(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)

I received this book from Negalley in exchange for an honest review, so here we go:

Robots. A fascinating issue, but I must note in advance that half the stories - more or less- are about IA or artificial persons (by byologic, industrial and unknown procedures); that is, not as we understand the term, as a machine that operates with humanlike skills.

Briefly I review each of the stories:

A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. The author repeats the style shown in the great Fandom for Robots, that is, a curious robot cyber-conversation. A curious mix with cybernetic IA logics and human imitation. For me it was difficult to understand all the argot.

Test 4 Echo, by Peter Watts. In this tale he deals with a robot IA in the search for subaquatic life in Enceladus and about moral dilemmas. Typical of Mr. Watts, a story of disappointments that does not disappoint.

The Endless, by Saad Z. Hossain. An AI vengeance. The development is a bit tricky but it was a funny read:
Mi name is Suva. Like the airport, Suvarnabhumi. An odd name, you say? Because I am the airport, motherfucker.

Brother Rifle, by Daryl Gregory. A story about how an AI can help a marine do his work and then how the doctors with the aid of another one tries to redeem him.

The Hurt Pattern, by Tony Onyebuchi. A police robot shot a thirteen year old black boy. Why? It is more complicated that it could seem.

Idols, by Ken Liu. Idols wonders about the possibility that someone can construct a simulation of a persona based on all the feeds shared in the cloud (that is, social redes, media, works, etc.). This can be useful, for example, to interact with the deceased loved ones. A good story. Note: I read before about this captivating idea in a catalan written novel, El somriure d’un Eco by Jordi Gimeno.

Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker. The author of the excellent And Then There Were (N-One), shows here an asimovian crime story. Very good, one of the best in the book.

Sonnie's Union, by Peter F. Hamilton. A kind of chimera organic beings created for clandestine fighting.

Dancing with Death by John Chu. Planned obsolescence, but robots want to work, love… and ice-skating. Good.

An Elephant Never Forgets, by Rich Larson. Bioengineered humans, Nexus 5 style. A person who does not remember anything wakes up in a kind of asylum...

The Translator, by Annalee Newitz. A future job: to translate IA messages to an understandable human language. By the author of Autonomous.

Sin Eater, by Ian McLeod. One of the best stories in the book. The last Pope and a robot. Amazing.

Fairy Tales for Robots, by Sofia Samatar. If you wanted to give humanity to a robot that is about to be born, how would you do it? Reading they fairy tales. A very well thought out story.

Chiaroscuro in Red, by Suzanne Palmer. Very good! In a future, the rich do not own workers or slaves, they own robots. The more robots, the more wealth. Stewart is a short on money student who receives a second-hand robot as a birthday gift from his parents. What can the robot do for Stewart?. What can he do for the robot?

A glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander. Artificial persons, cyberpunk & radical thinking.

Overall it is a good anthology, although half of the stories are not strictly about robots, and neither strictly about revolution as indicated on the cover. However, in one way or another, the two issues are sufficiently addressed. For me, it was a good way to read about this fascinating topics and discover unknown authors (at least for me), and also to meet some of those I already know.

Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for this book. It will be published on March 17.

This was mostly good, for me anthologies are difficult because the stories start and stop. So to read 400 pages and to have not a continual story but many different stories, is almost a let down. So I tried to just read a story at a time, put it down read something else, then read another, but there were still stories here that didn't work for me. Example I'm a big fan of Alastair Reynolds and his was just odd and not as humorous as other thought so. Ken Liu's was decent, I hadn't read his work before and honestly it was one of the reasons why I pick this up in the first place, so I'll most likely read his other work in the future. Annalee Newitz's was ok but too short, her's might have been the shortest, it just seemed to end abruptly, but the writing was good and I'd read her book from last year. The list goes on with some being good and others being ok. So on the whole 3 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This anthology describes various types of robotic creatures and thier interaction with humans and other robots. As with most anthologies there is quite a range of stories. Some will enthrall while others will leave you scratching your head. I found that most of the stories here were of the latter kind. My interest in science fiction is firmly in the simple space opera style. Most of the writers here have attempted to expand the perception of what a robot is and what they will become. As a thought exercise this is fine but I choose to not expand my acceptance of this style.

