Really appreciate (and agree with) this review. A lot of people adore Chiang, and I've been meaning to read some of his more recent and highly-acclaimed short stories, which have gotten crazy and persuasive praise, but I've only read this book. And while I felt he had some clever ideas and technical skill, his characters felt to me like absolute cardboard, and something about his writing--I'm not quite sure how to describe it, perhaps his lack of interest in the social ramifications of his ideas--leaves me cold. (I do vaguely remember that one of his stories was premised on math instead of science--something about dividing by zero?--which I found incredibly cool, but I think it's telling that I remember the premise and nothing else about the story.)

The exception to that is "Story of Your Life," which is probably one of the best short stories I have ever, ever read, and made me cry. It was so powerful. I would wade through his next collection to find a story half as good.