Stories of Your Life
Author: Ted Chiang
Genre: Science Fiction
Year: 2002
Rating: 10 of 10
I have read in several places that Ted Chiang is one of the most important voices in modern science fiction and after reading this book I fully agree with this statement. Stories of Your Life is a collection of short stories that for the most part were originally published in magazines. Each of the stories dealt with wildly different subjects, proving Chiang’s versatility as an author. And each story was deeply compelling and filled with truly original ideas. My favorite kind of science fiction is the kind that forces you to put the book down occasionally and ponder the implications of the ideas being presented. This collection had no shortage of these moments. Another one of my favorite issues in science fiction is linguistics and communication difficulties, the title story that was made into the film Arrival, did a wonderful job at addressing this issue and presented fresh concepts that I will be considering for some time to come. The best books are the ones that keep you thinking for months on end and I have no doubt that this book has had that effect on me. I don’t want to give away the premises of these stories because I found them surprising throughout and wouldn’t want to deprive you of a similar experience. Highly recommended!
Purchase: Buy!