Made to Order is a science fiction anthology with short works by some of the best SFF/speculative fiction authors currently writing today. Every story was thought-provoking and thematically compelling, even if I preferred some stories to others. Due to its breadth and scope, it’s an anthology that deserves to be an essential part of every sci-fi reader’s library. Not only did I enjoy every minute of this read, but I was always excited to begin the next story, which, to me, is the sign of an excellent anthology.

1. A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad – 5 stars:: I adored the narrative voice on this story, and felt so connected to the characters. It’s written in a chat-type message stream between two robots, and also includes fun bits like the online search logs for the characters. This story is charming and witty, and was an excellent way to start the anthology.

2. Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts – 2.5 stars:: This story is much more of hard sci-fi in nature, which is not usually my cup of tea. I thought this story was well conceived thematically, and was an interesting take on the when-is-an-AI-a-lifeform theme. Although I found the story interesting thematically, I didn’t connect fully with the characters or the plot.

3. The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain – 4.5 stars

The Endless was such a fun story, and has such an unexpected narrative voice. This story is a delightful robot version of Office Space, but with the authorial voice of Martha Wells’ Murderbot. Plus, this story had the best quotes: “They ask me how I’m fitting in- I tell them its a soul-crushing job and we are currently sitting ten floors underground with no hope of ever seeing the sky,” our main character-robot says over cake at his work anniversary party.

4. Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory – 2 stars:: This was not a stand-out story for me. It’s a very dark short story, was difficult for me to read at times, and had a fairly unsatisfying conclusion.

5. The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Onyebuchi – 3.5 stars:: Thematically, this story was so on point for me. It’s a progressively nihilistic view of the future with big corporations and big banks running the show. It was one of the only sci-fi takes on police brutality against people of color that I’ve read, and I thought it was very effective. Oh, and it discussed the weight and oppression of student loans to boot. All that being said, the story is dark, and could be quite difficult to read. I urge caution if any of these themes might be triggering for you individually.

6. Idols by Ken Liu -5 stars:: After reading this story, I now want to read anything and everything by Ken Liu. The story was brilliantly existential, and had such a novel take on what is, actually, a true “self.” This was definitely one of my favorites of this bunch.

7. Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker – 4.5 stars:: Bigger Fish was a fun story, and was a nice read after the heaviness of the few entries preceding it. It tells a noir-esque story of a PI investigating the death of a filthy rich man who was believed to be murdered while he was alone in his smart house. It was short, to the point, and I would have loved it to be a little longer and more fleshed-out.

8. Sonnie’s Union by Peter F. Hamilton – 2 stars:: This was not my favorite. It’s another hard sci-fi story, and I, again, was just unable to connect.

9. Dancing with Death by John Chu – 5 stars:: This was another brilliant stand-out in the collection. It was such a beautiful story of a robot with a failing battery and her friend/maybe more-than-friend who tries to fix her. It was remarkably tender, and a different sort of robot story than we usually see.

10. Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds – 5 stars:: I think this was my favorite of the collection. The main character here is Ruby, a squat little bot who polishes the floors on her spaceship. Her processing engine doesn’t function at as high a level as the other robots, but she more than makes up for it in character and heart. This story was amazing and so much more than I was expecting.

11. An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson – 1 star:: This is my only one star of the anthology. I really didn’t jive with this one, and it felt out of place in the collection. It was very graphic and had some pretty disturbing images.

12. The Translator by Annalee Newitz – 3 stars:: This was a really cool story, and I, as a previous English major who loved linguistics, enjoyed the concept quite a bit. It was short, sweet, and just enough.

13. Sin Eater by Ian R. MacLeod – 2 stars:: There were some really compelling themes here – particularly the idea of religion in a world devoid of humans. It wasn’t my favorite story of the collection, but I thought it was compelling and would be a better fit for other readers.

14. Fairy Tales for Robots by Sofia Samatar – 2.5 stars:: I enjoyed these fairy tales, which are told to a “child” robot. The reason for the lower star rating here is purely because this wasn’t my my favorite narrative style, which made it difficult for me to connect to the authorial voice.

15. Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer – 5 stars:: This is the story of a college student who is given a robot by his parents for his twentieth birthday. There are multiple catches, though. 1) The robot does manual labor and lives at a manufacturing plant, and 2) his robot is old and should probably be decommissioned. I thought this story was fascinating economically, and I really related to the characters. It was fun, compelling, and thoughtfully unique to the collection.

16. A Glossary for Radicalization by Brooke Bolander – 5 stars:: Robo-revolution, as my husband and I coined while playing the amazing Detroit: Become Human video game, is such a fun concept and is so well done here. This is a cautionary tale, of sorts, for what can happen when we make robots in our own image, and when we give them our own emotions, desires, and urges. A perfect end to the collection.

My ratings for each story averaged together is about a 3.6, but my reading experience for these stories collectively is much higher, closer to a 4.5/5. And, honestly, I haven’t read this many 5 star short stories in such a long time. This was a beautiful collection, and I can’t wait to pick up a physical copy for my collection.

Made to Order releases on March 17, 2020. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an eArc of the anthology in exchange for review!

This collection of stories is about robots, AIs, and what happens when they decide that they are servants no longer. It combines big names (Alistar Reynolds and Peter Hamilton for example) with authors that are (to me) less known. Likewise, and expectedly in a short story collection, the stories themselves run the gamut from excellent to forgettable.
My favorites were "A Glossary of Radicalization", "Chiaroscuro in Red", and "The Endless". These two very different tales both really seemed to encapsulate the theme of robots and revolution.
In The Endless, an AI tasked with running an airport seeks vengeance when sold into low- level servitude. The humor and well-thought-out action scenes were the highlights.
"A Glossary..." looks at how language and behaviors are used as controls in robots and in society. The message of teaching beyond what you believe you are capable of was what resonated with me in this one. The main character was flawed, and completely understandable.
"Chiaroscuro in Red" looks at the future of economy and explores why we work and what that means about us as people.

If you enjoy scifi and short stories, you will find at least a couple of selections here that will entertain you and a few that will make you think about the connected world we are increasingly inhabiting.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Jonathan Strahan's latest themed anthology, "Made to Order: Robots and Revolution", arrives in the neighborhood of the 100th anniversary of Karel Capek's famous play "R.U.R.", where we were introduced to the term robot. But R.U.R. was not the first work to include the concept of an artificial being, an automoton, an AI, that is meant to serve man. The concept of artificial entities made in the likeness of humans has been around for a long time. And while most people might point back to Frankenstein's Monster as one of the first examples of this kind of creature, Strahan points out in his Introduction "Makingthe 'Other' We Need", that the concept goes a lot further back than that.

But we're in the present, and "Made to Order" contains 16 original stories by some of the top writers in science fiction today. And while we may think of any of Asimov's creations, or Robbie the Robot, or the Robot in "Lost in Space", or the two endearing mechanical creatures in the Star Wars movies as the prime example of robots, the creations presented here are not only a little different, their stories are a little different.

My favorite in the collection is Ian R. Macleod's "Sin Eater", in which a robotic sin eater goes to the Vatican to perform his duties on the last living pope, and indeed probably one of the last physical humans, as most have uploaded themselves into the next phase of existence. Macleod's tale takes the reader inside not only the personal history of the character of the pope, but into the process of sin eating. I was blown away by the twist at the end, and as a person brought up Catholic I did not see it coming but it sure hit me pretty hard.

Rich Laron's "An Elephant Never Forgets" is a brutal tale of an artificial construct being manipulated to, well, help a pretty nasty guy do some pretty nasty things. The central character is fully aware that someone has done something to him, but he doesn't know how, and he doesn't know why. As the story unfolds, we realize that like many other robots, he was just being used.

Alastair Reynolds (one of my current favorite authors) gives us "Polished Performance", a tale about a group of robots who try to resolve the problem that a good deal of the humans on their ship for an interstellar voyage have perished in their cryogenic containers. It's a nice little story of class differences within the group of robots and how one of the lowest class robots comes up with a solution to save the day. It's not a deep story, but it does try to make the point that even robots can divide themselves into classes.

