Infinity Wars (The Infinity Project Book 6)

The sixth entry in Jonathan Strahan's Infinity Project, INFINITY WARS, explores what war would be like in the future. That, however is such an oversimplification as to be misleading. There's military science fiction, and then there's the type of military science fiction as depicted by the terrific 15 stories written by some of the best in the science fiction field that are included in this volume. The stories here are largely character driven, and focus on the impact that war has on its participants as well as those people who are not active participants. As usual, Strahan has assembled a star-studded diverse group of writers, both new and old, both unfamiliar and well-known.I've always been a sucker for anything Peter Watts writes, and his story "ZeroS" does not disappoint. A group of zombies - resurrected humans who are used to test new weaponry that is essentially an upgrade to the human body, turning them into enhanced humans - are dispatched to fight a series of encounters that is beta testing for the weapons systems. The story explores the humanity that the soldiers still have - even though they are technically dead - as they witness first hand the violence of war and the atrocities they are visiting upon their victims. The zombies - the ZeroS of the title - don't actually know what's going on at first. All they know is if they serve their period as ZeroS - they will eventually be returned to real life. But as the realization that they are nothing but test subjects hit them, the conflict between war and wanting to live again comes to the forefront. It's a terrific tale.Another favorite is Elizabeth Bear's "Perfect Gun", about a freelance operative named John who buys a "rig" - a war machine with an AI for a brain - to allow him to provide his services to the highest bidder. It took time for John and the rig to build a relationship - an odd term to be using between a mercenary and a war machine - that once built, proved to make for a profitable period for John. Profitable, that is, until moral ambiguity entered the fray. The reaction of the ship - whose John (and we, for that matter) never learned, made it's own decision by the end of the story. "Perfect Gun" lets us know that even AIs have their limits.Caroline M. Yoachim provides another favorite, "Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship", about a soldier that is heavily modified to infiltrate an enemy ship to try to prevent said enemy - the Faceless, who modify themselves by using body parts from conquered foes - from making progress using "fire kittens" to teleport - because that's what they do - weaponry, and thus turn the tide of the war. The modifications to Eknudayo's body come with a catch; if she doesn't complete her mission within a specified period of time, she will actually become a member of the enemy race. It's a fascinating story about the lengths participants in war will go to in an effort to prevent the enemy from gaining an advantage.Garth Nix gives us the delightful "Conversations with an Armory", in which military personnel at a lonely, isolated, and nearly abandoned outpost desperately try to activate and open an armory, controlled by an entertaining but strictly rule following AI, so as to get at its stored weapons cache and as a result defend themselves against an attack. This is not a deep, thought provoking story by any means, but in its own way lets the reader know that there can be a humorous side to war as well as the side we're all to familiar with.These aren't the only terrific stories in the book, of course. "Dear Sarah", by Nancy Kress, shows us how war can affect familial relationships, and not in a good way. An Owomoyela gives us "The Last Broadcasts", about the deceptions involved in war and how one participant reacts to that deception once the truth comes out. It's a powerful lesson about war not being just about guns and ships and explosions. Dominica Phetteplace's "The Oracle" is a tale of realizing not all that you wish for, especially in war time, is a good time, especially when it comes to the AIs involved. E.J Swift gives us "Weather Girl", a rather interesting story with a twist I don't remember having read before, about being able to block enemies from determining weather patterns and how disastrous storms can be used as weapons. Sometimes weapons have unintended consequences - in this case it's a former partner of the protagonist getting caught in the path of the storm - result, and those consequences do weigh heavily on the people who make those decisions. Eleanor Arnason's "Mines" is a study of people living on an Earth devastated by climate change and how those people cope. Here, mines dot the landscape, and these mines and how they are detected are the backdrop of a relationship between two people. It's a touching, powerful tale.I could continue, but I think that you get the idea of how these stories operate. They make you think about war in a different way - a way that may not be something that you're used to. Stories by Carrie Vaughn ("The Evening of Their Span of Days"), Indrapramit Das ("The Moon is Not a Battlefield"), Aliette de Bodard - rapidly becoming a favorite of mine - ("In Everlasting Wisdom"), David D. Levine ("Command and Control"), Rich Larson - a rising star in the field - ("Heavies"), and Genevieve Valentine ("Overburden") all give us glimpses into the future of war and its effects on those involved.Once again, Jonathan Strahan has assembled an outstanding anthology; he's one of the best there is at putting themed anthologies together, and of course his annual "Year's Best" is always a treat. Strahan has his finger on the pulse of the field when it comes to short fiction, and he always seems to pick the best of the best. I highly recommend Infinity Wars and everything else Strahan puts together. Reading any of his books will be time well spent.

As Strahan collections go, this is right up there. While a decidely few stories were B-list, the remainder pulled their weight quite nicely. I did however, feel the "woke" mentality starting to creep in--albeit it slightly--but I surmise that is the price we pay given the state of affairs lately. That being said, the Infinity series is quite well done...always satisfying.

