A well put together anthology starts with a strong story and ends with a strong story. Unfortunately this collection starts with a rather weak story by Stephen Baxter, Tempest 43, and ends with predictable murder mystery by Chris Roberson, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. Luckily there are better stories in this collection, like Seeds by Tony Ballantyne which charts the history of a man who buys and grows an AI and what humans may be able to teach those more intelligent than themselves. Another good story is Three Princesses by Robert Reed, a prolific and under appreciated novelist, about how a future Disneyland might use AI. Paul di Fillipo's story, The New Cyberiad, is amusingly charming. Unfortunately for readers looking for stories about AI, some of the stories have nothing to do with computers or AI, but with aliens or secret government agencies. Overall this is a good collection with some good stories, but never a great collection. ( )

This anthology of stories about the lives of artificial intelligences was not amazing enough to recommend, but I did enjoy most of the stories. The book contains the following pieces:

Tempest 43 (Stephen Baxter)--an okay story about several personalities struggling with each other on a satellite

The Highway Code (Brian Stableford)--sweet story about the meditations of a long haul truck

Salvage Rites (Eric Brown)--a potentially creepy story about finding the remains of a spaceship that was sent out by the church.

The Kamikaze Code (James Lovegrove)--I love the idea for this story, and it has the ending, though not shocking, is very appropriate.

Adam Robots (Adam Roberts)--Beautiful and vivid, this story tells about AI's that are faced with a dilemma of obedience.

Seeds (Tony Ballantyne)--I like this idea for a story, but somehow Tony Ballantyne falls just a little short of the mark. It's almost so good.

Lost Places of the Earth (Steven Utley)--This one is about a seduction, but it didn't really do anything for me.

The Chinese Room (Marly Youmans)--I liked the setup for this one, but it was hard to make sense of in the end what with trying to keep track of the people and the computers and the similar names.

Three Princesses (Robert Reed)--This one is a bit heavy-handed.

The New Cyberiad (Paul Di Filippo)--This one has a nice plot line about two inventors but the author seems to be trying too hard to be cute with the names, etc.

That Laugh (Patrick O'Leary)--This one fell flat for me.

Alles In Ordnung (Garry Kilworth)--This one was deliciously short and creepy.

Sweats (Keith Brooke)--This is a story along the theme of being able to upload and download minds and was fun to read to find out what Brooke was going to do with the issues he raised.

Some Fast Thinking Needed (Ian Watson)--The idea of the Matrioshkas is very cool, and the developing conversation is interesting, but the end just kind of fizzles out.

Dragon King of the Eastern Sea (Chris Roberson)--This nicely-done murder mystery has some of the same themes as the Highway Code. ( )