Reviews

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Thirteen by Jonathan Strahan

shadyeglenn's review against another edition

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

reflectiverambling_nalana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

One of the most consistently good short story collections I've read to date. Some truly memorable tales, a diverse selection of influences and examples of the genre. Even when it wasn't absolutely amazing or engaging, even the ones that captured me the least were thought provoking or creative in a way I appreciated. 

colinmeldrum's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

Favorites:
The Woman Who Destroyed Us (Huang) 
When We Were Starless (Heller)
Nine Last Days on Planet Earth (Gregory)
You Pretend Like You Never Met Me (Headley)
Meat and Salt and Sparks (Larson)

Individual ratings:
Mother Tongues, by S. Qiouyi Lu *****
Olivia's Table, by Alyssa Wong ****
The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington, by P. Djèlí Clark *****
Yard Dog, by Tade Thompson ****
The Woman Who Destroyed Us, by S. L. Huang *****
The Blue Fairy's Manifesto, by Annalee Newitz ***
The Starship and the Temple Cat, by Yoon Ha Lee ***
A Brief and Fearful Star, by Carmen Maria Machado ****
Field Biology of the Wee Fairies, by Naomi Kritzer ****
Intervention, by Kelly Robson ****
The Bookcase Expedition, by Jeffrey Ford *****
A Witch's Guide to Escape, by Alix E. Harrow ****
The Staff in the Stone, by Garth Nix ****
Okay, Glory, by Elizabeth Bear ****
Widdam, by Vandana Singh *****
Dreadful Young Ladies, by Kelly Barnhill ***
The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander **
The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society, by T. Kingfisher **
When We Were Starless, by Simone Heller *****
If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again, by Zen Cho ****
Blessings, by Naomi Novik ***
Meat and Salt and Sparks, by Rich Larson *****
Nine Last Days on Planet Earth, by Daryl Gregory *****
Golgotha, by Dave Hutchinson **
Flint and Mirror, by John Crowley **
An Agent of Utopia, by Andy Duncan **
You Pretend Like You Never Met Me, and I'll Pretend Like I Never Met You, by short story by Maria Dahvana Headley *****
Quality Time, by Ken Liu ****
The Storyteller's Replacement, by N. K. Jemisin ****
Firelight (Earthsea Cycle), by Ursula K. Le Guin ****

koreykit's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The vast majority of the stories in this book are absolute bangers. 
Particular favourites:
Mother Tongues by S. Qiouyi Lu - A touching story of what a mother will give up for her child
The Woman Who Destroyed Us by S. L. Huang - Focuses on interesting philosophy of the line between treating someone's mental illness/difference and making them a different person
The Blue Fairy's Manifesto by Annalee Newitz - A fun story about what it means to choose and what lives are worth living. Deals with consent.
Intervention by Kelly Robson - Explores a future where reproduction is separated from biology and children are raised communally by specialists.
A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E Harrow - A witch librarian and semi-sentient books help a foster kid. As an aspiring librarian, I found it really sweet and accurate to the way books can change a life.
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander - Alternate history where humans learn to communicate with elephants and immediately exploit them to work with radiation. Told from multiple perspectives, including the elephants', from three points in time.
The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society by T. Kingfisher - My favourite story of the collection. A woman works her way through a string of faerie lovers, as told by the faeries. Absolutely hilarious.
Meat and Salt and Sparks by Rich Larson - A chimpanzee with enhanced intelligence solves crimes. I liked the attention paid to the accommodations that a chimp would need to navigate the human world.
The Storyteller's Replacement by N. K. Jemisin - A lyrical original fairytale

allie_rose's review

4.75

I liked almost every story and a few were even god tier level—the 6 negro teeth of George Washington in particular 

bluebirdsongs's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 Really excellent collection of stories. I came away from this with a much better idea of what types of SFF stories appeal to me, particularly on the SF side. It's always been a pretty hit-or-miss genre for me, but now I can definitively say dystopian applications of current or near-future technologies pluck the chord of fear in me more effectively than any thriller.

Highlights for me included (starting from most favorite):
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” - Zen Cho
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” - Alix E. Harrow
“Okay, Glory” - Elizabeth Bear
“The Storyteller’s Replacement” - N K Jemisin
“Intervention” - Kelly Robson
“Field Biology of the Wee Fairies” - Naomi Kritzer
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth” - Daryl Gregory
“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society” - T. Kingfisher
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” - P Djeli Clark
“Mother Tongues” - S. Qiouyi Lu
“The Woman Who Destroyed Us” - SL Huang 

kmarion's review against another edition

4.0

Of course as this is a collection of short stories, there were better and worse novellas in here, but there were some really amazing ones , so I am glad I read it. Found some authors to be aware of, which is always positive.

daneekasghost's review

5.0

There are enough really good stories here to push this to 5 stars. One of the few times that I haven't struggled to finish a short story anthology.