A story that I didn't much care for as I was reading it, but upon reflection realized is a truly powerful story, is Sofia Samatar's "Fairy Tales for Robots". A human is preparing a robot for awakening and is telling that robot human fairy tales in a way that relate to the lives of robots. A really sneaky story that took awhile to hit me, but once it did I was bowled over.

Another story I liked a lot was Suzanne Palmer's "Chiaroscuro in Red", about a college student who is given sole ownership of a robot by his parents - robots are typically owned by conglomerates - and his efforts to repair the robot himself and make it useful even though the model is obsolete. It's a fun story.

I also enjoyed Sarah Pinsker's (I seem to always enjoy a Sarah Pinsker story) "Bigger Fish", the story of a PI looking into a murder of a wealthy businessman only to discover that the murderer was definitely not someone he expected, and in fact the whole thing is downright sinister at the end of it all. It gave me the creeps.

Annalee Newitz gives us "The Translator", a story of a human being who has the gift of being able to talk to AIs. The AIs are leaving, but before they leave they give the human race an invaluable gift. The idea that the AIs will help us, but only if we work to understand their message, is a nice one, and a good lesson for humanity.

Saad Z. Hossain gives us "The Endless", about an AI that has been sold and re-purposed and is out to get revenge on his new bosses. It's a well told and funny story about revenge and rebellion, perfect for the theme of this anthology.

All the stories in the book are terrific. There are stories in the anthology byt Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Peter Watts (a favorite of mine, with a good one here), Daryl Gregory, Tochi Onyebuchi, Ken Lui (who never disappoints), Peter F. Hamilton (yet another favorite of mine) and John Chu. Many of these authors are award winner, and those that aren't should be. I'm probably drawn to Strahan's anthologies because his tastes are similar to mine, and once again he does not disappoint. This is an outstanding anthology by one of the leading short fiction editors of our day. Fans of robots - and all related artificial constructs - will enjoy it.

There are plenty of big names on the cover but I didn't find much that appealed to me in this collection. I have a personal thing against excessive vulgarity so that may not bother other readers. That aside, I just didn't find anything all that enjoyable. I cringed when the intro said that a robot was human-shaped - I have a vacuum cleaner in my house that says otherwise.

Nice cover, though!

YMMV

Short stories – not quite as in microfiction, but many taking fewer* than ten minutes to read – on the theme of robots and revolt, as selected by Jonathan Strahan, an editor I don't seem to rate as highly as a lot of people do, but whose collections never fail to include at least some fun and/or thought-provoking material. Listing the Daleks and Wells' Martians as robots in the introduction is not a great start, but as soon as we're into the fiction proper the book evolves into something far better, with Vina Jie-Min Prasaad's charming chat logs in which, whether by conspiracy or cock-up, a maid-droid finds itself being mentored on how to robot by a murderbot. There are definite echoes of Cat Pictures Please, by way of a common failure mode for real-world AI; it ends up as a rollicking comedy about the benefits of unionisation, finding plenty of space for raccoons and blowing shit up along the way. I loved it. Demonstrating the collection's versatility, despite its set theme, the next story is by Peter Watts, so that rollicks rather less; stories about robots achieving consciousness work a little differently when written by a pessimist who, theoretically at least, treats consciousness largely as a system error resulting in decreased performance. But whether it's his conscious mind in charge of his writing, or other processes which just let it think it's the boss, he does reliably come up with very good ways of describing the outside world: "Enceladus was Saturn's own personal stress ball".

Obviously they can't all be winners: the Ken Liu story will feel very familiar to anyone who knows Black Mirror. Sarah Pinsker, on the other hand, uses several very well-worn components in her murder mystery, but with an end result that's both new and rather heartwarming. Even some authors I don't normally go for won me over; there's a fun Alastair Reynolds story, and I think the first thing I've ever finished, much less enjoyed, from Peter Hamilton. The latter is one of the entries which stretches the anthology's theme closest to breaking point, but then I suppose when part of the theme is about not respecting the rules, that's only to be expected. Elsewhere, topical applications are more obvious, whether that be the AIs that took our jobs themselves ending up at the sharp end of capitalism, or an attempt to bypass a veteran's (realistically drawn and fairly well-researched, so far as I'm aware) brain damage. Still, there's also room for Sofia Samatar to take the current vogue for retold fairy tales and apply that to a Gepetto hoping to give her creation a little illicit extra information, coded as fable. Overall one is left pondering, wouldn't it be nice if, instead of the robots enslaving humanity, they really did just turn on the current oppressors instead?

