The Dystopia Triptych: Ignorance is Strength, Burn the Ashes, & Or Else the Light - Digital Box Set

The Dystopia Triptych #1-3

by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, Christie Yant

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.

THE DYSTOPIA TRIPTYCH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Sigler, Cadwell Turnbull, Karin Lowachee, Caroline M. Yoachim, Adam-Troy Castro, An Owomoyela, Dominica Phetteplace, Tobias S. Buckell, Tim Pratt, Rich Larson, Alex Irvine, Darcie Little Badger, Violet Allen, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.

Genres: Anthologies, Dystopia, Science Fiction

893 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2020

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Department of Talent Resources (the PanCorp's social networks going larger than life) was sorta nice (even if the ending was a bit economically unbased, I think).
The Shadow Prison Experiment (VR punishments gone amok), Idle hands (Robot stoicits), The Love (fronds and symbiosis) and Red Sky at Morning (Granny, shoot the moron, save the girl!) were also fantastic.
Inheritors (Benner kiddos) & The Orphan of Greenridge (cyberterrorists & water) - cool!
Glasslands (Hof and functional parallel realities going on Utopia) - not bad.

The rest - either meh-ish or full-blown 'what did I read it for?'

[Tracy Brower · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Just terrible. The first of the three was okay but so very frustrating that every story was left unfinished. The second was frustrating because of having to match up all the part twos with my memories of the first parts. For the third parts I was forced to buy the whole box set rather than just book three and the stories were mostly terrible—the literary equivalent of authors saying ‘yeah, I’m tired of this story, this is the end’. Bummer.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provocative, suspenseful, forward-looking fiction

It’s a safe bet that story collections co-edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey will be good. They previously hit the mark with their Apocalypse anthology trio, and have done it again with this “Dystopia Triptych.” The stories by Seanan McGuire and Howey himself are truly incredible, and there’s a lot of other strong writing here. A couple of them were misses for me, but overall, I really enjoyed the series.
BTW, the 3-in-1 ebook is the way to go, as it allows continuity in jumping to the linked stories in each volume.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Understanding Dystopia

I have read many stories of Dystopia over the years but this is the first time I have had this many very good stories in one place. The three parts of the Dystopian event in each storyline was great.

[Ethon O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection. Some of the stories were a little odd but still interesting. Each one seemed like something that could possibly happen and not too far in the future, when you look at current events.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong Anthology

Very impressed. No bad stories, all links function as intended. Found several new (to me) authors that I intend to follow. Loved the concept.

[Mkittysamom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great great stories of how the world could go wrong!

Each book has a continuation of the story from the first book so I’m super happy I read this as combined trilogy so I could read the completed 3 part stories 1 at a time! I loved almost all of them! Carrie Vaughn’s “The Dept of Talent Resources” and Caroline M Yoachim’s “The Shadow Prison Experiment” both had mother daughter themes I enjoyed, along with social media and advertising/ VR gone wrong! Dominica Phettplace’s “One Thousand Beetles in a Jumpsuit” I really want those Beatles and I loved the co-opt of humans and AI, plus the love story! I really don’t have a complaint, loved Seanan McGuire, Tobias Bucknell, Alex Irvine, Tim Pratt, Adam Troy Castro, Karin Lowachee, Hugh Howey, An Owomoyela, & Marc Fenn Wolfmoor!