This mainly science fiction collection has some interesting stories, but also a few I didn’t particularly enjoy, that’s why I’m giving it just 3 stars. Quite a few of them are set in dystopian British scenarios and some of them are interconnected and introduce some interesting ideas as “the reefs”, that I wouldn’t mind to read more about. But, overall, I felt a bit disappointed after finishing this book. And although there were not really standouts for me, my favorite story was the last one: “Forever Returning”. ( )

I expected something more from this collection of short stories. Gareth Powell is Welsh, and Wales is very often present in his settings: this is a bit odd, but this is not more a curiosity then a problem. It's more problematic - at least in my own point of view - that he often uses the same basic ideas: nano- (better, femto- ) machines which become intelligent, the end of the universe, and solitary people, maybe the last human beings. True, even Asimov wrote a lot of short stories on the same topic, that is the three laws of robotics: but the Good Doctor exploited the theme to search any possible workaround against the rules he set up, while Powell seems to be stuck in the same situation. This is not a problem if one reads just a single story every now and then, but in an anthology this is a little annoying.
This said, there are many stories which I really appreciated. Besides Entropic Angel which gives the title to the collection, I liked Lift up your Face (even if it is not SF), Red Lights, and Rain, Fallout, The Last Reef (but not the loose sequel), Eleven Minutes, Gonzo Laptop with an AI more real than what it seems), and especially the last story, Forever Returning. In the footnote to the story - by the way, the idea to explain how his works were created is quite interesting - he says that he was trying to write something in the style of Philip Dick. But I think he ended up with a scene which is Fredric Brown at his best! ( )

Great collection of sci-fi short stories. Lots of fun and very well written.
They don't all have the standard sci-fi feel, and some do without every seeing an alien. Good read. ( )

A collection of varying science fiction from very short to short stories- at time almost flash fiction. The setting is usually wales or south england, and usually after some form of calamity has struck. Sometimes the characters are recovering, or rebuilding, sometime's it's just established life, and they're getting on as best they can. All the stories come with a brief note form author explaining how/why/where he was when the inspiration arose. The settings don't quite work somehow, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just that I know them, more or less, and hence struggle to accept the dystopian future portrayed for them.

The title story is - for once - one of the better ones, an 'angel' visits a wind powered community, draining the entropy out of their mechanical systems - presumably to power it's own nano-tech. A visiting 'cowboy' assist the local priest in driving it out. None of them are exactly happy tales, but there is a sense of hope or community that pervades most of them.

Enjoyable, but not brilliant, I'm not sure this short a style is best suited to this author. His novels may be more interesting where there's time for world-building and character development rather than just snapshots. Some interesting ideas. ( )

I've been lucky enough to hear Powell read some of these stories at various events but it's nice to sit down and read them through. It's also nice to get a bit of explanation at the end of the stories as the author relates what inspired the story.

Powell won the BSFA for his his novel Ack-Ack Macaque in 2013 and at least one of the stories in this collection was also nominated for the award. So you know you are getting some good writing.

Standouts were The Last Reef, a tale of AI evolution, Gonzo Laptop a story written in response to Hunter S Thompson's death, Hot Rats a flash fiction about travelling in time and Memory Dust which had more than a hint of Lovecraft to it. But I enjoyed the collection, these are ones that I enjoyed especially. The majority of these stories have made the grade and been published in magazines. This is a nice collection and it's interesting to see Powell's inspirations and influences - Gonzo, the beats, some Banks perhaps.

Overall - a very enjoyable collection. Recommended. ( )