Isaac Asimov's Utopias

Rating:
Summary: Overall quite weak and not very "utopian"
Review: "Utopian" can have two meanings -- the first is an ideal or perfect place but the second is no place or no where. The nine stories in this collection fall more into the dystopian category than either of these two definitions. Only Ursula K. Le Guin's "Mountain Ways" was really intense and interesting enough to make me want to reread it. Stories by Stableford, Resnick, Purdom, Dedman, and Sterling were all just boring -- I couldn't care about any of the characters. "Nevermore" by Ian R. MacLeod had potential but it was too disjointed to make me feel much. David Marusek's "Out of Touch" also had a great beginning but a very weak and rather sudden ending. "Smart Alec" by Kage Baker was well-written but very very sad. Hey, how about some "utopias" we'd want to live in for a change?

Rating:
Summary: Overall quite weak and not very "utopian"
Review: "Utopian" can have two meanings -- the first is an ideal or perfect place but the second is no place or no where. The nine stories in this collection fall more into the dystopian category than either of these two definitions. Only Ursula K. Le Guin's "Mountain Ways" was really intense and interesting enough to make me want to reread it. Stories by Stableford, Resnick, Purdom, Dedman, and Sterling were all just boring -- I couldn't care about any of the characters. "Nevermore" by Ian R. MacLeod had potential but it was too disjointed to make me feel much. David Marusek's "Out of Touch" also had a great beginning but a very weak and rather sudden ending. "Smart Alec" by Kage Baker was well-written but very very sad. Hey, how about some "utopias" we'd want to live in for a change?