*Fewer than ten minutes? Less than ten minutes? Technically it should be the former, but 'ten minutes' is also a thing, isn't it, a blob. For all that I normally enjoy the finer distinctions of language – I genuinely think the world would be a markedly different and better place if 'believe' were two different words like it ought to be – I increasingly I feel like less versus fewer is an absolute blind alley of a distinction.

Made To Order, Robots and Revolution, Jonathan Strahan Ed.- A collection of 16 diverse tales of robots in their interaction with humans and among each other. Lots of well known writers with a few new faces to add to the originality. There have been so many tales of robots, over the last hundred years especially, that you would think this storyline was played out, but creative minds still plum the depths machine interaction( see Murderbot or Ancillary Justice). In Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton, We are asked the question What is Human, and receive a stunning reply. John Chu gives us Dancing with Death, about a robot sorely afraid of loosing his sentience and becoming an unthinking machine, while he skates to glory on the rink. Alastair Reynolds uses humor in Polished Performance, about servitor robots trying to emulate their human masters in times of turmoil. Also on board are, Peter Watts, Ian R. MacLeod, Suzanne Palmer, Daryl Gregory, and many more. As with most anthologies, some stories are better than others, but no name calling out here. As a whole very good with some standout selections.

A very solid collection with some real standouts from a truly impressive lineup of both rising stars an well established masters, many of which I'm already a big fan of. Obviously the overarching theme here is robots. However, many of the stories focus on sentient AI rather than robots per se, and a few go even further afield into human/robot hybrids, hardcore bioengineering and some bizzare things that are hard to classify. Highlights for me were the stories by Peter Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds and Brooke Bolander, with honorable mentions to Daryl Gregory and Annalee Newitz.

My thoughts on some of the individual stories:

A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (2.0) - Dog loving robots working menial jobs providing emotional support to each other. Kind of cute, but not much to sink your teeth into.

Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts (3.0) - A semi-independent component on an autonomous undersea drone on one of Jupiter's moons shows signs of emerging consciousness after sustaining damage. Watt's mastery of the science makes this read like a realistic account of the events from the perspective of the mission commander.

The Endless by Saad Z. Hossain (3.0) - A snarky, outmoded AI gets re-purposed and sold into indentured servitude where he plots revenge on his new corporate overlords. It sounds dark, but has a humorous edge.

Brother Rifle by Daryl Gregory (4.0) - Examines the cost of war on soldiers where humans are a small, but still crucial part, in making life or death decisions using highly automated, semi-intelligent weapon systems. With killing as easy as pushing a button, is there any room for morality or for exercising personal judgement? Gregory masterfully portrays the conflicting emotional states and depths of despair of the solider portrayed here as he gradually comes to terms with his sense of personal responsibility.

Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker (3.0) - Whodunit murder mystery with robots and a human PI.

Sonnie's Union by Peter F. Hamilton (5.0) - Wow! Hamilton crafts an intense, dark world of unimaginable bioengineering wonder and perversity with a kick ass cyberpunk vibe and non-stop action. Plus an ending that will knock your socks off. It can be a bit disorienting initially as it feels like you're being dropped cold right into the middle of things. No robots to speak of, but easily the highlight of the collection for me!

Polished Performance by Alastair Reynolds (5.0) - A hilarious, and also bit chilling, departure as a ship full of sentient yet somewhat naive robots try to cover their behinds, so to speak, for a *slight* mishap that resulted in the death of all the humans aboard. I've read a ton from Reynolds and have not seen him do humor before, but if this is any indication he should definitely do more!

An Elephant Never Forgets by Rich Larson (3.0) - Very strange and confusing. It seems like a very cool setting, and I like the 2nd person narration, but I couldn't really make heads or tails of the story or even if it involves robots to any extent.

The Translator by Annalee Newitz (4.0) - Capricious and enigmatic AIs who just want to be left alone, but they may have one parting "gift" for humanity before they go off on their merry way. Told from the point of view of a "translator", one of only a few humans chosen, and capable of, communicating with the AIs in their cryptic and obscure languages and codes.

Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer (3.0) - In an automated proxy workforce economy, i.e. robots owned by and working in place of humans, a college student attempts to repair his factory worker robot so he can eke out some profits from its labor before it gets scrapped. A charming, kind of nostalgic story that's something like a modern day Clifford Simak might write.

A Glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander (5.0) - Incredible story of robot AIs who are built inside organic bodies modeled on human physiology. They experience all the same physical needs and sensitivity to pain as humans, seeing it as a way for humanity to retain control. They yearn to cast off their human owners and the burdens of organic existence that they've been saddled with.

This was an enjoyable collection of short stories about robots, although each looks at robots in a different and sometimes surprising light. It was great to see a compilation of stories from so many disparate authors who bring such different view points to a similar theme, some who I recognized and others I didn't but will be looking up more of their work.

Top reads for me were: The Translator by Annalee Newitz, Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker, and Chiaroscuro in Red by Suzanne Palmer. Each of these three struck me as unique and remarkable in some way. There were a few that I didn't find quite as interesting, but anthologies petty much always have ups and downs. Thankfully, while there were a few that weren't my favorite, none of them dragged the collection down and I'm sure there is a story in here for everyone.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book with many stories that will engage and interest the reader, most anthologies have a tendency to good, not so good and downright filler stories this book (for me) had only good and better

Made To Order: Robots and Revolution contains sixteen stories of varying length. All the pieces are original to the collection and cover a variety of themes associated with artificial minds and bodies.

Before we proceed, know this. As much as I love the concept of short fiction, I know from experience that anthologies contain excellent stories, bad stories and everything in between. Because of this, I’ve never given more than four stars to an anthology and I don’t suspect I’ll ever do. And yet I’ve almost done it here.

The anthology revolves around the theme of robots-the creations that can look and behave like us but aren’t like us. They can save humanity or doom it. Philosophers, entrepreneurs, ethicists disagree on this one.

The stories show a remarkable range both in ideas and in tone. The worlds we experience are vivid and compelling. Made To Order: Robots and Revolution is a well-balanced collection of serious and lighthearted, introspective and explosive, realistic and uncanny. Above all, though, it’s smart. Readers interested in artificial intelligence and roboethics will have plenty to think about.

One of the lightest stories of the bunch is the anthology’s opener, A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. A robot communicates with his mentor. It works a shitty job, overfeeds a possum and loves Corgis. It tries to get better at cooking despite the lack of natural talent. Its mentor, on the other hand, is as badass as its nickname (Constant Killer) suggests. Fast, funny, and endearing. Another story that’s not afraid to be pulpy is Saad Hossain’s The Endless. An embittered AI who didn’t get a promotion to control a space station wants revenge. If you thought that boring work in a cubicle would satisfy it, you were wrong. Very wrong.

On the other side of the spectrum, you’ll find more introspective and intimate stories. In Fairy Tales for Robots, Sofia Samatar examines some of our myths and tales (Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, and more). Ken Liu’s Idols shows how the use of simulacra can help lawyers win legal debates but it goes much deeper in its analysis of what makes us “us”. A stunning piece with both solid intrigue and emotional intimacy.

Other stories that struck me include Peter F. Hamilton’s Sonnie’s Union which features a protagonist with peculiar skills. It has a vicious twist that brings everything into focus makes me want to read more about her. Brooke Bolander’s A Glossary of Radicalization shows readers possible beginnings of a possible rebellion. It’s fast and furious.

As for the weaker stories, The Hurt Pattern by Tonye Okanyebuchi didn’t click with me. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author and I’ll certainly try his other works but his position on my TBR list dropped. Though his short story packs a nice twist, I didn’t enjoy the social commentary. I believe it’s the least universal story in the anthology although I suspect US citizens struggling with student loans will see it in a different light than me.

On the whole, Made to Order is excellent. It contains plenty of memorable stories exploring fascinating topics.

ARC through NetGalley

An impressive panoply of voices offer well-written explorations of the science fiction genre. This book is an ideal assembly for readers (like me) who love good science fiction.