Customer Reviews

The Great Escape

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Ian Watson's The Great Escape is an incredible anthology of nineteen uniquely original and awe-inspiring short stories, ranging from a group of fallen angels determined to escape Hell, to a vampire with a weakness for confectionaries, to the difficulties of caring for aging parents inside of one's brain rather than in a more traditional nursing home. An amazing selection of vibrantly original, eclectic, and sometimes darkly satirical stories that run from one end of the spectrum of the fantastic to the other, The Great Escape bombards the reader with the new, the unexpected, and the stories that just can't be put down.

I'm really somewhat disappointed that I didn't discover Ian Watson's work sooner than now.

With one exception*, the stories presented in this collection not only are entertaining in their own right but each manages to pack at least two or three sorts of ideas into each quite seamlessly. Watson has managed to make even hard-ish sci-fi quite relatable while still exploring exactly what it means to be human...and beyond.

While some of the stories don't have the characters accomplishing much, it is amazing how little that detracts from the ease of reading - Watson has managed to make it so the characters are relatable regardless of what they might actually be accomplishing (or not).

*"My Vampire Cake," which I also thought was a very poor way or wrapping things up; "Ferryman" would have made for a much better last story.

One of SF's most eclectically intelligent writer. Watson provides the reader with a plethora of ideas; the strange, weird, mundane, and eerie, then blends in his own brand of originality and supburb story mastery to give the reader a taste for more of his work, and it's nothing short of brilliant. Gary S. Potter Author/Poet

One of SF's most eclectically intelligent writer. Watson provides the reader with a plethora of ideas; the strange, weird, mundane, and eerie, then blends in his own brand of originality and supburb story mastery to give the reader a taste for more of his work, and it's nothing short of brilliant. Gary S. Potter Author/Poet