Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Chiang's long-awaited second collection (after Stories of Your Life (2002), the basis for the 2016 movie Arrival) continues to explore emotional and metaphysical landscapes with precise and incisive prose. The stories range in length from The Great Silence, a brief and mournful account of humanity's search for other intelligent life from the point of view of a parrot, to The Lifecycle of Software Objects, a novella told from the perspective of the inventors and caretakers of digients, sentient software beings. Many stories explore the dynamics of a radically different cosmos, such as the titular Exhalation, set in a sealed metal world whose mechanical inhabitants rely on continuous supplies of air to operate their bodies, or the previously unpublished Omphalos, about a world where visible evidence of an active and creative God is everywhere. Other stories explore scenarios involving radical changes in human consciousness, such as Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom, where technology that allows communication with alternate selves results in a whole new set of anxieties and complexes. Chiang remains one of the most skilled stylists in sf, and this will appeal to genre and literary-fiction fans alike. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
BookPage Reviews
Exhalation
Reading a Ted Chiang anthology is an experience that slowly claims little corners of your brain until eventually your whole head is devoted to it. You read and digest one story, but each tale is so compelling and complex that no matter how long you wait, that first story will continue to beg questions even as you try to digest a second. One after another, Chiang's stories claim their place in your mind until you're completely swept up in his provocative and at times even charming world.
Exhalation, Chiang's latest collection of stories covering almost 20 years of his work, gathers nine tales that ponder questions of the nature of consciousness, the rigidity of history, our relationship with the machines that increasingly take control of our lives and more. In the title story, the narrator uses their own artificial lungs as the basis for a study on the nature of reality. In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," Chiang explores time travel as it might have existed in a time before science fiction pushed it into the public consciousness. "The Great Silence," one of the book's shortest tales, explores the intellect and mortality of a parrot. Then there's the collection's centerpiece, the novella-length "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," which explores the growth and developing lives of a group of digital organisms and the humans who care for them.
Each story is a carefully considered, finely honed machine designed to entertain, but this collection also forces you to look at things like your smartphone or your pet with new eyes. What makes Exhalation particularly brilliant is that not one of the stories feels like it's designed to be thought-provoking in a stilted, academic way. Chiang is an entertaining, empathetic writer first, before being one of contemporary sci-fi's intellectual powerhouses, and each story reads that way.
Exhalation is a must-read for any fan of exquisitely crafted sci-fi. Chiang has reminded us once again that he's one of the most exciting voices in his field, and that we shouldn't expect him to wane any time soon.
Copyright 2019 BookPage Reviews.Kirkus Reviews
Exploring humankind's place in the universe and the nature of humanity, many of the stories in this stellar collection focus on how technological advances can impact humanity's evolutionary journey. Chiang's (Stories of Your Life and Others, 2002) second collection begins with an instant classic, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," which won Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novelette in 2008. A time-travel fantasy set largely in ancient Baghdad, the story follows fabric merchant Fuwaad ibn Abbas after he meets an alchemist who has crafted what is essentially a time portal. After hearing life-changing stories about others who have used the portal, he decides to go back in time to try to right a terrible wrong—and realizes, too late, that nothing can erase the past. Other standout selections include "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," a story about a software tester who, over the course of a decade, struggles to keep a sentient digital entity alive; "The Great Silenc e," which brilliantly questions the theory that humankind is the only intelligent race in the universe; and "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny," which chronicles the consequences of machines raising human children. But arguably the most profound story is "Exhalation" (which won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story), a heart-rending message and warning from a scientist of a highly advanced, but now extinct, race of mechanical beings from another universe. Although the being theorizes that all life will die when the universes reach "equilibrium," its parting advice will resonate with everyone: "Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so." Visionary speculative stories that will change the way readers see themselves and the world around them: This book delivers in a big way. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Reviews
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Publishers Weekly Reviews
Hugo- and Nebula-winner Chiang's standout second collection (after 2002's