Or Else the Light

The Dystopia Triptych, Book 3

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

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's 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.

Haven’t even finished one story.

Admittedly I’m halfway through and hoping for improvements. So far I fast forward to the next story about halfway through each story. Boring. I expect more from dystopian sci fi. Three stars because I’m being kind.

Mind broadening read.

This is the 3rd book of The Dystopia Triptych. I listened to the first 2 last year. Looking back I rated them 4 stars and still agree with that rating. I admit I listened to them because they were part of the Audible Plus catalog meaning the titles were included with membership and didn’t cost me a credit. The theme of each of these sci-fi stories threads through all 3 books but they still stand on their own. This 3rd book in the series included a couple that seemed rushed to an end but the majority shine. The stories feature 21st century contemporary sci-fi award-winning authors and I do recommend. I started with book 1 and 2 and finished #3 over a period of time of more than a year (with other books in between). The images, characters and ideas presented were strong enough to stick despite the spacing. If you enjoy dystopian sci-fi you’ll enjoy these. The audible presentation was excellent.

Well - not exactly fun sci fi

I grew up in San Francisco, live in Portland Oregon and went to university in Bay Area all liberal areas and I’m a product my environment I suppose because I’m pretty fat lady politically. So when I criticize the politics that dominate this collection it is not that I don’t agree with the message. I just don’t expect to listen to so much politics when i pick up a sci fi. Anthropology. It really would have been better served with less politics and more science fiction.

Dark, Thought Provoking Dystopian Sci-fi

Dystopian works are nearly always political commentary, or commentary on the state of mankind or our view of reality. These stories, when listened to with their counterparts in the other two collections in this series, are incredible.
These stories ask you to reflect on yourself, our society, and our future. Wonderful.

SKEWED

liked some stories, but overall felt like an LGBTQ indoctrination text. Whereas I have no issues with personal choice /orientation, what could have been an exceptional tryptich was overrun by this one theme.

Adams anthologoes used to be good

I love anthologies for the diverse styles and stories. These are not diverse, they are preachy. His work feels like an indoctrination manual into woke ideology NOT an anthology of dystopian stories. No more Adams anthologoes for me unless they were published before 2016. The only diversity he hates is diversity of thought and his editing shows he no longer cares if the writing is good or even interesting as long as it follows his politics.