Here, Liu tackles a familiar story: detective decides to take on an overlooked case, and solve the murder of a prostitute. However, in his hands, an old trope becomes a fresh-feeling, genre-crossing thriller. It's not just a murder mystery with a sci-fi veneer - new (believable, fascinating) technology is essential to the crime, the motive, the investigation and the solution. It's also not just an exploration of new ideas in tech innovation - it fully works on a human, emotional level as well. I...

Brainycat's 5 "B"s:blood: 4boobs: 1bombs: 3bondage: 0 blasphemy: 3Bechdel Test: PASSDeggan's Rule: PASSGay Bechdel Test: FAIL Please note: I don't review to provide synopses, I review to share a purely visceral reaction to books and perhaps answer some of the questions I ask when I'm contemplating investing time and money into a book. This collection is exceptionally well curated; I feel like every story fits the theme and every story is strong enough to stand on it's own and provide it's own

Mr. Clarke's anthology was entertaining as well as intriguing. Stories about cyborgs should focus on the themes of what is human and what does augmentation do to someone - does he lose his humanity or become a blend or evolve into something better overall..The stories are well written and intelligent. They span the different genres of science fiction and display the different facets of augmented humanity. I think this is a worthy goal, since the current world needs to think and develop ways to d...

Neil Clarke is magical. This is a great collection, and although there are some problems with a good eighth of the stories, each is powerful, unique, and very engaging. Perhaps after reading fifteen stories about cyborgs I wanted something a bit different, but hey, I knew what I was getting into. Glad I was able to finish this after my Kindle broke in the boy's locker room and I didn't find out how a story ended for months. Now I know.

Backed this on Kickstarter and just got my ebook version a few days ago. As a rule with anthologies, I don't read the stories in order, and typically start with the stories of my favorite contributors and this anthology is no exception. So far, I've read just three stories by authors Tobias Buckell, Ken Liu & E. Lily Yu. If these stories are representative of the rest in the collection then this will be a 5-star book and be considered as one of my all time favorite anthologies.Will update this t...

An above average collection of stories about cyborgs by Neil Clarke, editor of Clarkesworld Magazine who also considers himself a cyborg since his heart operation. Some of the stories consider the impact implants have on a person or on humanitity, other look the at 'daily lives' of cyborgs while others are, personally, a bit too weird for my tastes.Stories I really like in this collection were from Yoon Ha Lee, Robert Reed, A.C. Wise, Ken Liu, Xia Jia and especially the closing stories by Peter

(I got a copy courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)As usual with anthologies, always a tricky read to rate. Some of the stories I really enjoyed, others I found average, others yet were too far from my own tastes to hit home. Nothing unexpected here. All in all, there was only one story I really skipped/skimmed over, and a few that I struggled with at first, but ended up reading all the same, thinking "in the end it was somewhat worth it."Perhaps the theme of "cybernetics" is...

Worth one reading. Not worth a second reading, IMHO.

Welcome to the future where cybernetic implants are the norm, and people look askance if you are more human than not. Well... not all stories show the might of machine over humanity, but it is one of the options available in this collection of tales all-cyber all-the time.If you're a fan of a future or alternate present where mechanical or electrical limbs and organs are available, and where you can view the internet inside your skull, you will probably find at least one story to enjoy out of th...

Ruth Law is a private detective, ex cop, with augmented body and emotion regulator, chasing the murderer of a Chinese prostitute. The police have it down to Chinese gangland violence, but the girl's mother and Law are not convinced. Law works to discover the reason and the linkage with the deaths of other girls in seveal cities. Liu neaty melds Law's own back story - loss of job, marriage and child - into the finale of this murder investigation. Offering great scope for visual effects, sgi, atmo...

What do you do when you have a major heart attack and you're also creator/sustainer of Clarkesworld? You decide to edit an anthology. Natch. And you decide to make the theme of that anthology cyborgs, because you are now one yourself. Thus, Upgraded. Now, before you go all 'hmm, themed anthology' side-eye on me, just steady on. In some stories, being a cyborg is the point; in others it is incidental. Sometimes being a cyborg is a good thing, a positive addition, welcomed. Others, it is something...

Neil Clarke, editor of Clarkesworld magazine, edited this Kickstarter anthology about the positive and negative impacts of cyborgs in science fiction. As a cyborg myself, I was curious enough to contribute to the project. There quite a few big-name authors involved, and the anthology is quite well written with very few duds. A few stories, while good, seem a better fit for a more general sci-fi anthology, but most do a good job presenting a more thoughtful look at the cyborg experience itself. R...

Some excellent stories, some stories which are useful for my upcoming class purposes, some mediocre stories.(Sorry, people, wrong time in the semester for me to have nuanced opinions. ;-) )

I was a backer of this Kickstarter funded anthology. As a rule I am more drawn to non-themed collections than themed but was keen to support, curious and optimistically enthusiastic to give Neil Clarke's original anthology debut a try after enjoying so much of the Clarkesworld magazine stories he has published.Rachel Swirsky - As is usually the case with her we have a poetic, beautifully written piece. Unexpected and powerful exploration of the theme. Very short and more to my taste than the rec...

reviews.metaphorosis.com 4 starsA collection of stories about cyborgs.I've been a fan of editor Neil Clarke's Clarkesworld  magazine for some time now. The stories are consistently good, if with a certain similarity of tone. I was interested to see what he would do with a themed anthology.Happily, Updated has a wide array of styles. It's true that the cyborg theme gets a little wearing - 26 stories about cyborgs is a lot of cyborgs - so there may just be too much of a good thing. But within t...

This is another 'themed' collection. I've read a couple of those earlier this year, and had mixed reactions to them. They had some excellent stories, but also some clunkers, so I gave them three stars. I expected the same from this collection, but here I was suprised by the quality on offer. There were no obvious misfiring stories in here. All were well written, with fascinating worlds and surprising twists and resolutions in the stories. There were a couple of stories that tried to be a little

A mixed bag. Overall, I was not impressed with a good chunk of it. There were a handful of stories I liked and that stood out; the rest ranged from dull to infuriating to forgettable. I was hoping to like this, because the unifying theme--cyborgs--is one I’m always interested in. Mostly I ended up disappointed. “Always the Harvest” by Yoon Ha LeeA fairly strong start to the anthology; the story ends up being something of a love song between a cyborg and a planet, and it’s very sweet.“A Cold Hear...

This was a really tight collection. I didn't quite finish all 26, but that was just because the stories were so dense that I needed a break in between and ran out of library time :) A few didn't quite connect for me, but there were none that I skipped or thought were at all bad.Highly recommended, especially to cyberpunk and body mod fans.

This is a short story I read as part of The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. An escort is murdered and the police are quick to close the case saying it was a gang killing. The mother doesn't think so. She hires a PI to look into it. Well written as per usual by Liu but no surprises - it leads exactly where you think it will. The difference between this an any other generic story of this nature is the people (mostly) all have cybernetic parts. Cameras hidden in the eye, strengthened bones and m...

Turns out I like Neil Clarke's editing style just as much in anthologies as in Clarkesworld. I was one of the kickstarter backers for this book, and I am so delighted with the result. The theme works smoothly, and the stories feel both coherent and full of variety. Some of my personal highlights wereMarried by Helena BellTender by Rachel Swirsky (content warning for self harm on this one)Small Medicine by Genevieve ValentineTongtong’s Summer by Xia Jia