Arrival is a collection of science fiction short stories that largely focus on cognition. In this article I'll give a brief review and rank them on worldbuilding, story, concept and how much I recommend it as a read. Hopefully I haven't doubled up on numbers. It's awkward checking on mobile.
Tower of Babylon
An excellent job on worldbuilding but the ending is predictable and there's no real story; it's more of an extended description. It's also the only one that doesn't seem to have been built around a core concept.
Worldbuilding: 1/8
Story: 8/8
Clarity: 2/8
Concept: 8/8
Recommemded: 8/8
Understand
This one came across as a cross between Lucy (though Peter executed) and the Bourne Identity. I found it fairly enjoyable. The concept of Gestalt communication was intriguing and I felt sorry for the main character by the end of it.
It's not very clear at times, though intentional to emphasise the otherworldly nature of the new mode of thinking. Its still annoying. Worldbuilding is non-existant but it pretty much set in the modern day and focuses more on the inner journey so that doesn't really detract from it.
Worldbuilding: 8/8
Story: 5/8
Clarity: 5/8
Concept: 6/8
Recommended: 4/8
Division by Zero
An interesting take on the impact of paradigm shifts upon an individual. The maths interludes are fine but there was a lot of waffle in this one.
Worldbuilding: 6/8
Story: 6/8
Clarity: 6/8
Concept: 7/8
Recommended: 7/8
Story of Your Life
The story that Arrival was based on. It focuses on aliens that perceive the universe differently to us and it's well presented. The description of the language is reminiscent of Understand in a good way.
The story of the main characters daughter, what the short story is named after, wasn't enjoyable. The way it was told was to emphasise the alien nature of the visitors but it didn't seem to actually add anything.
Worldbuilding: 5/8
Story: 3/8
Clarity: 7/8
Concept: 2/8
Recommended: 3/8
Seventy-two Letters
An expansion on the Jewish Golem myth. There's a clear steampunk aesthetic and the themes of classism and redundancy are well executed but it feels like it doesn't really end.
It also feels like it was originally 2 distinct story's that where meshed together.
[spoiler paragraph]
When they find out that humanity has only 3 generations left they learn how to impress names on eggs to continue the species. When they discover how to make sperm that able to impress names upon eggs to make them self perpetuating, the story was screaming an upcoming twist that didn't happen; this isn't the first generation of humanity but rather continuation of a cycle that doesn't end.
[End spoiler paragraph]
Worldbuilding: 2/8
Story: 4/8
Clarity: 5/8
Concept: 1/8
Recommended: 2/8
Evolution of Human Science
Humanity has a gene therapy that can greatly improve children but there's such a vast difference that they become basically incomprehensible to normal humans. Includes fear of change, loss, and the unknown as well as clear societal shift
Worldbuilding: 7/8
Story: 7/8
Clarity: 8/8
Concept: 5/8
Recommended: 6/8
Hell is the Absence of God
Heaven and Hell are real and angels come to Earth on a regular basis performing miracles and cursing people with no explanation. You can also see when people go to heaven or hell.
It focuses on the aftermath of visitations by angels and coping with the havoc it wrecks. It's interesting how the main character recongizes that he can't worship as a means to an end he wants to get in. The tale of the cripple character is good but I don't really like her.
There's an implication that the only way into heaven is to sacrifice your sense of self but it's never explicitly said.
Worldbuilding: 4/8
Story: 2/8
Clarity: 3/8
Concept: 4/8
Recommended: 5/8
Liking What You See: A Documentary
This is probably the story best suited for television. It drew a lot of parallels to other social movements, I particularly liked the underhanded tactics undertaken by the cosmetics industry.
The documentary format allowed us to simultaneously see the societal impact of Calli as well as the how it affects the individual by following the story of Tamara. What makes this effective is that it seems a reasonable approximation of the future.
Worldbuilding: 3/8
Story: 1/8
Clarity: 1/8
Concept: 3/8
Recommended: 1/8
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