I have read a story or two by this author in the past and so decided to attempt his collection.

I did enjoy the novella trilogy The Gods Will Not... Which was about uploaded consciousness as well as a couple of others, including the first and last story both about xenoarcheology. But ultimately I didn't love the collection. There was a lot of repetition of themes that felt unnecessary, overall very depressing and cynical tones, unsatisfying endings, and it all just felt too preachy for my tastes. Too many stories felt like they sacraficed plot and characterisation in favour of pushing the author's ideologies, which were very pessimistic and repetitive.

There were two versions of the story about the birthdays, and many stories set in the same universe about the Singularity and the uploading. I would have preferred either a single novel weaving together a story arc or a collection of independent stories, personally.

However I acknowledge that sci-fi isn't often my preferred reading. I think regular sci-fi readers might like this collection better than me as generally sci-fi (aside from Andy Weir, Blake Crouch and Michael Crichton) is a bit out of my comfort zone.