Review: Zima Blue And Other Stories

Zima Blue and Other Stories is a surprisingly uneven collection of Alastair Reynolds' short stories. As you might expect from Alastair Reynolds, the science in each of the stories is excellent, so it's the execution of the stories that are at question.

The title story, Zima Blue, is haunting --- a story about an artist who seeks his roots, and discovers to his surprise that he is not what he thought he was. Understanding Space and Time is similarly excellent, about the last human in the Universe, and what he chose to do after an unlikely resurrection.

I disliked his two Merlin stories, however, and seeing that they were published in Interzone reminded me that I did not renew my electronic subscription to the magazine for good reason. However, most of the other stories were good enough that I enjoyed reading them. Worth buying at the used prices indicated by the links above, or checking out from the library.