Katherine
Short story (well, and in Brandon’s case, novella and “novellas” (Moment Zero is over 50k words BRANDON)) collections are always a little hit and miss, unfortunately. Here’s how I viewed each work: Snapshot: Very good. The idea is fascinating, and the story doesn’t quite go where you might expect.
Brain Dump: Intriguing idea! Loved the ending, personally.
I Hate Dragons: This one is so goofy and dumb, I wouldn’t say it’s good or bad but you can tell it was a writing exercise.
Dreamer: I liked what Brandon was going for in his explanation in the Postscript, but unfortunately I didn’t love how it was executed. It fell very flat.
Perfect State: Interesting concept yet again- Brandon is good at coming up with interesting ideas. The story itself was neat, but didn’t land for me.
Probability Approaching Zero: Honestly I’m just confused.
Defending Elysium: Not my favorite story, but it works well. It has cool ideas that eventually became the Skyward series, but similar to that series it doesn’t quite work for me for some reason.
Firstborn: Liked this one quite a bit! Nature versus nurture is always intriguing to me, and I thought the story was really well done.
Mitosis: Like the rest of the Reckoners series, it’s fine? The main character is still very cringy. Definitely jarring to read with no context from Steelheart. I’ve read Steelheart before, but it was so long ago I don’t remember it well.
Moment Zero: The BIG release in this collection, and it is well deserved to be the main title. The story is fantastic, the pacing is great, and there’s quite a bit of characterization stuffed into this small novel.
Short story (well, and in Brandon’s case, novella and “novellas” (Moment Zero is over 50k words BRANDON)) collections are always a little hit and miss, unfortunately. Here’s how I viewed each work: Snapshot: Very good. The idea is fascinating, and the story doesn’t quite go where you might expect.
Brain Dump: Intriguing idea! Loved the ending, personally.
I Hate Dragons: This one is so goofy and dumb, I wouldn’t say it’s good or bad but you can tell it was a writing exercise.
Dreamer: I liked what Brandon was going for in his explanation in the Postscript, but unfortunately I didn’t love how it was executed. It fell very flat.
Perfect State: Interesting concept yet again- Brandon is good at coming up with interesting ideas. The story itself was neat, but didn’t land for me.
Probability Approaching Zero: Honestly I’m just confused.
Defending Elysium: Not my favorite story, but it works well. It has cool ideas that eventually became the Skyward series, but similar to that series it doesn’t quite work for me for some reason.
Firstborn: Liked this one quite a bit! Nature versus nurture is always intriguing to me, and I thought the story was really well done.
Mitosis: Like the rest of the Reckoners series, it’s fine? The main character is still very cringy. Definitely jarring to read with no context from Steelheart. I’ve read Steelheart before, but it was so long ago I don’t remember it well.
Moment Zero: The BIG release in this collection, and it is well deserved to be the main title. The story is fantastic, the pacing is great, and there’s quite a bit of characterization stuffed into this small novel.