Instantiation

Another awesome collection by Egan. The large majority of the stories I read by Egan are satisfying the exact desire I have for sci-fi, which is something like being both weird and believable, pushing the edges of reality while still trying to exist within a logical framework. When the rules are broken they are done so in a way that feels creative and thrilling, and not at all like cheating.

Egan’s characters aren’t the best I’ve ever encountered, but they haven’t distracted me from the stories. The arcs that the characters take are inseparable from the larger scientific narrative that he builds, and the diversity of his writing is just as enjoyable as always. This collection follows the same “hard sci-fi” pattern, where knowing some background knowledge of nerdy stuff can be a tremendous aid to understanding and inhabiting the worlds that Egan constructs, but I wouldn’t say you need to be a rocket scientist to enjoy his works.