Review: Falling in Love with Hominids

Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclosure: I released an e-galley copy of this book from Netgalley.

My problem with this book is that if every story were as good or better than the best story in this collection, it would be really good, and possibly even great. Unfortunately, the best stories here are worlds better than the worst - and even much better than the second-tier stories, which for me lands this collection squarely in the "decent" category.

There are several stories that are only a page or two long, and - especially given their brief introductory statements - feel much more like drafts of writing exercises than publishable stories. I'm also not a fan of Hopkinson's tendency to use song lyrics as a frame for her stories; there's been one or two instances where it adds depth, but usually it just makes it read like fanfiction, where that format is popular. There are also quite a few stories that feel childish. Maybe their original audience was young adults or kids, but it makes the collection feel even more like a smattering of every piece of short matter Hopkinson has ever written. A lot of them just have a strange, inconsistent tone where things are incredibly absurd but supposed to be taken seriously. And generally they suffer from a lack of plot, substituting absurdity or spectacle for substance.

The Bordertown shared-universe short story was a standout, to me; it's one of the longer stories and I feel that it benefits from the direction and structure that comes with the length. There were a few others I enjoyed while reading them, but to be honest I can't remember them right now, which doesn't say a whole lot about how good they are.

On the plus side, it's definitely a fresh and imaginative collection with a lot of out-there ideas and a perspective you don't often see in SF. I just wish it were better executed.

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