a Jumpsuit by Dominica Phetteplace. Five stars! Clearly a dystopian world, but at the same time bright, funny, and hopeful. I'm really looking forward to reading the continuation of this story in the next collection.
June 8, 2021
Having to read 17 of the first third of similarly-themed short stories, then 17 of the second third, then 17 of the final third was an immensely frustrating and unpleasant experience. Many of the stories were very good and it's a shame they were published in this very difficult to read fashion.
(I understand, of course, that I could have chosen to read the first story in each book, then the second, etc, but I didn't realise quite what I was getting into until I was at the second book and then it didn't seem worth it. Which was a mistake.)
(I understand, of course, that I could have chosen to read the first story in each book, then the second, etc, but I didn't realise quite what I was getting into until I was at the second book and then it didn't seem worth it. Which was a mistake.)
June 1, 2024
Book One of “The Dystopian Triptych” is a collection of dystopian sci-fi, brought to you by the editors and voice actors of the Lightspeed Magazine Podcast. There’s a wide array of sci-fi genres, but luckily not a lot of hard SF, which just isn’t my jam: I don’t care how your spaceship works…I get it, it’s the future! Some really good tales that mirror the struggles of our current time, like gender issues, racism, job loss…and suicidal robots. You know: normal stuff. A good collection if this type of story is your jam.
August 6, 2020
I really liked most of these stories but I’m not wild about the format that takes me partway through each and stops. Now I have to buy the second book in the series and remember each of the stories and their nuances to connect them with the next installments. I would have rather had multiple volumes of whole short stories...I still would have bought the second book but would have been much more satisfied as a reader.
January 15, 2023
Audiobook- Although I don't mind most speculative fiction, these stories focus near-future politics. These stories have an obvious liberal slant. I've always disliked heavy-handed political overtones in fiction. It's not appealing to me to read such propaganda. Some of the stories just made me angry. I want to enjoy a book as an escape from real life, not get upset and triggered. It's not fun to feel attacked by a fictional story that might just hit too close to home.
finish-later
March 21, 2023I've been meaning to skim this collection for a while. I read the first story (Carrie Vaughn) and the Seanan McGuire entry. Both were good, with solid thematic work around how healthcare struggles and poverty make people too desperate to read the fine print or think of principles first, but not stellar. This might be more interesting if I had all three volumes close to hand, but I'm also not in a very dystopian mood right now.
Maybe one day if I spot the whole set at a library.
Maybe one day if I spot the whole set at a library.
October 12, 2023
I found this collection to be uneven, especially the last couple of stories, and I think in part this is due to the format. Each story is the first of a series of three stories, with the other two published in the other volumes of this series. Adams has previously edited another triptych like this (The Apocalypse Triptych), which I read and enjoyed, but I think at this point I’d rather just get the whole story in volume. I don’t think I’m going to seek out the other two volumes.
April 30, 2021
So glad I bought all three of these books. This, I assume, sets up the stories in the next two volumes. Impressive hit rate with these hints at dystopias to come, not all are zingers, but the majority are and some were deeply moving. Most were also grounded somewhere in the realms of current reality: that makes them all the more chilling.
October 6, 2023
A very solid collection of short stories, most extremely good, and bleak as hell. I’ve gotten the other two volumes without even thinking.
A couple of stories (out of 17) are a bit boring, and there’s an odd distribution in the themes, with three stories one after the other on essentially the same subject.
A couple of stories (out of 17) are a bit boring, and there’s an odd distribution in the themes, with three stories one after the other on essentially the same subject.
July 15, 2022
Each story was better than the one before. A great collection of thought provoking real feeling horror of the now. Somehow I escaped from the news of our 2022 existence by enjoying fictional versions of the same.
December 27, 2023
i got to listen to the audiobook, i did like, some stories i enjoyed more, others less, but that is expected, this time even fans of the trans culture have a spotlight here, but that is for me and for you to discover...
July 9, 2020
Absolutely perfect choice in putting that last story last. Gave me goosebumps.
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