Forward Collection (Books 1 - 3): Ark by Veronica Roth, Summer Frost by Blake Crouch, Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin
Book 1: Ark by Veronica Roth
The first story in the collection is (so far) the one that felt like a beginning chapter to a much longer tale. It opens two weeks before the Earth is impacted by a huge asteroid. The asteroid impact is something the world has been aware of for a very long time before its impact, and people have been preparing in various ways. Most of the population has already left to head to another planet, but some scientists have stayed behind until the last possible moment to continue collecting and cataloging specimens before Earth is destroyed.
Samantha is cataloging plant specimens and planning to stay behind to watch the world end. She connects with another, older scientist planning to stay behind, and begins to think that the future on a spaceship may be the life for her after all.
I really wanted a lot more backstory and also to find out what would happen next when I finished this one. It felt very incomplete, and like a preview chapter instead of a finished storyline.
Final rating: ★★★☆☆
Book 2: Summer Frost by Blake Crouch
A video game developer in a much more advanced technological world than the one we are living in becomes completely obsessed with her project, to the detriment of everything else in her life. The tech in this story was far beyond my comprehension, but still felt somewhat accessible because of the authors fantastic writing.
As years pass, and Maxine become more and more advanced, her creator goes from questioning what the company is doing giving so much knowledge and space to grow to an AI to treating the AI as a real person, with disastrous consequences.
This story felt much more complete than its predecessor. The ending felt somewhat rushed, but I think that is just a byproduct of the short story format.
Final rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5 stars)
Book 3: Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin
A traveler from a distant planet is sent on a mission to the ravaged, uninhabited Earth for research and resource recovery work. When he arrives on planet, he quickly realizes that all is not as it should be. Not only is Earth inhabited, it is flourishing, and everything he sees, hears, and discovers goes against what the leaders of his planet have told their small population.
He grapples with the right thing to do for himself, and also for the people outside of the ruling class on his home planet, and is guided by a kind earthling who just wants to help him see through the evil and find the truth.
I did not really get in to this story for almost the first half, and then there were a couple pages I just really didn't like. I felt at that point like the author was using a real world issue to try to make the story more than it really was. However, as the story drew towards its conclusion it felt less antagonistic, and more relevant to the point she was trying to make.
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