This book is a collection of short stories of war under various and multiple forms. Short stories are each between twenty and forty pages long. While readers, starting with myself, will prefer some stories to others, there are not any weal stories or, perhaps more accurately, none that I really disliked or found poor.One theme that is present in several of them is climate change and warfare. A particularly horrific story is about stealthy cyberattacks associated with tsunamis and the catastrophic destruction that these might create.Another theme is about war in space. A particularly good story is Faceless soldiers, Patchwork Ship where the rather frightening enemy turns out to be not at all bent on aggression. Another story – Conversations with an Armory – is perhaps one of the most original where convalescent soldiers aboard a decommissioned warship desperately try to get the Armory’s AI to recognise them and obey them.A third theme is about proxy wars of attrition on distant or not so distant (the Moon in particular) colonies. My favourite here is Mines where the heroin, a discharged and traumatised soldier on a distant colony, still takes part in the war of attrition between the two colonies along with her special associate.Another theme is the use of science and biology in particular for war purposes. Another story associated with war trauma is ZeroS where a secret experiment uses the dead to make elite soldiers and dissociate them from their conscience for reasons that became apparent at the end.Four strong stars for the lot.

Another exceptional compendium put together by SF writer and editor Jonathan Strahan. When I began the collection, the stories were good enough to keep the pages turning regularly, but it wasn't until I was fully immersed that I realized I was hooked (again). This makes around the fifth anthology of SF short stories I've put away now that was put together by Strahan, and I look forward to more still. His picks just seem to really work for me. This maybe wasn't the hit knocked clean out of the park that other of his collections have been for me, but that's okay. I enjoyed the book, absolutely loved many of the tales, and when I finished the final compelling (and kind of creepy) yarn, I was able to shut down my Kindle app with feelings of sleepy satisfaction and contentment. Another winner for me.

Wow! Stunning collection of shorter SF stories exploring future wars , soldiers and wars impacts. The target time frames range from tomorrow to hundreds of years away and the writing is all excellent and several outstanding. Two of the standouts are by E. J. Swift and Peter Watts and, I repeat, to me there are no weak stories.Jonathan Strahan has, again, curated, a superb collection of stories peering into the future. Be warned, they are not nice and pretty, rather they are real. Descriptions gloss over graphic details where appropriate and show the details where appropriate.

This anthology was middle of the road for me. Several stories were very good, several not so much. The good ones were really good and thought provoking the not so good either over my head on just not personally interesting.

Some just so-so introductions to a series and others just okay "war is bad" stories. Mediocre SF -- one of the few books that I've debated just deleting without finishing.

Nice collection overall with a couple real gems!

Weakest book of the Infinity Project series

This is not cheerful reading, but considering the subject, expect that.What is is, however, is brilliant reading. There is a lot here that stretches the envelope in some quite unexpected directions!I've bought another two of the Project on the strength of this.

Sixième installation de l'Infinity Project, Infinity wars s'attaque à tout un pan de l'histoire de la SF : la guerre. Du roman Starship Troopers de Robert Heinlein au dernier Star Wars de Disney, la science-fiction et la guerre ont toujours fait bon ménage. Le projet de Jonathan Strahan se devait d'aborder le sujet en le plaçant sous le regard d'auteurs de Hard-SF en 2017. La question est double : que seront les guerres du futur et comment vivront nous avec les dommages qu'elles engendrent ? Les réponses sont aussi diverses que les 15 nouvelles qui composent ce recueil qui est un excellent cru dans la série. Je note que Jonathan Strahan a fait le choix intéressant de confier la rédaction d'une majorité des nouvelles de ce recueil à des femmes, prenant ainsi à revers les critiques récurrentes de la SF militaire lui reprochant son côté machiste.Les 15 nouvelles qui conposent ce recueil sont :- The evening of their span of day de Carrie Vaughn- The last broadcasts d'Ana Owomoyela- Faceless soldiers, patwork ship de Caroline M. Yoachim- Dear Sarah de Nancy Kress- The Moon is not a battlefield d'Indrapramit Das- Perfect Gun d'Elizabeth Bear- The Oracle de Dominoca Phetteplace- In everlasting wisdom d'Aliette de Bobard- Command and control de David Levine- Conversation with an Armory de Garth Nix- Heavies de Rich Larson- Overburden de Genevieve Valentine- Weather Girl de E.J. Swift- Mines d'Eleanor Arnason- ZeroS de Peter WattsJ'ai particulièrement aimé les nouvelles ZeroS de Peter Watts, Dear Sarah de Nancy Kress, Heavies de Rich Larson et Prefect Gun d'Elizabeth Bear.Si vous le souhaitez, vous retrouverez une critique plus détaillée sur mon blog dont l'adresse se trouve dans mon profil.

Military themed science fiction, but not at all conventional. Some well known authors, others less so. I didn't like all of the stories and you probably won't either, but interesting and thought provoking throughout.

It doesn't live up to the previous hyped comments at all. I love short stories, but these were rather tame and just seem like opening chapters to a full novel. While the writing and composition style are good, there really isn't any content to speak of. I certainly didn't go away thinking, wow that was a thought provoking story.