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Or Else the Light cover art

Or Else the Light

By: John Joseph Adams - editor, Hugh Howey - editor and contributor, Christie Yant - editor
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer, Gabrielle de Cuir, Susan Hanfield, Janina Edwards, Justine Eyre, Kathe Mazur, Emily Rankin, John Rubinstein, Stefan Rudnicki, Mirron Willis, Judy Young
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Summary

Into the darkness within; or else the light....

When Margaret Atwood wrote these words, she left open the possibility that even our darkest tales may harbor a glimmer of hope. In Or Else the Light, the third and final entry in the Dystopia Triptych, more than a dozen of the best minds in science fiction conclude their stories with a descent into darkness, or perhaps a ray of light.

Edited by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant, the Dystopia Triptych is a series of three anthologies of dystopian fiction. Ignorance Is Strength - before the dystopia - focuses on society during its descent into absurdity and madness. Burn the Ashes - during the dystopia - turns its attention to life during the strangest, most dire times. Or Else the Light - after the dystopia - concludes the saga with each author sharing their own vision of how we as a society might crawl back from the precipice of despair.

Or Else the Light features all-new, never-before-published works by the following authors, in order of appearance: Carrie Vaughn, Tim Pratt, Rich Larson, Cadwell Turnbull, Karin Lowachee, Adam-Troy Castro, Caroline M. Yoachim, Hugh Howey, An Owomoyela, Seanan McGuire, Dominica Phetteplace, Alex Irvine, Tobias S. Buckell, Scott Sigler, Darcie Little Badger, Violet Allen, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.

©2020 by John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, and Christie Yant (P)2020 by Blackstone Publishing and Skyboat Media, Inc.

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Worst of the Three

In general I found the stories in this collection less interesting than in the previous two. For one thing, I feel that dystopian fiction is good because it acts as a warning, and providing an 'after the dystopia' somewhat undermines that warning to some of the earlier stories that were really good. Some of the third stories also feel as if there was no real idea behind them, they were just written as required.

One peculiarity I shall note is that the story 'Spheres and Harmonies' by Tim Pratt should have been in the first book, with the other two stories each shifted a book later. They belong in that order both chronologically and thematically. I think the author must have written the stories out of order and not had the first one ready in time for the first book, as I can think of no reason they would be deliberately out of place like this. This story is not included in my general criticism of this book, but 'Cacophony', the story that should have been here has the same shortcomings that I highlighted above.

This said, there are some really good stories in here; 'Making Faces (Earth)' by is really good, and I honestly found both predecessor stories boring, this totally stands alone. Other good stories in here include 'Blood Relations' by Adam-Troy Castro and 'Why Can't I Sleep a Little Longer?' by Violet Allen.

I wouldn't recommend spending money or a credit on this, but if you have it included like I did then it's worth a listen if you're looking for something.

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Perfect conclusion to the Trilogy!

What an amazing series, thoroughly enjoyed all three books. Amazing stories, exciting new authors, what more could one want?

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